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Chapter Text

" daaaaaaaaaad! come ooooon!" yelled out a tiny skeleton child as he tugged and pulled onto a brilliant white lab coat before losing his hold and falling backwards. A much taller, lanky skeleton looked up from some blueprints, putting down his coffee mug onto the countertop. The hollow eye sockets let two white pinpoint pupils look down behind his glasses.

" Sans, I'm sorry but I really need to talk with The King. I can't stay home and spend time with you and your brother. I will once I get home. I just need to tell The King about-"

" about the core thingy i knooooow." The small skeleton let out a dramatic groan. " but i didn't wanna ask you to spend time... erm-this time?"

The tall adult's curiosity was peaked, as he turned his head to view the small child., " Then what is it, Sans?"

" i wanna see the king, pleeeeeeease! you always talk about how he needs this and that, but we've never even seen him! puh-leeeeeease!" Sans hopped up and down as his hands were clasped together.

" Then 'who'... would look after your brother?" The parents raised a nonexistent eyebrow to his son who seemed to cease his bobbling.

" ..... miss lapine? she's like the best babysitter ever! well when she's not cleaning the inn. and besides, she's got a baby brother who could play with paps, i heard he's super nice." Sans gave a slight tilt of his skull, puppy dog eyes following right after a... well a trying puckered lip considering he didn't have lips....

The skeletal man was silent for a moment before sighing and smiling down to the child, " Alright, alright. Let me go call her and her sister." As he picked up and dialed the phone, the tiny skeleton did a tiny victory dance. His father suspected to hear a noise as he looked back to see Sans standing there with a strained smile he always had. Going back to the dialing Sans finished his dance-off before heading into the living room where a much smaller skeleton child played with some colorful blocks. The smaller skeleton sucked on his thumb as he tried making words which clearly spelled out nothing in real grammar.

" hey paps, you ready to go to the inn and play with nice?" The small toddler looking monster looked over to his brother smiling as he stood up, raising his arms in the air.

"NYEAH! .... WAIT, YOU'RE NOT COMING?"

" well, no-but don't worry, don't worry! i'm gonna get to meet the king. and you know what that means~." Papyrus bundled himself up to look courageous or thoughtful before getting the biggest confused face a baby could muster. " it means i can tell the king to tell santa how good you've been this year!"

Papyrus gasped loudly, letting his thumb pop right out of his tiny mouth. His eyes brightened up and dazzled, " OHHHH! YEAH! YEAH! I FORGOT THE KINGY GUY KNOWS SANTA!"

San's perpetual smile went wider as he leaned over to his brother, putting a hand next to his own cheekbone to whisper, " i hear their best friends too."

This made the tiny toddler like monster squeal with excitement-but not too loud or else their dad would hear. It was a small silent noise of glee. They came back the puzzled little face, " WAIT... WHAT ABOUT YOU?! YOU'VE BEEN GOOD TOO!"

" ahhh, dun' worry about me paps, i can handle myself, and besides. i gotta get a good word in for the best bro of all time." Sans' eyes squinted into an impish but happy look as he chuckled, making Papyrus giggle out loudly. The thin skeleton walked over to the two, crouching down as he put his arms around them. Both brothers paused their laughter before being pelted with kisses on the sides of their cheekbones and being lifted up. Papyrus giggled out more while Sans flailed uselessly away from his father. " ahhhhh! daaaaaad-nooooooo! stooooop!" This only made the adult laugh with his younger son when getting up and carrying them out the house. Violet glowing hands materialized from the air and opened the door for the scientist.

At a nice toasty inn nearby their festive looking home, a young thin rabbit looked up from her zero bookings, waiting for customers. Honestly, she was just happy to see anyone, as her ears flew right up from the door opening, making a tiny dangling bell chime above it. She smiled brightly to the skeletons, " Mister Gaster! How are you?! Oooh, Sans and Papyrus! Look at how big you two cuties are~!" She rang out, hopping over the counter with ease, bouncing to the trio before pinching the two kids' cheekbones.

" ehhhh-miss lapine, you saw us last week!" Sans whined out while Papyrus braved through the pinch.

" Calm down boys. Anyways morning Nyreem, I'm just here to drop off Papyrus. We'll be back within a few hours... Hopefully, if my assistant and The King don't make me sit down for tea again." Gaster groaned very lightly, only enough for his children to hear it.

" Oh not to worry dear! Anything for the Royal Scientist! It's not a problem at all, sides, Nice has been looking forward to playing with someone around his age." The innkeeper twitched her nose in excitement as she was handed Papyrus who went back to sucking his thumb and waving to his family.

" And please don't give him any cinnamon-bunnies unless he's done something that deserves praising." The doctor mentioned as he headed out, putting down his elder son besides him.

" Oh I won't~!" She called out as the door closed, only to smirk mischievously, " Don't worry honey, you can have some nice-cream after your done playing." She nuzzled her twitchy nose to his forehead, making him giggle out. She walked behind the counter, carefully putting him down just as a small blue rabbit child walked off from the stairs. He was so excited to see the other child in a bundled up in a leather coat, puffball hat, and a red scarf that he tried running over, only to trip over his loose jeans. The older rabbit rolled her eyes as she shook her head, smiling, " We really need to get you something better to wear Nice." She hoped to her young brother and helped him up as he fiddled with his green shirt. Papyrus soon ran over, practically tackling the blue bunny from excitement, making them both fall back laughing. The older rabbit giggled, " Boys."

" Alright, pants, check. Coat, check. Shirt check. Shoes check. Scarf check-" Sans stood there with his arms splayed out as his father examined him. He let out a small groan.

" daaaaad come on! is it cold there too?!" The disgruntled skeleton looked over to Gaster with a serious look, or how serious he could get with the ever-lasting grin plastered on his face.

" No, I'm just making sure we don't lose anything before getting there."

" how are we going to lose anything, if we don't even walk there-" Before Sans could finish his statement, Gaster held onto his hand and the two vanished within a blink of an eye. Unfortunately, a small salamander with tiny arms and giant glasses gasped out from what he had just witnessed.

" YOOOOOOOOO!" He scurried off to go tell other kids.

Once Sans had blinked, he was standing right in front of a rather large but cozy looking house with bright grass trailing along as a path, leading to a nearby town. Sans threw his hands up to his mouth and dizzily stumbled about as Gaster checked that all of his things were still there... Except for his shoes. " Drat... Always with the shoes. I really need to fix that."

The tiny skeleton gagged as he finally snapped out of the nauseating trance, " wha-what was that?! h-how?! how did we get here?! where are we?!"

Gaster smirked as he crouched next to his son, " Don't worry Sans, it's just a little teleportation. I work on it on my own time. Saves quite a distance, I'm sure when your much older, you'll be able to pull it off even faster than me." A skeletal hand with a hole in the palm patted San's skull before the scientist got up. " Anyway, don't worry, we're at The King's home."

" teleportation? .... awesome! oh man, i can't wait to learn that and just pop in from place to plac-wait, the king's house? wait... 'house'? i thought he lived in a castle like in pap's books?" Sans asked as he looked up to his father who was preparing some notes.

" Humans more likely, but not this King. He rather likes a nice house than a large structure." Once the two got to a rather large sturdy door, Gaster rang the buzzer, to have the door swing open, with the largest monster Sans had ever laid his eyes on. It was taller than his dad and far more thicker than the thin noodle Gaster was. He stared up at the giant, mouth a gaped, speechless. The monster bared a tiny dinky crown on his blonde mane. He was wearing a pink and white polka dotted shirt and normal jeans. He seemed.... typical. Large, but typical. The towering monster looked down to the scientist and the small skeleton wrapped in an over-sized blue sweater and an overly long pale blue scarf. The giant's lips curled around his snout as he knelt down, still towering over the tiny skeleton. Sans had never imagined The King to be this big... or fluffy for that matter. The King chuckled out as two large fingers gently held San's hand, shaking it up and down.

The King soon looked over to the other skeleton, " Ohohoho, my. Gaster he's adorable. I don't know why you kept him a secret for such a long time." Sans was still flabbergasted and intimidated by the gentle giant that he didn't even realize what had been said about him. Gaster's eyes looked elsewhere as a slightly purple tint grew around his cheekbones, embarrassed in his pride of the tiny cute child. " Howdy, there lil' fella. I'm Asgore, it's so nice to meet you. What's your name?" The king tilted his head rather to the left, letting a floppy ear dangle more outward.

Sans gulped and hesitantly opened his mouth-well more of his now shocked looking teeth that replaced the grin. " m-m-my....uh...name-name...name?....sans?" Gaster quietly placed his own hand over his forehead at how slow this was going, but waited patiently enough.

" Hahaha, what a wonderful name!" Asgore noticed the slight glance from Gaster that was made-considering he did have a hole in his hand. The King sighed softly as he stood back up smiling. " Right, right, come on in." On the inside, the house was filled with the smell of cinnamon.... or was it butterscotch? Snails maybe? Well, anyways besides the smell, it looked like a normal house. It seemed much bigger, maybe a three-storied house, but was still a normal house. Asgore sat down in a large chair where he had put down his tea. He carefully picked it up, sipping it. " So if it's not Sans that you brought, then what is it Gaster?" He asked, slightly disappointed since the scientist only came to tell good or bad news. He really wanted to know more about the child, but Gaster never budged, and now he was right here! Oh well... Business should be attended first, especially if it's bad news.

Gaster sat down across from the large goat-like monster and laid the blueprints onto the table. " Well, first of all, is my assistant here? I really would like her to know and study what I'm about to explain to you, sir." At the mention of an assistant a small yelped came from the other side of a wall nearby. A yellow dinosaur-type monster rushed out, slipping on the wood a bit. She clumsily pushed her round glasses back up her freckled face. She then rushed over to the table that sat the two tall monsters. She had rather large braces in her teeth, with a notably big buck tooth standing out from her mouth. Some scales were a shade of different color, which resembled freckles as a lab coat nearly engulfed her. The monster was a good foot and half from San's height as she stood over to the table wheezing. Poor girl had some chub to her. She cleared her throat as she looked up to her mentor, the very young teen was in quite a tizzy.

" sup alphys?" He said nonchalantly while the lizard prepared herself.

" R-R-Right here Doctor G-Gaster! A-a-and... Uhm S-Sans? Erm... Oh has S-Sans j-j-joined us?"

" Hm? Oh, no, no. Well not yet at least. No Sans wanted to meet the king. But unfortunately I really do need to discuss some things with hi-" Before the thin scientist could finish, the front door was severely kicked in by a boot. The boot and foot was owned by another teen who looked like they had been in a scuffle... or just a rough-housing type of kid. They slammed their foot down and charged straight to the giant of a king, jumping over the table to tackle the surprised monster. They were then caught by a purple hue that coursed around their body, making them stay still in the air. They wore a blank black tank top with dirty combat like pants. They puffed out their fins on the sides of their head and struggled in the grasp.

Sans looked over at the new monster, examining their long red ponytail, " sup undyne?" The teen was moved away and dropped onto the floor from an impatient Gaster.

Undyne sat up gasping out, " MISTER DREEMURR! YOUR LATE FOR TRAINING-Oh hey Sans. AND I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR-Wait... Sans? The hell you doing here?" The sapphire colored fish monster blurted out before slowing down her burly voice as she squinted her yellow piercing eyes to the small skeleton.

" Ohoho. Undyne, your off by an hour. Your an hour late hahaha. I will be out as soon as Doctor Gaster here tells me about his project." The jolly king bellowed out a hard laugh.

" Ergh... Right... Uhm your majesty, I really would like to talk to you and my young assistant. Miss Undyne maybe you could take Sans somewhere? Just for a little?" Gaster looked at the fish with a very broad face of irritation. She looked up with a small gulp before getting up and putting a webbed hand behind Sans, casually pushing him along the way as she walked out the door.

" Ye-yes sir! U-Uhm! I-I'll try to uh fix the door... Later... And uhm..." She tumbled over her words as the other girl watched her antics, making her stop and pause. She grabbed the young skeleton by the wrist and rushed out.

Once the two were away from the house she took a deep breath in and sighed. " ARG! I'M SO STUPID! I CAN'T FIX A DOOR! AND NOW YOUR DADS PISSED OFF AT ME! AND I MADE MYSELF LOOK LIKE A MORON INFRONT OF HER!" She let San's wrist go as she stomped around yelling at herself. Once free of the grip she slammed her fist into a log from frustration.

Sans patted himself, getting any dirt off of him during the running, " wow... you really cracked the ice in there."

Undyne's fit ceased as she looked over to him, " ... Don't start that shit." Then went to pulling her fist out from the log which wasn't working... " ... Little help?"

Sans puts his bony hands up as he simply smiled, " if that is your wish, fish." She snorted in response as a blue aura surrounded her arm, pulling her out, but also letting her fly back onto the dirt. " just keep your head cool, okay? my dad won't be angry for long, you know that. well unless you stayed in there, pretty sure you'd become fried fish. but besides that, you just showed how strong you were to Alphys. just warn me next time you drag me out."

Undyne let out a groan from the puns before sitting down on a log, letting the younger kid sit next to her, " I guess your right... So uh, why aren't you at home? Whose watching your bro if it's not me?

" the inn nearby is doing that. and i really wanted to meet the king, and thus here i am! cept... now i'm out of the house and wait for dad to be done, but considering how many blueprints he's got... it's gonna take a while... so you know this place much more than i do, anything to do around here?"

She started to scratch the scales on the back of her neck, frowning, " Not really. I normally just train until Dreemurr comes out and trains me. I don't really wanna watch over you, no offense."

" none taken... so i take it i just go wonder off? into maaaaybe something dangerous that might get you in trouble~?" he chuckled as he hopped up to his feet, walking along the log, verbally poking the grumpy guppy. She turned her shoulder to give a deathly glare making him chuckle again.

" I don't care if you do-But I rather not make your dad pissed off like that one time Papyrus got mud all over him."

" hey, those mud pies were awesome! i thought of you as the best babysitter for letting us play in it and you know it!" He pointed out making the older fish crack a wide smile of sharp teeth.

" Okay yeah, that's true... Hrm, lemme' think of somewhere you can go that I know of and won't make your dad flip his shit..." She put a leg over her other before putting an elbow on the knee as she rested her fin and cheek onto her hand. She closed her eyes, letting out another groan, " Urgh... The only place I know well enough is Mister Dreemurr's garden where his kid plays. Cept that kid is a total crybaby and too shy to hang around. Shoot! You ask him to spar and he panics and starts crying!" She extended her arms out in front of her as she exclaimed the king's son's behavior.

The skeleton furrowed an unseen brow before making up his mind, " The king's kid? I thought only certified monsters got to play with him cuz his mom doesn't want him to get hurt."

" Ehh... Heh... Thaaaat might have been my fault since I might have wrestled with him." She nervously laughed before quieting down looking away to avoid eye-contact. She was given a small stale steady clap from Sans. This made her give him a scowl in return.

" right... well i'm gonna try to waste my time there. and unlike you, i'm not rough, and.... i have a way with words if his mom starts to panic." He smiled as he put his hands in his coat's pocket and strolled off... Shortly coming back for directions to the garden...

After a while the skeleton finally made his way into the royal garden. Flowers and plants bloomed all around, different shapes, sizes, and varieties. The colors gleamed brilliantly under the cavern's sparkling gems in the ceiling far above. Sans slowly walked in, taking in the wondrous sight as he carefully traversed around some flowers, not wanting to accidentally step on one. He looked around in amazement, until he heard a startled gasp near him. Sans swiftly looked over his shoulder to see a flash of something or someone who hid behind a single central tree. He had only heard of the prince every now and then, not knowing if they were a kid or a young teen like Undyne and Alphys. Hell, he just met the king today, so he didn't even know what he had looked like or resembled until now. He lowered his voice to a gentle tone like he would for his brother when he started to cry, " hey buddy, hey. It's okay. I didn't mean to startle ya. i just wanted to look around and view the plants, sorry."

Sans lied, not wanting to give the prince any paranoia by stating he was looking for him. Just then, someone peeked out from behind the tree for a quick instance before whipping back to hide behind it. " hey, listen. i won't hurt you i promise. sorry, i'll just go. didn't mean to bother ya." Right as Sans turned around to carefully walk out a gentle child spoke out.

" W-Wait! D-Don't... Don't go..." He turned around to see a small mini version of the king, himself. Soft and short snow fur. Dangling ears, a tiny cowlick, large emerald eyes, two tiny fangs and no horns. The prince sported some jeans and wore a shirt with green and yellow striped. He was one of the few kids that were smaller than Sans... even it being by 3 inches, it was still a win for the skeleton. While Sans seemed around twelveish or thirteen, the prince seemed around eight or maybe nine or ten. The prince shyly rubbed one of his own arms, tugging at the sleeve lightly. The kid seemed like the gentle type, considering he was in a large garden and didn't like Undyne's normal playing style. " I-I'm sorry... I just... Got sc-scared... Please don't go. It's al-always nice to meet someone new. N-Not many kids like going to the garden..." He looked at Sans with gentle eyes and a faint worried smile.

" oh, it's okay dude. i should have thought this through more eheh. i take it, you're the prince? heh, you take after your dad fairly well."

The prince's smile grew slightly, " O-Oh, no-not really... People, s-say l-l-look more like my mom. I-I take it, she didn't pick you to come play with me huh?"

" ahhh, no... but don't worry i'm not like aherm... undyne. i've got a little bro at home, so i'm really good at being careful, sides i don't want to hurt anyone. and i'm not hot-headed as her anyways. nah just a chill skeleton other than a fish fry." He gave his casual smile making the prince giggle a bit. " nah, my dad brought me along to see the king, then had to discuss stuff with him. so i got bored and bam, here i am! haha, oh by the way, i'm sans. sans the skeleton." He chuckled lightly as he held out his arm to the goat-like monster.

The prince finally gave a calm and gentle smile, " That's a nice name... My name is Asriel." He shook the skeleton's hand only to jump back as soon as something loud was heard. Sans chuckled a bit before apologizing and showing off what had been wrapped around his palm. " hehe, sorry... old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. i always find it funny."

Asriel calmed down rather quickly and laughed at the childish prank. " S-So how do you know Undyne? An-and get here?"

" well undyne sometimes babysits me and my bro, though my dad normally doesn't like the idea, but my bro, papyrus thinks she's a blast. and, my dad works for your dad in a way. he's a scientist, really tall, skinny, lab coat. you might have seen him."

" O-Oh! Y-You me-m-mean Mister Gaster! Y-Yeah I've met him a few times. He-He seems really nice, except when he's working hard on something or has something big to say..."

Sans walked over to the younger child, stuffing his hands back into his pocket, looking at the twinkling gems. " heh, yeah... dad gets like that sometimes. he'll get wound up in something and has to finish it or explain it to someone. but he always means well an-" Sans paused as he heard a small crunching sound. Puzzled he looked over to find the young prince gnawing on his scarf. " .... you uh... hungry there buddy?"

Asriel instantly let go, thankfully the scarf wasn't ripped up or that wet from being in the prince's mouth, " Ahh! S-Sorry! G-Goat monster h-h-habit!" He blushed up, embarrassed as instinct came over him. Other than that, Sans thought it was kinda funny.

" nah, dude you okay really. now my brother papyrus. ohhhh man! he use to have this habit of playing tug of war with our clothes against some tiny annoying white puppy. man, those clothes got ripped to shreds!" The story made the goat giggle out.

" Well don't worry I don't eat stuff other than food, just nibble on it, haha. And it kinda sounds like how my mom gets when someone messes with me or bugs her, hehehe, she gets pretty grumpy like when my dad steals a piece of her pie when it's cooling!" Sans couldn't help but to laugh, the image of the mighty king running from his wife for taking some pie was rather funny.

" ohho man. so, uhm, do you just play by yourself?"

" Well... No, I-I'm just really shy, and then Undyne kinda spooked me. My mom gets really upset if someone makes me cry, and I don't blame her... But I cry alot... S-So it's hard to find someone to play with." He fiddled with his paws for a moment.

" aww man, that royally sucks." He received a tiny giggle from the royal pun, he was happy someone enjoyed his jokes. Well besides his brother... " well hey, since i'm here waiting for my dad to get done with his 'biiiiiig' long blueprints, mind if i play with ya azzy?"

Asriel's cheek brightened into a small pink shade from his fur, enjoying the nickname, " O-Oh! S-Sure. I-I really like pl-playing tag!" He bounced up, waggling his stubby tail, excited at the mention of playing with another monster.

" haha, sure no problem! i'll give ya a head start, okay?!" Asriel nodded as Sans looked up counting down from ten, his white pupils looked back down only to see Asriel standing in the same place, not budging an inch. He looked at the ground, his smile replaced with a frown. This made San's perpetual smile shrink down as well. He tilted his head before poking the prince lightly. " tag?" Asriel came into focus as, one floppy ear twitched as he slowly looked over to the other child monster.

" You... You tagged me?"

" well... yeah... that's how you play tag dude. you run around and-"

Asriel cut him off, but not aggressively or sadly, but more in a surprised and shocked way of disbelief, " No, no, I know the game. It-it's just... No one's ever tagged me before... Y-You see... Whenever I play with other kids. T-They always let me win, because they don't want me loose or feel bad, a-all because I'm the future king... But you actually tagged me... S-So... You actually don't care if I'm royalty or not? Yo-You actually want to play with me?"

" well yeah dude. it doesn't matter if you don't have a family, if you're a tiny spider, or royalty, your still a monster, and your still a kid. every kid should get the chance to play with other kids unless they don't want to." With a bright kind smile, Asriel smiled back, finally, someone understanding him and not fearing him just because he was the future's king. The goat monster sniffled a bit, tears devolving in the corner of his eyes. " o-oh no, dude you okay?"

" Ye-yeah. I'm just r-really happy someone doesn't treat me differently." He whipped the tears with his over-sized sleeves. It made Sans feel a bit bad, to see another kid get so happy that he began crying all because someone was going to play with him. Poor kid never really experienced losing or winning by himself. The smile from the prince's mouth turned into a smirk as he turned over tag Sans. Sans smiled wide as he hopped back a few inches.

" ah-ah, you're gonna hafta try harder than the azzy!" With the two started to dash around the garden, avoiding stepping or running into any larger plants or delicate flowers. Asriel eventually tripped on the tree's root, making him fly forward and into Sans. The two tumbled into the grass, both on their backs, but completely fine. neither had gotten hurt or else Asriel wouldn't have poked San's cheekbone. " Boop" The two start to laugh, finding it amusing while Sans poked the younger monster. They continued this for a bit, he felt great to make another kid happy like he would for his brother.

Suddenly a motherly but kind voice rang out into the garden, " Asriel~! I made us some pie-Oh!" A larger version of what looked like Asriel walked out into the garden with their paws holding two pieces of pie on white shinning plates. They donned a purple robe, the arms colored white and in the center bared the Delta Ruin Symbol of Monsterkind. They had small stubby horns coming out of their head as their eyes gazed upon the two children. With a gentle smile, they walked over to sit next to the two, crouching down onto the smooth soft grass.

" H-Hey, mom! T-T-This is Sans! H-He's Mister Gaster's kid! He-He came and started to play with me!"

The mother of the prince put on a soothing smile, " Oho, why thank you for spending time with Asriel, young one." With that, she held one pie out to the small skeleton, proudly.

Chapter Text

The wind blew some tiny snowflakes into the face of a lone golden flower that rested on top of a snowy hill. It was rare for something like that to be in such a cold and harsh environment. But it twitched, causing the small form of snow that clustered onto its stem to fall off. It's petals drooped over the center as it let out a deep sigh. The flower tilted it's head up, causing the remaining snowflakes to drift off. It took in a deep breath and exhaled, making the somehow a warm air collide with the cold breeze. The flower looked out upon a small time of brightly lit up lights and cozy little homes in the small town. The flower gave a small sad and pitiful look to the town he watched from afar. " ..... Sure is nice down there... Huh, Chara...?... Heh... Look at me... Talking to myself when no one's around and they're long gone... Hehehe... Ehe...." The flower giggled lightly before water streamed down his petals.

It shivered a bit as it sniffled, " I'm so bored... Chara... I miss how we use to run around and play... I'd always lose and you'd always win... Heh, all the other kids would just let me win anyways... They were such IDIOTS..." He growled out in a fit of anger, relished with hatred. He stopped as he thought about the other kids letting him win... Why? All because he was the damn prince? It seemed so... stupid... Eventually, his thoughts traced back to where he first lost... In those deep roots were memories of his sibling; his best friend... " Why... Why does my head hurt by remembering you?! Wait... Maybe it's not you... C-Could... Could there have been someone else I was friends wit-NO! NO! THAT'S STUPID! N-No one else was my friend....." he let out another frustrated growl, something was provoking him in the very back of his mind, trying to make him remember. He had the feeling of recalling someone else besides his sibling. It took a good while before it hit him since every reset he had made him forget about a certain someone until he tried thinking of them every time... Maybe his mind was in denial or maybe Chara was blocking the thoughts out... The realization flooded back as soon as he heard someone or something walk up to him rather carefully and slowly. He heard the snow being crunched under a boot or a shoe, making him quickly turn around, " CHA-Oh... He-H-Hey Paps... D-Did you get into the Royal Guard yet?!" His sadness waded over him as his favorite friend... or rather, his favorite toy came to sit next to him.

The tall skeleton who kept wearing a costume he and his brother made a while ago smiled brightly to the small flower, well after a small disappointed frown " NO NOT YET... BUT DO NOT FEAR! I WILL BECOME ONE! I SHALL NOT GIVE UP MY DREAM! I'LL BECOME ONE, AND THEN FLOWEY! THEN MORE PEOPLE BESIDES YOU, UNDYNE, AND MY LAZY BROTHER WILL FINALLY RESPECT MY DEDICATION!" He spoke loudly as he pointed heroically to the void like sky of the cavern. The flower giggled out a bit, honestly, the over-dramatic skeleton did cheer up Flowey, if only a little. Of course, Flowey just found it amusing to watch his crazy antics and his gullibility. That's what he really craved from Papyrus. His dedication and innocence... It was such fun watching it as it was stripped away from him slowly and painfully, and after every reset, he and no one else remembered, and best of all, he'd always make friends with Flowey somehow, some way. Even when times Flowey wasn't messing with him.

" Golly Papyrus! I'm sure someday you'll make them proud to finally have you on the team!" After the boost of encouragement, the proud self-proclaimed skeleton gently patted the flower's petals, being extremely careful. Flowey normally hated being touched but... Papyrus always seemed to be able to put the hate aside. Sure it was fun manipulating the tall skeleton time from time and tormenting him until his soul was snapped in half, but in all fairness, he was a really nice guy who cared too much even if one was bad. Flowey leaned into the pets, they were slightly comforting, making him bit his lower lip harshly as a quick flash of memories of being pet by his mother.

" YOU SEEM A BIT DOWN FLOWEY... I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE YOU... WELL... ERM... CRYING?" Papyrus tilted his head down, worried about the tiny flower as if it had feelings! Flowey paused from the light brushing of his petals. Shit... He saw me crying... Way to go Flowey... A new low, letting this idiot seeing you like this and actually worrying about you. However, the pause was broken off from an idea that sprouted into the flower's head of madness.

" O-Oh... I was just ya know... Thinking. About how well, hehe, it's silly but. You know, you're my only friend. I wish I had others." He made an innocent smile, letting stray tears run down to make an even sadder look.

" I HAVE WAITED FOR THIS DAY FOR A MONTH OR SO SINCE I'VE MET YOU! OOH! WHO TO SHOW YOU TO? HMM... OH! MAYBE UNDYNE OR LESSER DOG-MAYBE-"

" Woah, woah! Slow down there Paps!" Flowey gave out a giggle, this is why he liked Papyrus, he jumped to conclusions... At least he was goofy enough to entertain Flowey for a while. " How about we start slow, okay? And you know whose slow right~?" He chimed to Papyrus in order to make the skeleton think he'd come up with the idea himself. Another steady boost of encouragement made the royal patroller do almost anything.

The skeleton put on his thinking face as his eye sockets managed to squint as he thought to himself. Another plus were the funny faces he made, it made Flowey feel like a kid again, laughing at small goofy things. Finally, the skeleton straitened his back to sit up more properly, " I KNOW THE PERFECT PERSON! MY BROTHER ISN'T SLOW... BUT HE IS LAZY AND TENDS TO BE HOW THE TEENS IN THE WOODS CALL, 'CHILL'. THAT'S GREAT BECAUSE TODAY IS HIS... 'DAY OFF'... THOUGH HE NORMALLY DOES THAT A LOT..."

" Yeah! What a wonderful idea~! So when you're not busy, do you think I could see him-Oh darn! Golly, I forgot you have to work! Duble darn! I really wanted to meet him too..." Flowey tilted his head down, petal drooping over him, while under them he hid a ghastly grin.

" NEVER FEAR! I CAN EASILY INTRODUCE YOU TWO QUICKLY AND THEN GO ON WITH MY PUZZLES AND TRAPS! SANS WOULDN'T KICK A FRIEND OF MINE OUT! AND IF HE WOULD, HE'S TO LAZY TO EVEN MOVE! JUST PLEASE BE NICE, AND HE'LL BE NICE BACK TO YOU!" Papyrus exclaimed to the flower who tilted his stem back to view the monster, smiling a sickly sweet innocent smile.

" Golly! Thanks, Papyrus! You're the best-Wait... How will I get there?" His cute voice lowered down to a semi-serious tone. He hadn't thought this out completely... Thankfully Papyrus patted him, telling him to wait there. Again as if a flower could move, but they both knew well aware that Flowey could. Papyrus went running off down the hill... only to trip and become engulfed in a snowball. But never the less he made it down and ran to his house as Flowey watched his crazy antics. Flowey stifled laughter as he watched the snowball roll down, gathering up a few other monsters until it crashed into the wall of a building. Sure no one was hurt, but it was still funny to see them yell and flail. After a while, the tall skeleton ran over to the flower with a medium sized pot and a trowel in his mitten-like gloves. He skidded next to the flower, putting them to the side. " Ohh! Smart idea-uhm be careful please, my roots are tender."

Papyrus nodded and was surprisingly very careful and gently as he dug up the roots and soil under the snow-crusted surface. He put soil and the tiny flower into the pot, gently patting the dirt around the roots. Thankfully there happen to be enough room for Flowey's roots to wriggle around their new surroundings. Flowey was pretty shocked that the process went rather smoothly. He congratulated his 'friend', but soon looked down the hill cautiously. Sure he wasn't as fragile like a normal flower was due to his determination but... that hill didn't seem so fun now. He shuddered a bit as Papyrus moved, except he walked down a path where he ran up. " DO NOT FRET FLOWEY! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER RISK SLIDING DOWN SOMETHING DANGEROUS WITH YOU IN MY HANDS!" Flowey sighed in great relief, thank god Papyrus was careful about anyone he called a friend.

The skeleton eventually walked into his decorated house, carefully for once not slamming the door open with a kick or slamming for it to close from his energeticness. However, he could never truly be the quiet type... " SANS! I'M HOME FOR A QUICK BREAK AN-SERIOUSLY?! MUST YOU SLEEP?! YOU'RE NOT EVEN ON THE COUCH!"

A much shorter skeleton wrapped in a blue hoodie lay there on the floor snoring, before opening his tired eyes up at a snail's pace. He seemed a bit round for a skeleton, as he wore what seem to be track pants or something with pink fuzzy slippers draped over his feet. Or were they sneakers? It was hard to make out from the pot being placed on the side of the younger brother. He made a tiny yawn before closing his eyes, " sorry bro... but when i got home, i was too bone-tired to make it to my bed... or your bed since it's closer to the stairs... so i settled to get to the couch... but ehh, too far."

Papyrus let out a large annoyed sigh as he put the potted flower down to the side of his feet and picked up his older brother with ease, nearly throwing him, but it happen to be more of a drop onto the couch. With a small 'oomph!' Sans positioned himself to sit up, " SANS, I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU BEFORE I GO TO MY PUZZLES! I AM ONLY HERE FOR A QUICK BREAK TO INTRODUCE YOU TO A VERY GOOD FRIEND OF MINE! PLEASE TAKE CARE OF HIM WHILE I'M OUT! I'M SURE YOU TWO WILL GET ALONG LIKE UNDYNE AND HER FIXATION ON BURNING THINGS!"

The chubby skeleton rubbed his eye socket and yawned as he looked up to his younger brother with a calm smile plastered on his face, " a friend huh? sure thing paps." He sat up lazily as his brother knelt down to retrieve the potted flower. Once the flower came into Sans' view, the left eye socket sparked with blue for a split-second. He chuckled nervously, but remained at a calmed tone of voice along with the same lazy smile. " this the flower you keep talking about there paps?"

" WHY YES! I TOLD YOU HE WAS NOT AN ECHO FLOWER! THIS IS FLOWEY, HE IS A VERY GOOD LISTENER WHO DOESN'T FALL ASLEEP ON ME!" The taller brother gave a tiny glare to the one on the couch before setting the flower down on a cushion. " BUT ANYWAYS, FLOWEY THIS IS SANS. SANS, FLOWEY!"

" Howdy Sans! I've heard so much about you!" Flowey joyfully giggled and bobbed around like a happy cartoon flower.

" same to you bud-dy"

" Oh golly! Papyrus, your brother is quite funny!" The flower brightly looked up to the taller skeleton with a smile that seemed slightly painful.

" OH NO! MY BROTHER IS SPREADING HIS BAD HUMOR! DO NOT FALL FOR IT!"

" oh? where's he falling? cause clearly he's on the couch."

" OH, MY GOD! SANS! UGGGGH- LOOK, I UNFORTUNATELY HAVE TO GO IN A MOMENT, SO SANS, PLEASE DON'T MAKE A WEIRD FIRST IMPRESSION! UH-OH! LOOK AT THE TIME! I MUST GO CALIBRATE MY PUZZLES BEFORE A HUMAN COMES BY! YOU TWO HAVE FUN! NYEHA!" Papyrus yelled out as he ran, head first into the window, breaking it and running off outside, his boots crunching the snow below him. Flowey knew Papyrus was energetic, but he didn't really expect the skeleton to actually leap out of the window. His stem instinctively pulled back as his eyes watched the skeleton hop to his feet before running off.

" ..... Does he normally do th-"

"yes." Sans answered rather quickly for such a lazy bag of bone. Broken glass floated up and placed back into the part that was cracked, eventually sticking together like nothing had happened. Before Flowey could even question the sudden action, Sans was already giving a slight glare to him. " answered your question, now time for mine. who are you? why are you here? and what do you want? no bullshitting me either, we both know you know me somehow and that you're responsible for the time shifts. i can feel it. not sure if just nightmares or you're really restarting time itself. considering i keep seeing you in those nightmares."

Flowey perked up and gave his cheerful smile, " Straight to the point huh Sansy?"

" don't call me that bud-dy."

" Then stop putting me in your lame excuse for a pun then."

" can't promise that, pussywillow." Sans closed his eyes, only to open them again, black empty sockets stared at Flowey, " now if you could talk, that'd be reeeeal nice."

Flowey's happy shtick soon faltered into a devilish grin, " Ohoho, looks like you're not always laid back~."

" same could be said about you, happy go lucky flower. now please, enlighten me." Sans referred to the questions he had asked before as his two white pupils regained focus on the flower, sitting right across from him in a pot. The flower looked so fragile, but Sans could sense something... something very wrong and off about it.

" Hehehe, fine, fine. Since you asked so nicely." He made it sound as if he had poison dripping off his tongue when he said that. " I'm here because I wanted to say hi to an old friend."

" heh, really? whose your friend, my pet rock? or some daises that are dead in the snow out in the back?"

" Yes, yes, make all the jokes to feel better... Heh, it's a shame you've forgotten about me." Flowey's tone lowered down as his mad grinning faltered to a bittersweet smile. " I never forgot about you."

" sorry daisy, but i have no idea what you're talking about. next question then, 'friend'?"

" Fine... What I want, is to play with my old friend."

" yeeeeah, still not clearing things. maybe you can let me know, i mean, seriously, who are you? ya know, besides a weed."

Flowey's eyes started to stir with a bit of rage from all of this back-sass flying at him. He thought how he could possibly turn this around without fully telling the skeleton who he truly was. " Well... I AM Flowey. Flowey the flower~! But... If you reeeeally wanna know." His eyes rolled over as he head swerved along with them. " I'll tell you, if you win~!" His eyes fixated back to the skeleton whose lazy eyes seem to open slightly with interest.

" eh, i've got better things to do than really know who a weed is. like sleeping." As he slowly closed his eyes, Flowey said something that made his soul quiver.

" Play with me or you'll become an only child."

San's eyes opened up, his pupils on a deadlock to Flowey's, " ....."

" Think I'm lying? You said yourself that I'm in your 'nightmares'. Hehehe, What if I told you, those were real? Each time you see me, everyone dies. Can you deny that? See if reality does something unbearable like a dream. Is it worth the risk?" Flowey's face twisted into a sickening smile as his head twirled around the stem with every sentence he finished.

" ....." Sans took in a deep breath as he closed his eyes somehow. He reopened them to watch the mad plant, " ... okay, what do you want to play? also, what'll happen if you win?"

" Ohoho~! Then you'll be an only child until I decide to break you out of the endless cycle of mourning. Oh and, you'll be the only monster in the underground as well."

" mmm... that doesn't sound too fair bud-dy. how about you tell me who you really are and you leave everyone alone for a week. cuz' from what it sounds like, you get bored and then reset."

Flowey snarled a bit but, he would need something to bet on to get Sans to carry through, " Fine. The game is called racing. From the bridge to the ruin's door. First to touch it wins. No teleportation."

Sans shrugged as he got off the couch, " okay fine. but no vines. you look like the type who would be vine with that, right?" Flowey glared dangerously, but didn't say a peep. Sans walked over and picked up the pot before taking a shortcut to the end of the bridge. Flowey wasn't ready for the sudden trip over yonder as he dizzily bobbed his head around. " heh, hey i thought you were stronger than a little trip." Flowey gave out a small groan before the skeleton put down the pot and carefully dug a small spot in the snow. He then gently picked out the flower from the soil. He hadn't realized until he tried putting Flowey in the dug spot, that little roots were wrapped around his bones. They weren't tight to try to cause any damage, but more of a small child clinging to their parent's hand. " hey, uh... mind letting go?"

Flowey was thankful Sans couldn't see his face due to having his stem face the back of the skeleton. The flower gritted his teeth before letting go and moving into the soil. Sure he couldn't feel anything but memories stung the back of his mind before he whipped around with that joyful haunting smile, " Okay, ready~?!" Sans just rolled his eyes, sighing slightly as he nodded his skull.

" yeah, yeah. let's hurry this up, i've got a nap at home waiting for me."

" Okay, if ya say so Sansy! GO!" The flower yelled out, right as he was about to burrow under below the snow he felt himself unable to move. He struggled and twitched around as Sans lazily walked off to touch the door. " HE-HEY! NO FAIR!"

" hey, you're the one who said no teleporting, didn't say nothing about telekinesis." He chuckled to himself, leaving the flower behind who squirmed around. He made a mental note to himself to think the rules through before summoning white pellets in the air around him, firing them at the skeleton. When one flung passed by his skull, he quickly turned around to see the pellets in the air all around the flower. They spun around before they all flew at him like angry bees. Sans swiftly dodged most of them, but a couple got a lucky shot before he was out of range to be seen or hit.

-5/855!

Flowey floated there, still being held down by the neon blue magic. He had stopped firing after the skeleton had been hit. He was rather confused. He tried to figure out why the skeleton started out with 850 HP... The last time he remembered, Sans had 860, just like he always did... Did he get hurt beforehand? No, if he did, his sleeping would have healed him... Eventually, the flower was let go of, taking the chance to quickly burrow under the snow and dirt to pop up right next to the Ruin's doors. Sans looked to be sleeping as he rested his back against the door. " Hey... Hey!... HEY, WAKE UP YOU BONEHEAD!"

The other didn't even jump from the shrieking of the tiny flower and merely opened his eyes slowly, before stretching out and yawning, popping a bone or two in the process. " oh hey, you caught up. so, how was it being grounded?"

Flowey's eye twitch in a bit of anger, but decided not to answer the smug skeleton. As much as he hated to admit it, Sans did win... But the flower could still turn this around to his liking. Sans waited for a response, anything actually since the flower remained quiet. In fact, he was planning on falling back asleep until the plant spoke up. " Do you remember Asriel?"

Sans was taken aback slightly at the mention, his casual grin lowering down. His eye watched the flower suspiciously, rising an unseen brow. " yeeeah? who hasn't? he was the king's son who befriended a human child and died. everyone and their mom knows the story."

Flowey's gaze hardened a bit more, " No. Do you REMEMBER him?"

" again, i remember hearing about him. never knew the kid myself." Flowey's mouth was now agape, deep inside his determined ridden body was struck with pain coursing through his being. He knew well enough Sans knew his former self, but to straight up deny it left an aching feeling that could not be simply ignored like any other pains. He shifted back, lowering his head to think to himself. Sans tilted his head as he watched the small flower go into a small meltdown on itself. However, he got a response that shocked him straight back. Flowey lifted his head up to the skeleton, revealing his true face. Behind the golden petals formed an innocent and soft face. The same calm eyes of the young prince, to the very tiny fangs that stuck out. Flowey backed his stem as his face contorted into a bitter-sweet smile.

" H-Howdy Sans..."

Sans was completely baffled as millions of things raced through his head. He was about to kneel down and touch the once deadly flower but retracted with a scowl. His left eye shined a brilliant neon blue mixed with bright yellow. " hey, bud-dy. it's awfully rude to mock the dead." His mind was retreating the only knowledgeable place, to think that the small fragile looking plant was tricking him.

Again the flower felt another cut of pain deep within, " Wh-What? N-No, no! Sans, it's me, Azzy!" Sans quickly took immediate action, lifting the flower out of the ground again with a blue aura of magic, slowly squeezing the stem, making the roots wriggle about. Flowey never knew that a flower could feel like it was choking up until now.

" i don't like those who disrespect and mimic the ones before us. i know you're just working me up, but honestly, i'm feeling a little attacked right now."

Flowey gasped out a bit, his vision was fading in and out of darkness to the rattled skeleton, " W-We met in the garden! I recommended t-to play tag! W-We ate my mom's pie!" The grip was getting tighter every time the flower yelled out to him. " Gaster fell into the core!" The skeleton dropped him as he backed up to the ruin's door. Flowey gasped out as his roots slithered back into the warm ground, letting the chill on his roots disappear into the snug dirt. Both of them were catching their breath before conversing into another conversation. The skeleton was shocked, more than the time Flowey had killed his brother right before his eyes. He was now visibly shaken up, sliding down as his back rubbed down against the cold wall.

" no... that's not possible. no one knows him. how do you-"

" Sans. It's me, Asriel. I remember him, I remember you. I remember... It was my fault. If I wasn't so scared... I might not have become a flower. A-And he'd... Still be here." The flower hadn't wanted to startle the shit out of the monster-hell he never even did it before. It was amusing, but unfortunately, he was taking this pretty seriously himself. " Best friends no matter what, huh? Heh... Pinky promises are the worst."

Sans found himself hyperventilating back to reality as memories filled his mind. After a few moments of some much needed calming down the skeleton moved his position to kneel and lean over the small flower. His finger-bones quivered as they reached out to calmly stroke the flower's petals. Flowey smiled sadly, rubbing up against his hand like a cat would. Tears poured out from the hollow sockets, no one else remembered his father. The only other one who did was long dead... but this flower... He wasn't lying like he would in his dreams, or rather in the other resets when he got bored. " ... why do i keep seeing you then?"

The flower looked down, bitter at himself, he couldn't truly feel anything, but the conversation was straining none the less, " With Chara's determination in me, I reset everything. I can't help it-I-I don't want to die! I-I want to stay... But, I can't feel anything. I can't feel good anymore... Not even love. So I can't really apologize. I can't say I'm sorry, because I can't really mean it. I can't, not anymore. I'm a soulless amalgamate." The flower sighed like he had been defeated. Sans would have yelled at him, he could have, he really should have, but this was making sense. He remembered the smaller child full of hope and love, but if something like a soul was stripped away from his core, it would be pretty unbearable. Making the friend he use to know, have such an awful outlook on life. He felt stuck, he couldn't help his old friend who was a prisoner to his own body. With a loud sigh he weaved his bony fingers around the small flower and leaned forward, trying to imitate a hug as best he could, considering how hard and awkward it was to hug a plant.

Flowey would have stayed there for quite a while, but he wasn't happy with the position he was in, not to mention hating pity that was taken upon him. He regretted telling the skeleton anything, he didn't want pity, pity was for his old life he'd never get back. Pity was for crybabies-he wasn't a crybaby. With a small twitch of the lips, his teeth gritted against each other. Without warning, vines shot put and skewered the skeleton monster trying his best to comfort the shivering plant. Flowey shut his eyes in rage as he thought to himself. It was only then, he heard Sans gasp out before a weakly voice spoke out, " w-well... it was good spending thyme w-with ya azzy." Right as Flowey opened his eyes, his old friend turned into dust, the grains now falling into a pile with some of it on him. The lone flower's faces mixed as they tried to find an emotion that wasn't there. It didn't mean he couldn't cry though, his old rationale side bubbled up as tears poured out. He hadn't meant to kill Sans-well not at that moment, maybe if he had reset to rest himself from this conversation. But no, some repressed memories had to crawl into his mind, trying to make him feel. It just made him irritated and annoyed more than anything. With a deep apathetic sigh, he waited there, letting the dust flutter onto him by being picked up by the chilly wind.

After killing everyone else from sheer boredom, the flower sat on the king's throne. The only thing that was actually meant for him, only for it to be ripped away just like everything else he was promised. Wearing his father's dinky crown upon his head, he looked out upon a large number of gold like flowers that had been grown all around the throne. He cracked a smile, twitching a bit, " H-Heh... It's mine! A-All mine! Ehehe! S-SEE EVERYONE I'M KING! AHAHAHAHA! ... So-Sorry everyone, I'm just a-a bit nervous." He smiled down to the batches of flowers that spread wide and far as if they were his people, his subjects, his friends. " ..... Everyone will uhm... Get water every day! A-And we'll make s-some light and it'll be grand! Just for my loyal subjects! I-I am a kind king! See? I'll take care of all of you-What?" He lashed his head over to just an ordinary flower that didn't really stick out that much among the others.

" Human? Wha-PTH! Right, like a human will come down here-What? Will I protect you from any snails or spiders-DO YOU NOT TRUST ME?!" His eyes locked onto the single flower, that bloomed with the rest. " Wha-I DON'T NEED A JUDGE KIETH, SO SHUT THE FUCK UP! Ehh-I killed the judge-N-No! I DIDN'T! I-i didn't do anything-WELL! SOME SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE FOR THE GREATER GOOD KEITH!... DAMNIT KEITH! I DON'T MISS ANYONE WHEN I HAVE ALL OF THESE GUYS! GOD, YOUR LIKE JERRY!" He watched the fellow non-animated flower, his eyes burning at the single plant. " Okay fine! I'll prove it, okay Keith?! Will that make you happy?!" Another moment of silence. " FINE! I'll take your bet! If you win, I'll let you be the damn king next time! Oh? If I win? I'll think of something... Dammit Keith, change your name! That's not kingly. And I'm embarrassed to say it. Boris, try that! If I win, you're changing your name to Boris!" The small lively flower grumbled, turning the back of his stem to the other non-responsive flower. " Keith... Oh ya know, make way for your majesty, Keith~!"

With a sour grumble he activated some glowing text buttons in front of him. Several files looked somewhat like holograms as the flower searched for the one where he had been in the skeleton's house. He memorized all of his files, what he had done and not done, sometimes saving over them. The only one that remained untouched had been his very first save, which was him stuck in the garden, waking up. He didn't remember ever saving there, it must have happened automatically. Once the text prompt was found, his leaf slid onto it, pushing down to make a large bright white shining light pierce out of it. The light spread out, engulfing the entire underground. He found himself right in front of Sans, which honestly spooked him, considering after just being transferred to the file, only to have a skeleton look at you. " mmm... that doesn't sound too fair bud-dy. how about you tell me who you really are and you leave everyone alone for a week. cuz' from what it sounds like, you get bored and then reset-....." The skeleton blinked somehow-how the hell was he and Papyrus able to close their eyes anyways? He nervously looked around, straitening his sitting pose as if something was wrong with the air. His eyes trailed back to the gold flower, giving a very harsh and judgmental look. " did.... did you just reset?"

Flowey looked down to play an innocent facade, " Nnnnno." He said, you know, like a liar. This made the monster in front of him squint in disbelief. " Aherm. Anyways, fine. The game is called Tag. We keep tagging until one of us gets tired and calls it quits. No teleportation, no telekinesis."

The skeleton sighed lightly, " ooookay... no vines then"

" Wait, then how am I gonna tag you?!"

" mmmm, good point, you can't touch anything with those little stumpy leaves." Flowey's face went to his annoyed expression. " i mean... just no confining me to the ground. Flowey made a rather upset puffy face before agreeing. Though to be fair... The flower wasn't planning on playing fair. Though a thought had occurred to him.

Sans had taken Flowey into the snowy forest in a clearing, away from any passerby's so they wouldn't get hurt. If Sans knew one thing about the small flower, it was that he was dangerous to anyone, even himself. Once again Flowey had been put back into the ground, this time without any pesky in convince of trying to feel something in the hands of the skeleton.

" Alright so who star-" Right as he was asking the other, Sans quickly poked the flower's head, grinning lazily.

" boop."

" ......" The flower was rather upset and angered by this, especially since it reminded him of... Being friends, so many years ago. They had as Flowey liked to call it, 'Played' for quite a while. Some tags were gentle, as a simple push or poke, while the more used tags were used harshly. Not too rough, but they were health reducing. Flowey had to admit, Sans was rather good at dodging. Bones would shoot out hitting the flower in the face as a happy and lazy 'tag' was called out. Sans seemed to having a bit of fun... that being, pissing off Flowey to no extent. Flowey hadn't used any friendliness pellets to be somewhat fair, and his vines didn't try to skewer the skeleton. Truthfully he wasn't trying to harm Sans as much as he had planned out, one hit point here and now, but not like the hit points he himself had been taken. Whenever Sans was tagged, the tiny flower would cry out 'tag' viciously. All in all, the two kept it up for quite a while until Flowey's stem made him lean forward.

He panted rather harshly, unlike Sans, he never built a large amount of stamina for magic to use. Sans, on the other hand, had a high amount of stamina. He had to, and Flowey knew deep down why... The skeleton came out of hiding from behind a tree, walking over to the flower, backing up every now and then, thinking the other was going to use a cheap dirty trick. But it did sound like Flowey was breathing rather hard. He got close enough to the small flower, and hadn't been slapped by a vine yet. He knelt down as if to take some small pity on the flower before poking his head. " boop."

Flowey stopped, he hadn't even noticed Sans being right there, he was too busy catching his breath. He weakly looked up at the grinning skeleton who lowered his smile as he saw Flowey look like he had just been running for a mile or two... with stubby legs or with health problems. He felt kinda bad as the small smile went to a frown as he was about to say something. This was interrupted abruptly as many vines sprung forth out from the icy sheet of snow, wrapping around Sans. Vines squirmed and wormed around his wrists, pulling them above his skull as other snaked around his legs to this stomach-if he had one. Eventually, more slid around Sans' arms, holding and restraining him. The vines shuffled upwards to let the larger part mold themselves into somewhat of a platform, curving around for the skeleton's bones to be more comforting instead of letting him be pulled into the snow. Other than being restrained, it was actually kind of comfortable as each groove around his bones under him held him up.

He started to squirm, only to have more vines wrap around, or the ones on him gripping him got tighter, though oddly, not to tight giving his bones enough to breath. After trying to thrash out and even teleport-maybe these vines kept him from using magic since they were magic themselves, Sans wore himself out like the flower had. Thankfully in Flowey's favor, it didn't take much to keep hold of something. He slithered up onto the skeleton, his stem stretching out like a long arm holding a puppet. He still looked rather worn out as well. The skeleton's left eye loomed a bright blue and yellow mixture. Upon seeing that, a large shadow grew behind the flower who turned around to meet a large draconic skeletal head. Flowey quickly looked back to Sans who was ready to blast him to the beginning. He waved his small leaves, looking... worried. Not a normal scared for your life worried, but more of a child about to cry. " Pl-please! W-Wait!"

" sorry buddy but i've seen waaaay too much of alphy's books to know where this is going."

" But liste-wait you still talk to her?"

" ... well yeah, we've known each other for a while."

Flowey tilted his head curiously, " How is she?"

" ah she's doing okay. still shy and awkward, but really nice to hang out with every now and the-hey, hey, hey! don't start changing the subject!" As soon as the smile spread across his face, describing his fellow nerdy friend, came up the annoyed glare just as fast.

Flowey groaned, " I'm not going to do anything... Besides, you'd be blasting yourself to God knows where leaving Paps behind." After a moment the skeleton sighed, knowing this was true. The Gaster Blasters always did have a high attack power, they had too. The large dragon-like head vanished letting the flower sigh in relief. Flowey tiredly laid on San's chest, he actually wasn't doing a thing, just like he said, surprisingly. Though he was going to do three things to San's disliking, but it was violating or humiliating. One being that once Flowey looked over to him, he only saw a pissed off look, clearly given. Flowey let out an irritated groan as vines snaked over the skeleton's eye sockets.

" h-h-hey!" Sans yelled out. He was actually thankful they just slid across his eye sockets and not in them. The thought of that made him shiver, and Flowey felt the quiver under him.

" Just... Please be quiet. just let me have this."

" have wha-" He was cut off by vines now covering his mouth. Sans, however, could open his mouth, he just didn't like to because he was so damn lazy. But he was forced to open, making him bite at the plant, though that made the vine tighten up like a gag. Sans bit into the plant, making it bleed a bit of white gooey sap, making Flowey wince as well. After another somewhat tired and calm moment, Sans felt something he really didn't like. It wasn't being violated thankfully, but it felt horrible none the less. His soul was brought out, and he really didn't like the idea of his soul being in the hands-er... leaves of the other. He started to buck around, but surprisingly the flower didn't tighten the grip and just let him wear himself out again. Sans gulped instinctively, swearing in the back of his mind if the plant was going to slowly break it, bite it, lick it, or even pushing its own soul into it, Sans was going to have a fit... Now that he thought about it... Did the flower even have a soul? He had never seen a monster with so much hatred-well besides Burgerpants, but that cat didn't go around threatening to kill anyone.

The flower sighed calmly once Sans has settled down. He looked up at the upside-down heart that hummed out a light blue glow. A speck of yellow and possibly a bit of red swirled around in the middle. Flowey then scooted closer to it, nudging against it like a cat, rubbing its head on something. The skeleton shook lightly under him, but Flowey didn't do anything but nudge it gently and rest underneath its warmth. Flowey was trying to feel... He wanted to feel the warm glow it shined out. His stem curled up around him as he shut his eyes. It was really quiet, and San's paranoia was starting to kick in... until he heard sniffling. He heard the crying of a small scared and hurt lonely child. He had to get out of here to go help the kid before this damn flower hurt them. He started to squirm about again until he felt something wet drop onto his chest. He stopped, now knowing that Flowey was crying and whimpering. He sounded... He sounded like someone Sans tried so hard to forget about. Flowey was thankful the skeleton couldn't see him right now. He was so vulnerable and weak at the moment. His face had morphed back to its original form. The calm eyes of Asriel with those tiny fangs that stuck out, with tears running down his cheeks.

Flowey eventually started to hiccup like a small child who was all alone and scared of the world set before him. Sans calmed down as he heard the flower cry out. " I-I just want to feel something...Something nice... A-Anything... Please... I c-can say I would love to hear it when your breathing... B-Bu-But I can't. I can't love-I can't feel anything." Flowey was going into a meltdown. " Mommy, da-daddy... Sans... I-I'm so scared. I'm so sad. I-I'm so alone. Ple-please. I hope to God your never leaving... P-Please. I'm so sorry!" He continued to break down, trying and wanting to feel anything deep inside. Sans did feel bad now, trying to figure out why the flower couldn't feel. He knew he wasn't tricking him for once. he wanted to pat the scared flower but he couldn't. All until the flower let go, letting Sans hit the icy ground. The vines were gone, and so was Flowey.

Chapter Text

The tall slender skeleton sighed in relief, " Again thank you, my dear queen, for watching over the boys while I show the majesty my works."

The goat-like monster chuckled to herself to see the scientist be so shy about watching his two children. It was nothing to be worried about; yes she was the queen of The Underground, but it didn't mean she was all about royalty. " Oh Windings, I assure you it's not a problem, in fact, I have invested myself to try to become a teacher."

" ... That explains the homeschooling." Gaster said as he raised a non-visible brow, eyeing the smaller version that resembled his mother. Asriel seemed busy playing with the two other skeletons in the room, as the toddler merrily sat down watching his siblings antics. The prince had gotten on all fours while Sans held out Papyrus' bright red over-sized scarf. Sans held the scarf out, waving it around, letting it wriggle about in the air to taunt the other monster. The young prince grinned before hopping to gain momentum like a young goat would before headbutting what they played with. Asriel then charged at the scarf, only to have it move right out of the way making him headbutt into a pillow pile they had dragged out while the parents chatted. Asriel toppled over onto the soft mound that stopped his ramming, quietly letting out a small startled bleat, making the toddler laugh out happily. Papyrus clapped joyfully as Sans helped the prince up, then for both to bow at the small applause they received.

Toriel had managed to catch a glimpse of the kids playing, buttering up her heart to see no one was hurt, a small child laughing, and for her son to actually have been having fun with another child for once. It's not that she was overprotective, but after seeing Undyne try to play with her son, made her a bit more sensitive. She had tried to nudge him into the world of other children, but he was very shy at first, and not to mention the other children treated him differently due to royalty. She looked back over to the doctor, smiling gently, " I don't know why you kept them a secret for so long, they are absolutely well-behaved children. Courteous and nice, but still a tad goofy to have some fun."

The doctor halted his gawking from the children surprised that the young prince would even try to play slightly rough, from knowing how shy the child was. " O-Oh uhm, well it is a rather long story and I much rather not bore you with the details-Uhm..." His pupils watched Toriel smile slyly as she wanted to know more, giving him a confident look. Gaster had rather not wanted to tell anyone and keep it more of a secret, thankfully his pudgy lab assistant waddled over holding some blueprints.

" S-S-Sir, we're ready to show t-the king now." The doctor quickly snatched up the blueprints, making his way anywhere near Toriel. The small lizard sighed before looking over to the younger kids. Toriel's smile shifted to a frown, she knew Alphys was able to keep herself maintained somehow after her parents had fallen down and longed to be a kid again. The older monster felt bad for the lizard since she had known her parents fairly well, one shy and one outgoing and intelligent. She sighed to herself before patting the yellow monster's shoulder.

" Do not worry, I am planning on doing something rather exciting as a small break for you. For you to get to play with the others." Alphy's looked up to Toriel with a shy hopeful smile, making her heavy tail wag along the ground. After thanking the motherly goat she rushed off after the royal scientist. She enjoyed the teen's company considering the nerdy girl visited the royal family quite frequently, almost like sugarcoat family. However, she never stayed for too long, not wanting to burden the family or impose them. With that being said, Toriel would try her best to be a motherly figure to the young sufficient monster. She turned her attention back to the three children, smiling gently as she watched them make each other laugh. She, herself chuckled from them before walking along and picking up the smallest skeleton, " Alright, let's get going to today's field trip." Yes, she was simply watching over them, but her instinct for wanting to be a teacher overruled it a tad.

Once she and the two children followed her outside, she lead them around while talking to Papyrus. She was very gentle when talking to someone so small and young, motherly and nurturing to them, along with much patience. Papyrus curled himself up in her arms, spouting all sorts of things, as a small energetic child would. Lucky for him, she was all big floppy ears. her son and Papyrus' sibling trailed behind like little ducks as they discussed things to each other.
" What's it like having a sibling?" The small goat tilted his head to his new friend.

" well... he can be a pain sometimes, but he's a good kid. it's nice to have someone to talk to when dad is busy. it's like having a friend with you all the time, though it can be annoying, it's all worth it. it's a nice feeling, knowing that you're not the only one." Sans said rather bitter-sweetly. He had yet to tell Asriel, that for such an outgoing young teen, he hadn't really made many friends. Sure he had Alphy's and Undyne, but that was only because he got to know them from his father. Much like the soon to become a young adult, Grillby. It wasn't that he was shy around other kids, he just didn't know how to greet himself without making it awkward or accidentally pissing them off from his jokes. He found the company of rather older and more sophisticated monsters, who were shocked from his hidden intelligence. He kept it well hidden away, unlike Alphys, so that he wouldn't get picked on from the young monsters around his age, some of which going through puberty. Sans was happy to just be with Papyrus, since his small brother looked up to him, laughing at his shenanigans and shaking off his jokes constantly. Sure Paps was young, but he knew his taste in jokes. Sans was rather surprised that he had connected with Asriel so well and off the bat. He seemed to either act more sophisticated for the older monsters, and brotherly to younger ones; even if Asriel was only a few years younger than him and nowhere near Papyrus' age. He just had trouble with kids around his age... To say the least, it was odd.

Asriel brushed the fur on the back of his neck, smiling sadly, " That sounds nice. Heh, I wish I had a sibling." He hadn't wanted to go into detail or even bring up the subject that he was lonely. Yes, he had his parents, but no one near his age wanted to hang around him normally. Sans figured maybe if he wasn't so shy, he'd have many friends... But also being rather naive and heir to royalty didn't help much. The skeleton looked over rather shocked once he heard a small sniffle. Asriel was wiping his eyes with his sleeve. Yet another reason to add to the list; he was over-sensitive at times, and that would make other kids not know what to do. However with Sans, due to caring for his brother, knew how to react and handle the situation. He put a bony hand on the other's shoulder, smiling and apologizing for bringing it up. That's what Asriel liked about the skeleton. He knew exactly how to treat him, and not baby him or hesitate to help his small outbursts. Asriel's eyes shined brightly, turning off the waterworks. He found himself so happy and lucky to have a friend like Sans.

Eventually the small group made it to The Waterfalls, with Toriel making a quick left turn after passing by a string of echo flowers, and through some shallow waters. The boss monster walked to some long reeds, pulling them aside to show the true nature behind them. Behind the reeds was a rather good sized cavern with plants and flowers of all kinds, sprouting everywhere, glimmering against some crystal lights and reflecting off from an extremely tiny waterfall.

Toriel smiled gently as the two skeletons gasped from the sheer awe of what lay before them in the cavern. " This children is what I and King Asgore found one day while venturing The Waterfalls. Since then, we have made it a pleasant and peaceful garden for any monster to settle down into for a quick break. Think of it as another hidden spot like that bench further way in The Waterfalls."

" Ye-Yeah! Me and my parents w-worked pretty hard on this place! We picked all sorts of flowers and flowered trees to show off how pretty this place is!" Asriel exclaimed happily to the skeletal brothers, obviously quite proud of himself for pitching in to help with the flowers blooming all around.

Toriel knelt down to put Papyrus down, then moved a backpack out from behind her, setting it down next to the toddler. She pulled out various tools, seed packets, a water can, and some encased flower pots with flowers in them. " I thought I'd show you, children, this wondrous place while I help maintain it and put some new flowers in. If you would like, you can help too, but I will not force you into such labor."

The smaller of the skeletons picked up a large shovel, almost falling down from the weight as he tried to balance it up. Toriel chuckled lightly and took it from him before giving him a trowel that was much easier to pick up, though still fairly large for the toddler. He gave a small huff from the shovel that was taken away, but once given the trowel, his face brightened up with a big toothy smile with a tiny gap from a baby tooth falling out. " NYEH!" He squeaked out as he held the trowel up proudly, earning another chuckle from the older woman, along with the other two.

" so miss queen, what should us two fun-guys to do?" Asked the eldest of the children to Toriel with a big grin, easily achieving another chuckle from the royal monsters.

" Ohoho my. Ah, Sans deary, you don't need to call me that, just call me Miss Toriel, or Tori. But for you two, I was thinking of having a nice oriental lantern to be strewn around here. Maybe even a few so I can light them up with some nice everlasting blue fire."

" Oh! M-Mom, mom! What about some water lilies w-with the little flowers on them?" Asriel piped up for once. Sans noticed while in nature the prince was shy, he really did get along with his parents. A very healthy relationship. Sure he got along with his dad just fine, but his father always seemed so busy... Especially when he was trying to work, made Sans a bit nervous to ask for something.

" Oh, you know, that would look quite lovely in the water surrounding the edges. However, I do not have those items. So, I was wondering if the two of you could go down to Gerson and purchase them. You can take my backpack while you're at it." She smiled down to them as she handed it over, gold coins clattered together within the bottom for them to purchase the equipment.

" You've got it, mom!" Asriel saluted dorkily before putting on the backpack.

" sure thing miss tori." The older skeleton nodded, turning around to walk to their destination with the prince. Toriel, in all actuality, wanted them to spend some time along, making them bond more since again, Asriel didn't exactly have many friends. So if the skeleton had hit it off well enough, why not let the two of them grow side by side, letting them both get to know one another better. Then again there was the toddler getting his head stuck in a flower pot that she needed to attend too.

The two boys walked through the shallow glistening water, chatting about whatever when suddenly Sans stopped, making Asriel turn around and stop as well. " Something wrong?"

The skeleton gave off a calm grin, " heh, no, nothing's wrong. i was just wondering... since we don't have anything too heavy, if you wanted to play race. you do know where old man gerson is right?" The prince nodded as he himself grinned, accepting the challenge. Though he was wearing the backpack with gold coins, it didn't really make it too terribly heavy. Besides boss monsters were born to be rather stronger, so why not... Though Asriel seemed different.

" Ohoho man, you're gonna' eat my dirt." Asriel said, awaiting the sudden challenge.

The other snickered a tad, " how can i eat it if there's none before me." He smiled confidently as he walked to Asriel's side. " hehe, ready. set... go!" The two bolted off once they were past the water, not wanting to trip and slide into one another. Their feet were fairly soaked making it a bit difficult to run with, but neither of the two let down until both got to the turtle monster's shop. Both panted out, putting their hands on the entrance on opposite sides, not really who made it first. They were too busy catching their breath before getting the attention of the turtle monster, wearing a safari type of get up, holding up his magnifying glass. The turtle rubbed a small stubble under his chin, trying to make sense of the situation of why these two were running, but more importantly why they were together. He rarely saw Sans leave his brother's side, as well as for Asriel and his parents. " he-hey gerson. d-did you... oh man. did you see which of us got here first?"

" Wha ha ha! 'Fraid not Sans my boy! But I've got a question or two to ask you, boys. Now, why in The Underground we're you running for?" The old turtle smiled to them as he peeked through the lens as if to identify them better.

" ah, we we're just racing is all. but seriously i need to ask. was that an earthquake or we're we rocking that run azzy?" Asriel let out a huff before snickering from his friend. Gerson didn't seem to mind to painful joke. However, someone nearby in the back of the store seemed rather agitated.

" NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The two quit their panting and laughing, while Gerson stood there calmly, still with a smile across his scaly face. Just then a figure lunged itself up on top of the counter and spread out her gills in rage. " OH MY GOD SANS! SERIOUSLY?! EVEN WHEN I'M ON BREAK, YOU HAVE TO GO ONTO TO MAKE A JO-ke..." She squeaked quietly when her eyes landed on Asriel. Undyne quickly hopped off the counter and to Gerson's side, nervously looking around. She let her tension let up after a moment, " Uhm... Where's Toriel?"

" she's over at this garden place with my bro." Sans chuckled lightly while Asriel was still tensed up from the yell.

Undyne sighed in relief, " Oh thank god, I thought I was going to get in trouble for scaring The Prince again. Whew! So why are you and him here then?"

Asriel perked up once he felt the calm that was now in the air, " O-Oh, my mom asked us to come over and s-see if Gerson's got any oriental glass lamps with those poles, a-and maybe some water lilies with the flowers on top of them."

" Aha! So that's why you two are here. Wha ha ha, what an odd pair! I'll go get them for you two!" Gerson laughed out as he went to the back of the store. " And Undyne behave yourself my dear, wha ha ha!"

" Yes Uncle Gerson!" Undyne called out as she rolled her eyes slightly." Asriel looked at the sides of the shop, looking at some seed packets while Sans went to the counter to bug the easily aggravated fish.

" wow, out of all the years i've known you, not once, have i known gerson was your uncle."

She gave a small glare as her cheek puffed up, " He's not, I just call him that cuz' he's like an uncle to me. I only help around here for being on a break from training. Though sometimes Gerson will train with me. He's so awesome!" She cried out proudly with a large toothy grin.

Asriel walked on over a smiled, " True that. My father said he and Mister Gerson go way back when monsters were on the surface. Along with two other monsters... I think they were both skeletons know that I think about it."

Sans looked over, surprisingly a bit taken back. He hadn't known any other skeletons than his own family. Maybe they were far out into the capital... But surely he would have noticed by now, right? " whoa hold up, skeletons? like me? i'm sorry dude, but, i've never seen any others."

Asriel's face went into a puzzled confusion, " Really? That ironic, I haven't seen any but your dad. And for the longest time, I thought he was the only one until I met you and your brother. What about you Undyne?"

The fish girl looked up to the cool colored blue ceiling thinking to herself, " Ya know... Know that I think about it, the only once I've seen is just you, Paps, and your dad. That is pretty friggin weird. The only other I've been told about are the two Prince Fluffy over here mentioned." Asriel quickly replied with a 'Hey!' but was quickly ignored once the older teen went on, " Gerson did talk about fighting by Asgore's side as a close family friend. While the other two who fight beside him we're monsters called, 'Judges'."

" Judges?" The two others asked, both confused and somehow mystified by the title and meaning.

" Aha, yes the judges!" Gerson claimed once he headed back to the small group. He put down a box onto the counter, as Undyne hopped up onto it once again, sitting at the end kicking her feet about slowly, looking at the items in the box and paying attention to her hero. " The Judges are monsters who judge others. Mainly humans to see if they are trustworthy or mean harm. It is the Judges who declare whether or not a human can meet with the king or are to be deemed dangerous and be put down no matter what."

" P-Put down?" Asriel worriedly asked.

" Well yes sadly, as in killing them. We couldn't have a human mucking about just killing whomever and finally killing off the king. They were judged by very powerful monsters, kind of like bodyguards in a way. The Kings have always had one or three judges. When the war started up, King Asgore had two. Both of which were even stronger than I could ever be. But only a selected few could become one. They would need to train harder than the royal guard, and trained to see good from bad, and beyond to make sure humans weren't falsely being good to fool monsters."

" so uhm... the two you knew were skeletons?"

" Well, I've been around since Asgore's great-grandfather. So yes I have known quite a few. But the most were indeed skeletons. Why, even your father Gaster was one before he became the royal scientist. As of now, he still is. But since no human can come down here, he has gone to using his mind like he always wanted too."

San's eyes widened in pure shock as his two normally glowing pupils vanished into the darkness of his sockets. He knew his father was stronger than most monsters, and a brilliant mind but... Being this so-called 'Judge'? This was the first time he's been told about this... Why hadn't his dad told him? why keep it a mystery? That was as if Gerson not telling Undyne he was Gerson, The Hammer Of Justice. Why keep something so great as that title be hidden?

" Sans? S-Sans? Sans?!" Reality took hold of the skeleton, making him gasp out, letting the two glowing pupils see Asriel had shaked him and was now clutching to his arm, almost to the point of tears.

" whoa, whoa. hey, hey, hey. calm down, heh, what's wrong dude?"

Asriel looked up to him, and well, to be honest, he was in tears. He was clearly worried about his new friend, " Y-You spaced out when Mister Gerson was talking. Y-Your eyes were gone-I-I thought something bad happen and-and-" Sans sighed lightly as he patted the prince's furry tuft head, giving a semi-reassuring smile.

" hey, it's okay. i'm fine, see? no need to cry, okay? c'mon we should get back to your mom, paps is probably starting to worry about us." Asriel let go and sniffled, wiping away any stray tears while Undyne helped them pack the things into the backpack. The prince took out the coins to give to Gerson who smiled gently to calm him down as well.

" You know what... You fellers need a snack. It's on the house, and I'll even give you two more for Madam Toriel and Papyrus." He winked to them as he handed them four apple looking fruits with spider or crab-like legs poking out of them. The two thanked him and went on their way out, getting a loud goodbye from Undyne.

On the walk back, the two were pretty silent as Sans didn't really talk along the way. Asriel wasn't known for starting conversations, so he patiently waited for the other to speak. But again, however, he was a bit worried as he noticed the skeleton looked down instead up. So the two remained quiet for a good chunk of the walk, until the glowing of the bright neon blue echo flowers caught the skeleton's attention. Thinking of something else, he smiled at a worried Asriel. " say, azzy?" The prince looked over, still with an upset face. " you know what the echo flowers do right?"

" W-Well, yeah, they repeat what you say and monsters tell them their wishes. What of it?" He tilted his furry white head, now with a confused look replacing the upset one.

" so? don't you have any wishes to make?"

Asriel paused as they continued to walk, " ...Hmm, just one... But it's kind of stupid."

San's gave a gentle smile like he did back at the store to reassure his friend, " don't say that! come on, i promise i won't laugh."

" ... Hmm... If I say my wish... You promise not to laugh at me?"

" of course i won't laugh!"

Asriel began to smile lightly, " Someday, I'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around... That's my wish." Sans's smile grew into a grin and began laughing a storm, making Asriel glare over into a huff, " ... Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at it!"

Sans' laughter turned down into a small quiet chuckle, his eyes going into a somber like state, " sorry, it's just funny... that's my wish too." He smiled over to the prince who in turn gave him one in return. His eyes almost going into tears at how sweet it was, but managed to hold them back. He noticed a small light bluish blush from the skeletons cheek, magic properties and such while Sans saw the same for Asriel, but it being light pink radiating from his fur; again from magic. They chatted for quite a while until Asriel spoke up.

" Uhm... D-Does it feel warm for you?"

" h-huh?! what?! n-no!" Sans surprisingly squeaked out as he quickly looked away, lowering his head into his oversized jacket.

" Huh? Really? Because I smell fire..."

Sans stopped being embarrassed and thought to himself about fire... Before realizing they took the wrong way and were now heading to The Hotlands. " oh crap! we took the wrong way!" Asriel stopped with him and looked around noticing the two were now on a bridge with lava below. Both of them turn around and ran back the path they had just walked to finally end up at the garden.

Both panted only slightly, while Toriel looked over as she placed a statue crossing its legs, looking up, with a large cloak around it, only having its muzzle and horns sticking out. Apparently, they had been walking that way for a while now considering Undyne was now there, helping Toriel setting the statue, with Papyrus on her back, being a small tiny coach, shouting, ' YOU CAN DO IT' GO! GO! GO!'

" Ah good you two are back! I take it, you took the wrong way? Undyne said she didn't see either of you on her way here." Toriel smiled to them as she patted the boy's shoulders.

Undyne put her boot on the statue's leg and flexed, " YEAH! Gerson told me to go put this statue he had here just for the queen's secret garden! I was wondering where you guys went. I thought I was just gettin' faster that I didn't even notice you guys!" Undyne gave her toothy grin with Papyrus happily standing on her shoulders and putting his tiny fists on both sides of his hip to stylize a pose with her.

" Hehe, we kinda got uhm side-tracked..." Sans started to laugh, because honestly, the path they took WAS indeed to the side. After a while of some work with Undyne tagging along, Toriel brought out some lunches, splitting some of hers with Undyne as they also enjoyed the crab apples. Asriel sat next to the statue happily crunching on one of the leg like appendages of the fruit. Sans walked over while Papyrus was distracted from Undyne's stories.

" hey, why ya sitting over here?"

" Oh, I just like it when it's quiet is all. W-Well, when I'm eating. Besides I want to enjoy the peace in this place without... The erm, yelling." He said lowering his voice, hearing the fish's booming voice nearby.

" ehh, it's fine, i know how you feel. specially since undyne is here, i know how she gets." He sat down on the other side of the statue enjoying his lunch. He looked to the prince then to the statue and grew a smile. " hey, i got an idea for this garden." The prince perked up to him. " how about once we're done with these crab apples, we plant them on each side of this statue. you know crabapple trees aren't real big and sprout pink leaves. it'll look really nice, and besides, we'll both remember one another when we come here alone. what do you say?"

Asriel thought this through and smiled brightly before nodding his head, " What a wonderful idea!"

Once the two were done with the fruit, they quickly took a break from their lunch and planted the fruit's seed on each side of the statue. It looked like the statue was now just waiting, about to look up at the two trees when they grew, with its hands curled out in front, waiting for a fruit to drop into its palms with the fingers to shield the-

------------------------

'falls.'just have to get to the falls', thought Sans. Sans had walked through The Waterfall area to his one safe location to think to himself. All the resets were getting to him, he just needed a quiet place to rest... He walked by a flower, hearing a small whimper from it, " ...Somebody, anybody..." He paused to look at the flower, questioning who could have said that. The Waterfalls were not known to be a place of sadness, but for relaxation and joy. The only monsters who would do this would be either himself or Burgerpants. But this one sounded more like a cry of desperation then just an upset mutter.

He shrugged it off and kept on his way until he got to the last part, almost to the once peaceful garden he almost felt like was a second home. He sighed as he walked through the shallow waters, glancing over at the path that led to Hotland. Small memories buzzed in his mind about the long, long time ago he and the prince made a wish of the same thing. He shook off any slight tears that dared shed itself down his cheekbones and went along to the reeds. The one lone glowing flower said something that made his marrow grow cold, " It's so cold here... And so dark... Someone help me... Anyone... Please... Help me..." He took in a small gulp before moving aside the reeds and into the garden where many flowers had overgrown the place, and were mainly unkempt from all the years of being left alone. The skeleton shook off any small fond memory he found of the place and looked for the lone statue that was placed in front of the waterfall that trickled down the back of the wall. He would often sit behind it, putting his back against its own back and eating a crabapple from one of the two trees that grew beside it and stare off into the water. Once he was close enough for the statue to be in his view, he stopped right in his tracks and quickly hid behind a large rock.

He peeked out from behind, thankful that the monster who was in front of the statue hadn't noticed him. Or was it a monster? He only remembered the thing from horrible and painful flashbacks of scattered memories. Every time he saw that damn flower, it always meant trouble. He watched the small golden flower lean it's head down in front of the statue. It didn't take long for him to make out muttering, and soon the flower's voice. It sounded exhausted and beaten. " But nobody came... No one ever does... Why? W-Why... Chara... I'm so scared, I'm so sad. I-I'm so alone without you... I-I miss you so much! I miss you! I-I miss mom and-and dad... Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus... Sans... I miss everyone I knew! WHY DID I LISTEN TO YOU?!" The flower broke down into tears as it shuddered violently, yelling at the statue or at just the ceiling.

Sans raised a non-extant brow, how did this demon flower know him? Know his friends, his brother, and the fallen child so well to call out their names. The flower rocked itself on its stem shakily, " I'm so tired... I don't want to die... I don't want to be a flower anymore..." It eventually fell to its side in its mental broken state mumbling 'why' over and over to itself. Sans let out a frustrated sigh, looks like he wasn't going to get any peace... But maybe he could get some answers for once... The flower suddenly went stiff as a light blue glow surrounded it, making it stay on its side and not to let it up. The flower was easily pinned down to the grass and pink leaves below it. The skeleton walked out from his hiding place to walk over casually to it. He could sense the flower's LV, which wasn't too terribly high, but it still had killed a few monsters, which meant it was pretty dangerous. He'd have to keep his guard up. And since he came here for peace, he wasn't in one of his fake nonchalant moods.

" hey weed, i take it you're the one my brother talks to and about so much huh? and now i find this monster killer having a breakdown. never expected that, to be honest. so, what're you doing here yelling at a statue? this is supposed to be a peaceful garden, not one for murderers to finally have some actual guilt..."

The flower's whining turned into a harsh groan and small snarl as it tried to look at Sans, who probably had that stupid smile on his face. " My name is Flowey you piece of shit eating smiling trash bag. And this isn't just one monster's garden! So how about the great and mighty judge piss off for once?! I'm not in the mood!"

" heh, funny thing... i'm not in the mood either..." Sans said with a dangerous tone in his voice. He was mostly masking it to cover his unsteadiness of this flower knowing he was a judge. Only the king and Gerson knew that he was one. There was no way either of the two would tell such a thing to anyone, especially to a rude flower no less! " so, i'm going to ask you one more time. W H Y A R E Y O U H E R E...?"

This so-called, 'Flowey' stopped his rage and went back to sounding tired like he had before. He figured, why put up his innocent charade or threatening the other to back off. He was too tired emotionally at the moment. " Just... J-Just leave me alone..."

" and i should do that why? i can sense your lv man. and it's not terribly low either. why does a murderer need time to rest?"

" Because..." Flowey sighed and closed his eyes, not caring that the skeleton knelt down beside him to have a better look of the flower being pinned down. " That's all I'm use to by now is just being alone. You'd understand wouldn't you Sans?"

Sans was taken aback by this, again how did it know? Was it lying?! It sounded like it knew him specifically. Again, he kept a slightly irritated tone up to mask his uneasy feelings, " and how can you be so certain?"

" Heh, you know why. It's just you and your brother. Sure you have Alphys, but she doesn't talk much anymore. You constantly avoid monsters for most of the time, only talk to Grillby after everyone leaves, and keep thinking about your dad. Am I wrong?" Flowey was one known for being prideful when he knew things about monsters, to tell it in their face for a reaction. But this time he just said it so... casually like he had said it over and over for an hour long. He wasn't looking for a fight. Sans would have let up, but the flower still had some LOVE, and he didn't want to risk getting killed.

With the honesty and tiredness in the flower's voice, Sans gave up his tough act, sensing Flowey wasn't going to worm his way into his emotions. With a soft sigh he sat beside the pinned flower, rubbing the back of his neck's vertebrae. " okay bud-dy, how do you know me that well, huh?" He leaned over a tiny bit to get a better look at the flower's face, slightly irritated that the golden petals shrouded it.

Flowey took in a deep breath before exhaling and trembling. Then came a voice the skeleton blocked out for years, " Because you were my best friend..." Sans scooted away quickly in pure shock, his magic letting the flower up. Flowey groaned as he was let up and straightened out his stem, only for it to lean down again, showing he clearly didn't want to be high and mighty. The flower looked over to the skeleton, his beady eyes replaced by gentle ones, and a small sad smile across his face with those tiny fangs poking out. " Ho-H-Howdy... Sans..."

Sans' pupils vanished as he witnessed this. This is NOT AT ALL what he was expecting. He nervously pointed to Flowey, " y-y-you. but-but. your dead, that's impossible-you died-how-what?!"

" Shut up Sansy, you'll just hurt yourself." Flowey glared lightly, which made the other more uncomfortable, seeing an old friend's face glare at him. Asriel hardly ever glared, this wasn't him. Was it? " Long story short, I turned into a flower with some determination and my dust... There, happy? Now leave me alone..."

The white pupils came back as Sans' permanent smile turn upside-down, " w-what?! i-i finally see you and you want to be left alone?! d-dude, i've missed you for so long after what happened with the surfa-"

" I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" Flowey snapped out at him, snarling to the other monster. " Y-You of all monsters should know when t-to leave someone alone! Hell, you did it to me when I said I was sorry! When I asked for forgiveness! When... When I really needed a friend the most...You locked me out of your pitiful life! Frustrated with me after what I did! How was I suppose to know that, that would happen, huh?! How was I to stop it?! I'm just a worthless crybaby! I'm as worthless as you are! NO! I'm more worthless than you! Yeah, I can reset, but it never fills me with any good feeling, while a depressed stubborn monster like you can feel some type of significance!" Flowey panted harshly after he yelled out, tears streaming down his cheeks and off his bottom petals.

Sans looked down, his left pupil glowing a hazy blue. He was speechless from the shock, and well... the truth that his old friend now as a dirty little weed yelled to him. " ... i... i didn't mean it like that azzy, i'm so sorry. please, can't we just you know... talk this out? we both know we're hurt, but please, w-we can maybe work this out-" Before he could finish, he flinched harshly as the flower bellowed out.

" SHUT UP! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Flowey dug into the soft grass leaving the skeleton to recollect his already fragile mind. He would have if Flowey wasn't starting another reset, to be alone in silence of the garden to calm down, along with not worrying that Sans knew who he was now. Once back in the garden Flowey's face melted back to his innocent looking flower state and sighed in relief, " Finally... All alone again... Like always. All-"

----------------------------

Alone, Sans currently watched some type of human dribble on T.V while everyone else went shopping for the winter holidays that we're approaching them. He snuggled himself up in his old blue sweater, lazing himself on the old couch he moved from Snowdin. Hard to believe it was five months since the monsters were free. And now, his close-knit of family and friends now lived it a rather large mansion-like house together with them brought a real smile to his face for once. He had highly doubted Frisk was to keep this up... But after the third week, Frisk had shown him the broken reset button, broken in half. They told him that it could only reset the surface, and not all the way back into The Underground. It was only to be used if something devastating happened. Of course Sans didn't like the idea... But after a while and a long talk, Sans was starting to gain back some hope.

All that was left in the house was him, Frisk, Papyrus and some annoying flower Frisk insisted they bring. All he knew and remembered was that that damn flower was always bad news. Vision and nightmares would spread his mind when he saw it... Though strangely, somewhere deep inside his soul told him not to lock it out, even if it was an arrogant little shit. He didn't know why, maybe a seventh sense since a monster's sixth was magic. Maybe it was instinct? Or maybe intuition.

The small twelve-year-old child walked over to the table that lay before Sans, dropping to their knees and putting an arm at the end, then leaning their head to be placed on the hand that was raised. They sighed lightly, watching the T.V flicker whatever was on. Sans could sense something was bugging them and gave a small collective sigh in return. " hey there kiddo, i know something's up. so... what's up? ya know, besides the ceiling." He gave off a casual grin when Frisk turned to look at him, earning the skeleton a giggle when they saw his eyes look up. Frisk smiled lightly before looking down, or as well as they could... Sans could never tell if they always had their eyes closed, or were just squinting. " lemme' guess... flowey?"

" Flowey." They said quietly. Frisk wasn't one known for speaking. It's not that they were mute or didn't know how, they were just extremely shy and would rather talk with reactions and movement. But when they did talk, it was never for very long, and it was always pretty quiet.

Sans sighed loudly as he moved from his spot so his legs could reach the floor as he sat on the edge of the old green couch, " alright kiddo. what'd he do now? did he threaten you again? or did he eat a hamster or something? orrrr, is he in one of those fertile positions?" Frisk gave a puzzled look, " erm, i mean, fetal position." The child gained a slightly annoyed expression, puffing up their cheek. " okay, okay, sorry, bad joke, i shouldn't joke about it. i apologize."

Frisk's angry face went away quickly, they never could be angry at their favorite Dunkle as they like to refer to Sans as. A simple father figure who cared for their well being, but most of the time would act like a lazy uncle. Frisk got up, walked over to the skeleton, whispering something in his ear. Sans looked back, his grin growing as he couldn't help it, " tch, kid, you know we would have to drive there right? i can't just teleport you two there." Frisk nodded, giving him a pure smile of a 'please'. Sans stared at them, his grin and eyes dead set with the small heart-breaking smile. After a moment Sans broke away, " your killin' me kid, your killin' me! ugh.... okay fine, but tell paps, i don't think he and tori would approve if i rode you there on my motorcycle." Frisk's small smile turned into a rather large grin as they gave him a hug before running off to get Papyrus.

Sans shook his head, smiling to himself, it was hard to say no to the kid. Honestly, he would have taken them either way, he just wanted to win one playful stare down. He got up and slowly regretted his decision. He really shouldn't have promised Frisk to bring the flower along, but they would get upset. As he walked along upstairs and to a hall or two, he wondered why Frisk wanted to help the thing out so much. It was always so rude, stubborn, and threatening. It liked poking fun at people, talking about their insecurities, and making them crackdown... So why help it? Sans thought it was a lost cause, even if somewhere inside told him he was wrong for whatever strange reason.

He stood right outside Frisk's door and mentally cursed at himself before reaching the handle to turn it. He paused, hoping the thing was asleep. Then he wouldn't have to worry about hearing it bitch at him. However, when he opened the door, he expected the flower to start harassing him on the spot, or to be sleeping if he was lucky. He was half lucky and half not. The flower wasn't spitting curses at him, but it wasn't asleep. The flower's stem dropped down to the side, the petals covering its smug little face. Sans stepped in closely, trying not to make much noise, but the gold flower knew he was there. It turned its head to face him, giving a small glance, letting Sans see how tired it was. Flowey looked utterly exhausted, like recovering from a mental break-down, filled up with apathy. " hey."

Sans expected an immediate reaction of being almost hit by 'friendliness pellets' but they were never launched. A small shiver went up his spine, this was not normal behavior from the flower. He had gotten use to Frisk acting this way, but never the bitter flower. " what are you moping around for? one of your daisy friends pushing up outside?" Still no response, not even another glance or a slight glare. This was more creepy than Flowey tried to be, which had him worry for Frisk's sake. Sans steadied himself as he let a blue-hued aura pick up the flower's pot and bring it over to him as he walked out the room and down the hallways.

Flowey perked up very lightly, " What are you doing?" He sounded tired, miserable, and weak.

" oh, look who's awake. morning sunflower, frisk wants to take you somewhere." Another long pause until Sans realized Flowey wasn't going to talk, " what? no angry banter? i'm not sure if i call that a win or not. or your just not giving me any type of satisfaction."

" Do you really want me to talk to you?"

" not really, i'm just use to you screaming and throwing shit at me." Sans eventually made it out the front door, walking over to his brother's car to meet up with Frisk and Papyrus. " hey kiddo, here's your pet plant. maybe i should bring my pet rock for him to talk to."

" SANS! STOP TEASING POOR FLOWEREY! HE'S HAVING A BAD DAY, FROM WHAT DEAR FRISK HAS TOLD ME." Sans shrugged as he caught a quick glance, noticing the flower shuddered from the mention of the rock. He would have asked, but would rather not want to upset the other two. Frisk held out their hands, Sans letting the pot covered in the words, 'best friends' scribbles to them. They all went into Papyrus' car, which looking back on it, it was hilarious that Papyrus was actually pretty decent at driving. Maybe all those years of being in a race-car bed and following the rules were a good thing in the long run. As the car took off, Papyrus set up some music from who other than Mettaton's newest album. Sans slouched himself in the passenger's seat, keeping a lazy eye on Frisk who sat in the back holding the flower pot.

Frisk leaned over to tug on their dunkle's sweater. Sans raised a non-extant eyebrow, giving them a soft smile, " sup kiddo?" They pointed to his sweater then to Flowey, then covered their eyes with their tiny hands before peeking out to him. Sans chuckled, rolling his eyes, " okay, okay, i just hope you know i haven't taken this thing off for a while."

" THAT IS WHY I MUST PRY IT FROM YOU EVERY OTHER WEEK! HOW CAN YOU WEAR THAT THING WITHOUT CLEANING IT?!"

" i'm a-costumed to it." Giving out a chuckle, mixed with Frisk's giggle made the younger brother glare with a deep frown.

" SANS!"

" you know you love it." Sans' lazy grin grew, receiving a defeated sigh.

" I DO... " Sans for once took off the sweater, handing it to Frisk who then draped it over Flowey.

" Wh-what? Frisk?"

" don't worry your petals off, frisk just wants this to be a surprise for you is all." Sans envied how the flower could lay under his favorite sweater. He'd love to do that and fall asleep under it.

BUT SERIOUSLY HOW LONG HAVE YOU'VE HAD THAT THING?! DIDN'T YOU USE TO WEAR IT AS A CHILD?!"

" ehh, maybe, i lost track." He gave a lazy shrug, doing his best to avoid that topic.

Papyrus happen to see Frisk tilt their head from the front mirror, " OH! I'M SORRY FRISK! I DON'T BELIEVE I EVER TOLD YOU ABOUT US! WE WERE JUST TWO LITTLE BABY BONES, ALONE FOR THE LONGEST TIME! NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT... I CAN'T SEEM TO REMEMBER MUCH. SANS WAS I POPULAR BACK THEN?! HAVING MANY FRIENDS?!"

Sans closed his eyes, preparing himself, this was going to be a bumpy ride... " course bro, but they all moved out into the capital." He leaned over to Frisk, shaking his head lightly to say, 'no he didn't'. Frisk gave Sans a half-hearted smile. Sad that it wasn't true but couldn't help but find it funny from San's expression.

" YOU KNOW... I THINK THE ONLY FRIENDS YOU HAD BACK IN THE DAY WERE ALPHYS AND GRILLBY!"

" yeah, that sounds about right."

Papyrus' face went into thinking mode, which often worried his elder brother. It meant either he would recall something unpleasant, have a crazy idea, or hopefully, in Sans' case, just a dud thought. " I THINK... I THINK SANS HAD ANOTHER FRIEND... IT'S HARD TO REMEMBER, BUT I'M SURE OF IT! I CAN'T REMEMBER THEIR NAME EVER SINCE-WHAT HAPPEN? A ROCK HIT MY HEAD?"

" yup."

" I DO REMEMBER THEM EVER SO SLIGHTLY. THEY WERE ONE OF THE FRIENDLIEST MONSTERS AROUND! BUT I THINK SANS STOPPED CONTACT WITH THEM BECAUSE HE WAS TOO BUSY TAKING CARE OF HIMSELF AND ME, WHICH I APOLOGIZE FOR SANS."

Frisk watched Sans somewhat sink into his chair, being even more uncomfortable as he couldn't hide under his sweater. " it's fine paps..."

" I WONDER WHAT EVER HAPPEN TO THEM..." Papyrus' general happy face was now shrouded by a slight worry.

Chapter Text

" RED DOVER, RED DOVER! LET PAPYRUS COME OVER!" Shouted five children who stood side-by-side, each holding out their arms and gripping each other's claws as tight as possible. Papyrus grinned and took off running across the white flaked field of snow that seem to come from nowhere. He surged through with his large red boots carrying him past small snow piles. He tucked in his arms against his brown leather coat and charged into two of the other children's arms, both giving way and letting go of one another, soon making them fall over along with Papyrus who fell into the soft snow with a loud crunch, face forward. The other kids shrieked fro being knocked back, but soon sat up laughing as Papyrus popped out from the thicket of snow. Papyrus gasped out and then hopped up cheering as the two kids he pummeled congratulated him. " Wowie! Papy you were soooo awesthwome!" A bright blue bunny cheered with a lisp.

" WELL SO WERE YOU NICE!" The blue bunny that was neighbors with the skeleton giggled. " AND SO DID YOU BURGY!" Papyrus smiled brightly over to a tan cat-like monster who still had some baby fat. He looked down shyly as his face was swaddled into a large orange scarf. The poor thing had large earmuffs, a large scarf, a pink coat, and blue rubber boots much like the skeletons.

" O-oh...uhm... Thanks." He said quietly, trying to remain like that, but with his tail fluffing up and swaying softly meant otherwise that he was pretty content and happy. Papyrus moved his arms over the two other toddler's shoulders with a big dorky smile.

" nice job bro, but now it's our turn to show you what we're made of!" Sans leaned over to peek his head from behind another child who was standing beside him.

" HMF! YOU'RE ON BROTHER! NYEH!" Papyrus confidently yelled out as he ran back to his team which consented of Undyne, Alphys, himself, and two toddlers Alpyhs had brought along. The two toddlers were apparently good friends with the nerdy lizard, a plump purple cat monster in an over-sized strip shirt of blue and black. The other was a lanky gator looking one with blonde hair, wearing an over-sized shirt as well, only with pink and yellow stripes. Meanwhile, Sans' small group was made of himself, Asriel, Nice, Burgy, and another new friend who was good friends with Sans and Undyne named Doggo. Doggo was the youngest brother of two of royal guards, he donned a pink hoody with cheetah print pants. The pup also came along with rounded black glasses and a cane with the tip being red, Sans explained that Doggo wasn't really blind, but his eyesight was horrible even with glasses. So he was given the two objects to get use to his surroundings until he would develop into an adult and grow a sharper sense of hearing and smelling.

Once Papyrus got back to his team, he proudly held onto Undyne's hand who in turn held Alphy's, which held the gator like Bratty, who in turn held the other, Catty. Undyne shined a large happy grin on her face as she glared playfully at the other team, easily making Asriel fidget. Sans, of course, knew Undyne was trying to play it off as being competitive, but she was probably just super happy to hold the yellow lizard's claw, seeing as how the Alphys was doing her best to hide her glowing cheeks under her white scarf. He swore, Alphys was a puffy marshmallow with an inside filling of lemon considering she wore a rather puffy white jacket, along with a round white fuzzy cap.

Sans felt Asriel fidget and calmed him down rather easily, " hey, it's okay. you know undyne's just like that cuz' she's holding claws with alphys right?" Asriel looked to him before looking back over noticing Alphys was hiding like a turtle from her red blush. Asriel smiled to her, feeling proud of her for actually having the courage to hold hands, even if it was under cover of being in a game. Asriel was a bit of a romanticist, and would often smile when he saw a couple get along so well, or hear sweet things.

Sans chuckled a bit as he held onto Asriel's paw, while holding onto Doggo's. Asriel's other paw held onto Nice who in turn held onto Burgy's. Undyne chatted to her teammates of who to pick next to try and break their line, and after some discussion, they all nodded and shouted out, " RED DOVER, RED DOVER! LET ASRIEL COME OVER!" Both Sans and Nice released the prince's paws, who jumped slightly as his name was called. He was busy thinking that it came as a surprise for them to actually call him over. But after a stunted second, he took off to the other group, aiming for Bratty and Catty. He was about to let up a bit, not wanting to hurt the two until he caught something glowing from the corner of his eye. He looked over, only to squint at the glowing, and hardly noticed something was thrown before him, making him trip and land face first into the crunchy snow.

The opposing team gasped and quickly split up, running over to him, Catty and Bratty both ran to his side, helping him up, reviling a new purple mark around his eye. He sat down in the snow sniffling, hiding his black eye with a white paw. His team noticed something wrong when Alphys ran over to Asriel, getting on her knees to get a better view of the goat kid. Sans dispersed his group, letting them all run over to the Prince's side. Sans got onto a knee next to Asriel's side, trying to find out what was wrong. " A-Asriel, move your p-paw, I ne-need to see i-if you're alright o-or not." Stuttered out Alphys who was also known for helping with minor injuries. Asriel shook his head as tears popped out, clutching his eye more.

Sans put his hand on Asriel's back, rubbing it calmly, " hey buddy, it's okay. we really need to see if it's serious or not. can you move it just a lil' itty bitty tiny bit? if we're lucky, we won't hafta' get some eye-odine." Undyne groaned slightly as for Papyrus to give his older brother a hard stare while the other snickered. Asriel soon smiled and giggled himself as he put away his paw to his side.

Undyne was first to speak of, " AW MAN! HE'S GOT A SHINER!"

" Wh-What's a-a shiner?" Asriel sniffled slightly as Alphys instructed Nice to find some clean snow who started to bounce around finding some, quickly clumping it up together.

" It means ya got a black eye punk. Almost like you've been in a fight, but it'll be okay. I've gotten plenty of them."

" yeah, just like that time you were so mad you threw a ball and it ricochets off something only to smack you in the eye?" Undyne glared in response, puffing up her gills and cheeks as for her to say, 'don't mention that to me again.' The reaction of her and Sans' calm demeanor gave the others and Asriel something to giggle about. Once Nice gave Alphys the ice, she put it over Asriel's bruised eye.

" I-I'm n-not good at-at healing magic, b-but hold this on it, i-it'll keep the swelling d-down unt-until we get to your mom."

Papyrus tugged his brother's arm and pointed over to Doggo who had been standing nearby with his ears twitching. " hey doggo, what's up?"

Doggo turned his head to the side and sniffed the air before his ears lowered back as he gave out a small growl, " This wasn't an accident. I smell cologne... Brand, Old Sweet."

"brand old sweet-ohhh no..." Sans' permanent smile went to a frown which was rarely ever seen. Undyne groaned as well.

" Not those friggin idiots.." She muttered, rubbing her temples. Asriel noticed that Nice and Burgy hid behind Papyrus and Undyne. Bratty and Catty sensed the tone and hid behind Alphys. All of this made Asriel confused while the other three glared up a snowy hill filled with trees.

" Wh-What's going on?" He quietly asked, only to have his answer walk down the small slope. A rather large green tinted bird with sunglasses led a group of a monster with one large eye, a swooping fish, a rather well toned seahorse, a faun with a rather ugly purple sweater Also among them was another fish with stunning hair, with a light poking from their head, a small hamster with over-sized sunglasses with green hair, an angry bug, and something that seemed to be a cross between a cat and dog. " W-Who are they?"

" The Forest Teen bullies. Frostdrake, Glyde, Baron, Faunly, Slyrin, Punky, Migossip, and Bob... There's more and seems like Chillydrake is leading for now instead of their normal leader whose more of a jerk than all of them combined..." Asriel gulped, what the heck was a bully? And why did they look so smug and mean? Certainly, a monster wouldn't try to harm or humiliate another... Right?

" Sup chumps?!" Said the green tinted bird-like monster who grinned over to them. " Don't you kiddies know you're near OUR neck of the woods?"

" We're near town too, dipshit!" Spat out Undyne who was in full tilt anger mode.

" Yeah but you're also near OUR WOODS."

" U-Uhm excuse m-me, but they're not 'Your Wood's'. They belong to every monster underground." Said a confused Asriel. Undyne and Sans looked over to the prince with widened eyes, had Asriel not known about bullies?!

" Is that so puff-ball? Well uh, I don't see anyone else saying that, not even adults!" Asriel questioned being called a puff-ball for a brief moment as Frostdrake's gang laughed.

" W-Well yeah... But you don't see The King running around saying that this is mine and not yours." Sans tried to interrupt, as well as Undyne and Alphys, but the bird spoke up first.

" Oh man! This kid's a narc! Sans what the hell man?! Where did you find this lousy empty-headed little bitch?! Why are you hanging around him?! Hell, why any of them?! You and Undyne are the only cool ones, so why drag these losers with you?!" Asriel started to shift into tears, he had never known a single monster who called him such names before. He noticed the toddlers started to sniffle as well as he did. Were they really not wanted there? Unfortunately Frostdrake caught the sight of the goat's tears, " HOLY SHIT! ARE YOU CRYING?! I expected that from the babies but not you, new kid! Crying is for babies, like those near you, not big kids!" He laughed out as the other young teens joined him, pointing out and calling him a crybaby.

Asriel curled up while Undyne, Doggo, and Sans stood up in front of their group. Doggo snarled to the group, making some of them flinch once he snapped the air. Undyne, however, snatched up the well-toned Baron over her head, making him suddenly grow still. " A-AH! GUYS! A GIRL IS PICKING ME UP! HELP! GUYS? G-GUYS-AHHHHHH!" Undyne chucked him a good 20 feet, making him land in a pile of snow. All that came out with a weak and shaky thumbs up.

" WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!" Undyne challenged forth. The swooping fish who hovered in the air sprung to her only to be smacked with Doggo's cane. After being dizzy in the air, the husky smacked him in different angles until Glyde flopped over onto some of the other bullies. All the bullies carried him away and ran to receive Baron before fleeing to the forest. All that was left was Frostdrake who snarled at them and ruffled his feathers.

" FINE! Be that way y-you lesbian, nerd, baby bones, babies, a-and crybaby!" He shouted out only for Sans' pupils to vanish into his eye sockets. This made the bird freeze up rather quickly as Sans' had his grin back up.

" hey... chill out drake... but, if i catch you and your goonies messing with my friends, especially with my new one and paps. well, you've got my goat for sure. but i'm not talking about him... i'm talking about how you pissed me off. so lemme' ask you... do you really... really... W A N T A B A D T I M E?" Frostdrake's feathers smoothed down, even more than they normally were, making him appear as skinny. He gulped and ran away, letting the group hear a scared cluck. Once he left, Sans and Undyne had calmed down and escorted them back to Snowdin.

Sans put his hand on Asriel's shoulder as they walked, with Asriel still covering his eye with the ice, " guess you don't know what bullies are huh?" The goat nodded, making Sans sigh, " bullies are those who think their bigger and tougher, and act mean just because they can and get away with it. they mainly do it to feel better about themselves or just like watching others break down. just don't mind them and stick up for yourself dude. well, at best you can. and hey, if they ever bother you again, lemme' know." Asriel smiled gently to his new friend. " hehe, now let's go get you healed up before your mom has a conniption."

Sans fiddled with his hands, frowning a bit as his baby brother took his daily nap. He sat at the couch not really paying attention to whatever was on T.V and just thinking to himself. He was in such deep thought that he hadn't even noticed his father walking and locking the door up. A skeletal hand with a hole in the palm was put on Sans' shoulder, jolting him to jump up and fall onto his side on the emerald couch. He looked up without his pupils, only to find his father have a puzzled look behind his glasses. Sans soon calmed himself down, sitting back to where he was before, rubbing the back of his neck bones with a soft sigh, " aw jeez dad... y-you scared the crap outta' me. i see your home early, sup with that?" He went back into his default casual grin mode, not fooling the older skeleton.

Gaster put some papers onto a nearby table before taking a seat right next to his son, giving a somewhat stern look. " The king told me to take the day off since he is attending his son with the queen at his side... The prince came back with a black eye, you know of this right? The king specifically asked you, Undyne, and Alphys to watch over him."

Sans' smile faltered as his pupils went to the floor, ashamed of himself, " ... we didn't hurt him. it was an accident, he tripped and hurt his eye. we did the best we could dad."

Gaster's hardened stare soon broke down as his mouth spread into a small smile. He chuckled to himself patting the baby bones' head as if he was trying to ruffle unseen hair. " That's my boy. I just wanted to make sure the story checked out. The Prince told us he had tripped as well and that you three did try your best to attend to his black eye... AND while watching over five toddlers with the blind pup. I'm surprised you all handled each other so well, and for that, I am proud of you."

Sans giggled as he was patted and blushed up from parental embarrassment, " daaaad, you're embarrassing me!"

" Oh really? To who? The T.V?" Gaster grinned, making Sans flail lightly at his father's hand to get him away.

" to myseeeeelf! but seriously dad, hehehe, doggo isn't blind, he just can't see that well is all."

" Okay, I apologize for that. Ah, he'll make a find Royal Guard when he's older, I'm sure of it."

" well yeah, his family is in the royal guard, i'd think he would... and since azzy is the prince, he'll be king... and since i have a pretty good i.q. i'll be like you, then huh?"

" Only if you want to be Sans. I won't force you into it, though it would help me with my research-"

" so does that also let me be a 'judge'?" Gaster froze in silence. His soul skipped a beat when he heard his son say it sneakily. Sans managed to worm into the conversation of 'Judges'. Gaster didn't budge, yet his white pupils did, looking over to Sans who was now smirking to the scientist, as to say, ' gotcha'. The scientist closed his eyes and sighed deeply before opening them and turning to his child. Sans was now regretting doing this since his father's eyes glowed with a misty purple haze, covering the pupils. Sans only saw this when his father was super serious, extremely upset, or very angry. He hoped for the latter as he gulped. Gaster was a man of science, he would smoke, but that was the extent of doing anything. He wasn't physical but would, however, make his children sit in their room for hours on end, and talking to them in a tone that would make the strongest of monsters shiver.

Thankfully, he wasn't in the angered mood, but in serious. He still kept up the tone that scared the two from head to the toe bones. " Sans... Where did you acquire this information...?"

The small skeleton tried to make himself smaller by curling up a tad, " ... mister gerson... y-you're... you're not mad a-are you?"

With a long inhale and exhale, Gaster leaned over to hold onto Sans, hugging him gently, " No Sans. I am not... I just thought maybe... I would be able to tell you everything when you were a bit older. But you're curious as I was around your age. And just about as smart too." Gaster set the small skeleton on his lap, rubbing his back. " Sans... Do you know the reason you don't have a mother?"

" ... uhh, you got divorced? we're adopted? but personally, i thought we were just test tube babies."

Gaster gave him a look of 'What? Why would you think that?'. Gaster placed pinched where the top of his nose would be, shutting his eyes, making Sans giggle out.

" N-No... No Sans... Though, you are correct about some of it. Look, let me just start with, yes I was and still technically am a Judge. I wasn't the only one-"

" yeah he said there was another, so like you have a brother or a sister or something right?"

" Sans. Please... Anyways, the other was your mother. Neither of you would remember her. A human made her fall down, and well, let's just say... It didn't end well for them. After the humans won and drove us into The Underground, I worked day and night to save the only thing that might be able to live."

" m-me and paps?"

" Indeed. I had to take you both out and put you into large tubes of magic to let you both grow. You two were very weak. So I had to put in a bit more magic to keep the two of you alive." Gaster looked at his hands, clutching them both, letting his fingers slide through the hole on his palms."

" you... you did that to yourself?"

" Well, I had to give part of my magic to the both of you, so yes. I erm... Had to extract each hand for each of you. Hands are known for being a heavy area of concentrated magic-"

" whoa wait, what about monsters that don't have any?"

" Heh, Sans, all monster's magic work in many other ways, it's not just hands. Hands are just the most typically used. But there you go, I and your mother were Judges for the King Asgore, and that's how you two were made, by putting in more magic into your developing soul until you grew to have a body."

" .... theeeen why is paps younger than me?"

" His body needed more time, so technically you two WOULD have been born at the same time, but the world of magic works in mysterious ways. So, anything else?"

Sans tapped his chin with a bony white finger before looking to his dad for answers again, " ... what was mom like? did you two love each other? did she know the king, queen, and prince?"

Gaster's smile from remembering everything soon lowered a bit. " ... She was kind in her own way. She was lovely and strong, with a heart of gold. She was much like The Queen, except a bit more quick-tempered. But as sweet and gentle as Papyrus."

" so... she was like paps? does that mean she was-"

" Courageous, strong, and highly educated."

San's stared at his dad who was beaming before Sans raised a non extant brow with a small smirk, " you were the nerd that fell in love with her and she's the one who took you out on a date when you were too shy to ask her at that moment weren't you?" Gaster's expression went cold, his pupils gone, with a small pout on his face. His child, on the other hand, let his grin spread across his face, knowing he was right. After a small moment of silence, Gaster coughed and went on.

" Anyways... Yes, she was quite good friends with The Queen, Alphy's fruity dad along with her mom, Gerson, and Undyne's uncle. However, she never did get to meet the young prince..."

Sans waited for his father to speak up again, knowing he hadn't answered the love question. But from the way he stayed silent and frowned as his eyes were in the middle of recollection of his wife, he could easily tell what their relationship was. " you really miss her, don't you?" It had been the second time he ever saw the older skeleton cry, while the first was relief that Papyrus finally woke up, thinking he wasn't going to make it from the tubes. Sans pressed himself against his father and hugged him and patted his back like he had done to him. Gaster leaned down to hug his tiny son tightly. Sans now fully knew where he came from, his father's secrets, his mother, and how Gaster felt when she wouldn't wake back up. Gaster... The poor old-

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Skeleton was at his typical booth or how Papyrus referred to it as his station. His head on the counter with his blue hood slung over his head, snoring ever so slightly under it. He hadn't any customers today, and for his brother's sake, no humans had shown themselves. All in all, it was a day for him to get some sleep from the constant night terrors he would have in the middle of the night, one time almost blowing open his whole room with his Gaster-Blaster... Sans hated for his younger energy bound brother to take care of him with such silly things, only because Sans was the older of the two. He was supposed to be the one to care for Papyrus, but the times had changed...

He lazily opened an eye and sat up, stretching out by popping some bones and yawning out, his breath showing from the icy air around him. He knew there was always one teen who forgot their lunch and would often sit with the skeleton as they purchased a hotdog or cat, or whichever was at this time. Sans took a glance at the clock that hung on the wall inside the booth, telling him it was 2 PM. Sans pulled his hood back, straitening up his to double check the clock. He squinted at the clock, thinking to himself. " what in the hell?" That kid always came around at twelve thirty at noon, and even if Sans was sleeping he'd poke the skeleton to wake up. Something was wrong, was the kid sick? No, he saw him and their friends a half hour before twelve. Even then monsters never got truly sick, only catching a cold instead. Sans started to worry, what if the kid fell down? What if he got lost with his friends? What if he got trapped and was calling for help?! What if-

Something then blew into Sans' eye sockets, making him rub at the substance. He turned over to see a trail of gray particles go by when some wind had caught it, making it swirl past the booth. He curiously poked his head out as the wind stopped for a moment so he could inspect the grains. Both eyes sunk into the blackness of his sockets and a blue hue formed in his left eye. He quickly got up from his chair, pushing it into the snow and vanishing within a second.

" AH N-NO-NONONO! NO PLEA-EAAAAAAAACK!" A snow cap had a long green and thick vine pierce through his eye and back out its head. Other forest teens shook as they witnessed their friend shattered into dust. A golden flower was above the ground, it's stem like a snake's body as it stood out from the frost covered ground.

" Okay~! Now, let's see, let's see... Whose turn is it next-Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't run, remember what happen to your first friend?!" Flowey snapped out to another Ice Cap, who then froze and slowly turned to watch the flower. " That's what I thought... Hmm..." Flowey gazed around the group of teenagers before spotting a green and blue colored bird wearing sunglasses. Sure it was the younger brother of THAT one drake, but still looked almost the same. Flowey's grin turned into one made of malice, as his cold stare locked onto the drake. " You! What's your name friend~?" He giggled out while the drake stood in front of a smaller one, who was colored as light blue, and much younger than any of the other teens.

" C-Chilldrake!" The tougher teen shook in place, sunglasses covering the fear in his eyes.

" Golly! What a nice name! Say, Chilldrake? Do you LOVE your little brother?" He got an immediate nod as Flowey's gaze looked to the smaller bird. A vine shot out from the ground, making Chilldrake and the other split away from each other. " Now, now, don't worry, you'll be able to go back to protecting him in a moment. I just want to ask... That you do LOVE HIM?! DON'T YOU?!" He demanded an answer, which he got.

" OF COURSE I-I DO!"

" Hmm, funny, let's see how much you." Flowey chuckled darkly as a vine near the stem shot out to the smaller bird. Chilldrake lunged in front of his brother, making the vine halt. Chilldrake sighed in relief as the vine didn't go through his body, but it did move around him and pushed him aside. " Amazing! A teenager who actually loves something other than himself! YOU ALL SHOULD LEARN FROM CHILL HERE, YOU COWARDS!" The other teens flinched as he yelled out. Flowey then smiled innocently to the younger bird, " Annnd, what's your name friend~?" He asked sweetly.

" S-S-Sn-Snowy... S-S-Sir."

" OOH! SIR?! I like you!" Flowey bowed his head to Snowy before locking his eyes onto him, " Now Snowy... I'm not a bad guy, you can trust me. I just want you all to learn something is all. The only reason your other friends died was because, well, they were rude. I mean why would someone throw a snowball with a rock in it at such a tiny little flower whose all alone in this cold world? And well, the other was rude by leaving when I was trying to explain things." Snowy gulped, his feathers puffing up and smoothing down, as he tried to control them. " Now, Snowy... Do YOU LOVE your brother?"

" Y-Y-Yes... Ye-Yes s-sir..."

" Let's see if that's true, okay?" Flowey gave him a wink as another vine sprung out to strike Chilldrake. It stopped and Chilldrake's breath hitched as it was dangerously close to skewering him. Snowy was frozen solid, he couldn't comprehend what was going on, he wasn't as brave as his brother, and stood there shaking like a leaf with tears flowing down his feathers. He was too scared to budge, he just couldn't, no matter what. All he could do was watch in horror. Flowey's vine withdrew as he frowned.

" You must really love him, huh? But... You weren't brave enough. You just stood there... Like a crybaby, and didn't do a thing... Even if your brother cried for help, you wouldn't have been able to do anything would you?" Snowy fell to his knees bawling his eyes out. A slender vine wrapped around his shoulder as the tip patted his head. Snow clung onto the thicker part of the vine as the tip wiped away his tears. The teens who were as scared as him could have sworn they heard Flowey's tone change. Or was it his voice? Something far different as he whispered, " ... It's okay, I understand... I couldn't save him either... I was always a crybaby..."

A vine shot out from behind Chilldrake, skewering him through the chest, making all the rest tense up, and Snowy stop his blubbering as he sat there traumatized. Chilldrake couldn't even talk as he put a wing up to the vine, slowly looking down before his soul split in half, making him turn to dust. Flowey sighed, " You HAVE TO BE STRONG! NOT A LITTLE CRYBABY! Otherwise, these THINGS WILL ALWAYS HAPPEN TO YOU!" Snowy was no longer there, he didn't react, even when a vine was waved across his face. Another sigh came from the flower, " Oh you'll get over it..." He waited for a response, only getting one as Snowy fell to his side in the snow still with that horrified expression, " Damn, broke another toy... Welp, guess I'll keep in mind that you break easily... OKAY, CLASS! NOW WHOSE TURN IS IT?!"

" M I N E."

" Wait, wh-" Spiked bones shot through his vines, making him gasp out and retreating to into the ground.

" go! now!" The teens ran as one grabbed Snowy, seeing as the others were too frightened. Sans stood there waiting for the flower to reemerge. He kept waiting while in the dirt Flowey was mentally preparing himself... Only to hear a soft hum... Oh, wait... A laser of pure energy shot through his tiny body, making a crater around him before he himself burned up into the energy into nothing.

...

Flowey woke up and looked around gasping, he was in the royal garden, " Sans, what the hell, I was teaching them a lesson like you taught me and-... Sans?... SANS?! ... Hello?! ... ASGORE?! .... Chara? ... Anyone...? ...." Flowey leaned forward, his petals drooping, waiting for someone to talk to him when he was in a bad mood... But no one came...
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Flowey laid under Sans' blue tinted sweater, memories starting surfacing in the back of his mind, making him curl up into a ball as well as he could. He felt like crying, crying for help, but didn't want anyone to see him having a breakdown. He wasn't a crybaby, he had to not be! He... He wasn't Asriel anymore... Was he? Just as he was about to start crying and to change his facade face to normal, there was a small tug of the sweater. He stayed still as it was pulled away, letting his beady eyes look around to view tons of different types of plants and flowers, surrounding a large glass dome the group was in. Frisk had placed his pot on a stone bench, trees growing up above, butterflies hovering by with honey bees and hummingbirds. The dome seemed to have two or more dome to the side, opening up to more flowers and beekeeper hives, while the other side let people walk up a hill where a waterfall was gushing out. The water went down and went around the center dome and inside of it a bit, where water flowers, plants, and koi-filled the man-made river.

Frisk smiled to the teary-eyed flower who was trying his best not to cry. Frisk meanwhile tugged at Sans as they handed his sweater back as Flowey was entranced with the building. " heh thanks, kid. well, i'll be over at the waterfall if ya need me-" As Sans turned around to take a step, Frisk grabbed onto his coat. He looked over to them, he knew that look... That plain look with no expression... " kid, don't you try being determined to make me stay put with the weed. Frisk's expression didn't change as Sans stared at them, their hand gripped the sweater and tugged Sans over, almost making him fall over. Sans sighed as he watched Frisk point to the emotional emotionless flower... Wow, that was ironic.

Sans leaned over to Frisk's side, " kid, i'm not talking to the weed. sure he looks all nice and isn't being his normal self, but he'll snap out and lash like a snap-dragon, so-" Before Sans could continue his argument Frisk let go, walking up to the younger and taller skeleton, beckoning him to lean over to speak into where he would have ears. Sans immediately turned around, slowly sneaking away. Nope, he wasn't dealing with this! Nope! He was out! Out of sight and out of mi-

" SANS!" Well... Shit. The lazy skeleton turned around putting up his casual grin for his brother, while giving a small glance at the child, showing off a blue glowing eye for a split-second. Frisk didn't even flinch, and instead rather gave a smug smile. " SANS, ME AND FRISK ARE TO GO OUT TO THE THRIFT SHOP THEY HAVE HERE TO BUY SOME NEW PLANTS FOR ASGORE! CAN YOU PLEASE SPEND TIME WITH FLOWEY?"

" well, i-"

" OH LOOK! THEY HAVE A WATERFALL HERE! I REMEMBER HOW YOU WENT TO THE WATERFALL, PASSING BY THE ECHO FLOWERS AND GOING INTO SOME TYPE OF GARDEN! OR WAS IT A BENCH...? ANYWHO, HOW ABOUT YOU TAKE FLOWEY OVER THERE WITH YOU? I'M SURE YOU TWO COULD HAVE A NICE CHAT, GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER A LITTLE BETTER?"

Sans put up a finger bone, while looking up at his baby bro who had the most happiest and gentle smile spread across his skull. He just couldn't deny a request from his brother after all they'd been through. The finger slowly lowered down with a defeated shrug. " oh okay bro... oh man, waterway to go..." He said, rubbing the back of his head, having Papyrus give a glare as Frisk bided their time.

" OH MY GOD! SANS?! REALLY?! WE ARE OUT IN PUBLIC?! NYEH! ARG! COME ALONG FRISK." Frisk snickered, every time Papyrus freaked out over a pun, was just too much for them. They held Papyrus' glove and before turning around, they gave a thumbs up to Sans. Sans looked rather irritated as he gave a solid glare before sighing to himself and muttering, " i can't be mad at you..."

With a click of his tongue that stayed inside his skull and could be conjured up whenever Sans walked over to the downed feeling flower. He poked the pot, making him and Flowey vanish without a trace, just to spontaneously pop up at the highest point of the water which had a nice bench and an oriental umbrella above it.

" Urgh... Why must you do that?!" Seemed Flowey was starting to feel like his old self again. Sans gave a small simple shrug, only for Flowey to go back to moping. Well, that didn't last long... Why did Frisk drag him into talking to the weed? Flowey hated him, and he wasn't quite fond of the fern himself.

" okay, what's up? the kid won't leave me alone until i talk to you. if you don't cooperate, frisk will make you talk somehow, some way."

The flower groaned, knowing this was true. Frisk was not only determined, but VERY persistent. " After being up here for who knows how long-"

" five months."

Flowey glared over at Sans who was still keeping count, even though he knew Frisk couldn't truly reset everything. " AS I WAS SAYING... I feel empty-and before you make a joke of how I'm empty-headed, all I can say is up yours, you hollow skulled bitch." "rude." " I feel more empty than I use to... Just asking myself, why...? I know you did the same but eventually stopped seeing as you've gained some hope. But why? Why did Frisk come and get me? Why not leave me down there where I'm supposed to rot?"

" eh, i couldn't tell ya, that's for sure. though, maybe they just pity you, or you make them feel guilty, or maybe they for some odd reason think of you as a friend. hell, maybe even a brothe-"

" DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT THEY THINK OF ME AS A BROTHER!" Flowey shrieked out as small vines popped out from the soil he was in, flailing like a pissed off cat's tail.

Sans leaned away ever so slightly, not really intimidated, just more of startled. " okay, note to self, don't bring up siblings... lemme' guess, it's cuz you miss your flower sibling that grew all over in the underground, huh?"

Flowey twitched before looking down, his vines relaxing, " No... I just miss them... But thinking about it, they were the worst. And I listened to them. Now I'm t-this...No good emotions, only negative. No one remembers me... Not even my best friend."

Sans' normal smile faded away, " whoa, hold up there weeping willow tree... you had friends? you had emotions? you had a sibling?"

Flowey sighed and laid down in the dirt of his pot again, " I already vented this to Frisk... And oddly, they want me to vent to you, not sure why, it's a waste of time."

" true that."

" But... I know you won't think anything about it if I told you since well, you don't care."

" true that."

" A long time ago, I had a sibling, but they weren't the right one for me... All I can express anymore is anger, apathy, sorrow, pride, and hatred... I want to contact my best friend, but they'll deny me no matter what, so I can't even tell them anything personal... All because I'm this..."

" true that" said Sans, half paying attention, but not full of it.

" Because I'm a crybaby..."

" true that." Sans was starting to drift to sleep.

" Because my friend won't get it through his skull that he's too much of a stubborn little bitch skeleton."

Sans sat up instead of slumping over more, " whoa, wait what?!" Sans watched flower look at the water, not saying a thing. " annnd, back to the silent treatment..."

Chapter Text

The young prince was currently making his way down The Waterfalls holding a small container of possibly the best pies ever, made by his mother. Half cinnamon, half butterscotch, all sugary and delicious pie. It was a true delicacy next to snail pie for Asriel. He waggled his stubby white puffball of a tail, thinking of how he was to enjoy this with his new friend and the younger brother, perhaps even the royal scientist if he wasn't strapped down to work. He passed by Gerson's store, giving a wave, and to get one back from the old monster. Undyne poked her head from behind the counter and quickly ran into the back of the room before vaulting herself over the counter and dashing out the store. She soon caught up with the younger monster and grinned.

" Hey Prince Fluff! What's goin' on?!" Asriel gave her a tiny glare, but soon snickered, knowing she was only playing around. As for monsters calling him names, Undyne was an acceptance since she never truly meant it to be hurtful. And besides, he had seen how Sans and the fish girl called each other things, poking fun at one another. It made him happy that they never meant it and we're great friends.

" Morning Miss Pufferfish~! I'm off to deliver this pie to Sans and Papyrus!" He said with a large happy smile across his furry face. Undyne grabbed a hold of his shoulder, giving him a dangerous and threatening glare. He squeaked lightly, cowering from her grip.

Undyne bared her sharp teeth, staring directly into his eyes until the snarl turned into her famous grin. She let go, only to pull him over and give him a fierce noogie on his head, " OHOHO MAN! YOU'RE LEARNING TO BE A REAL KID!"

Asriel winced from the noogie of death as Sans called it, " I-I wasn't before?" Sure the noogie hurt, but not health damaging, more of a minor annoyance and burn considering the girl was always rough, no matter what. Undyne laughed as she unhanded him, making sure the pie didn't fall.

" Well yeah, but ya never had the guts to call me anything! You're learning well punk, you're learning well. I see that black eye got healed up nicely!" She gave a toothy smile as she walked along with Asriel who nodded cheerfully as she noticed the bruise was gone, snatching up an umbrella from the umbrella holder once they got near the hall that always seemed to leak, making it rain. She was very proud the young emotional prince was starting to come out more and more as an individual instead of being cooped up at his house without anyone to play with. She would have to thank the short pun-spewing skeleton later since she couldn't really get through to Asriel as much. She opened the umbrella up, letting the two hide under it from the water dropping down in the hallway.

" Hehe, thanks Undyne." She nodded to him as a response. " Say Undyne. How did you meet Sans and Paps?"

" Oh boy, that's a story! I was training with Gerson one day and the skeleton family came in to purchase something. I knew I saw Gaster's face around before when training with Asgore, so the both of us finally met. Papyrus was trying to pick up some lawn ornaments but fell flat on his butt. Sans helped him up and kept him from crying while I hopped over and picked it up with no sweat! Papyrus became hyped when he saw me lift it with ease and cheered me on. So, Gaster saw me deal with Paps so well that eventually, he let me babysit him and his bro. All I had to do was show off to Papyrus and coach him into doing stuff with his brother there to help the little guy. So eventually me and Sans started to talk while I was over at their house, and voila~! Here we are today!"

Asriel smiled softly, " That's sweet of you Undyne."

Undyne gave a cocky glance to Asriel, " Hey, hey, hey, don't get all mushy on me, Fluffy!" The both snickered as she patted him on the shoulder. She would have done the playful punch, but she knew that was too much for the younger monster. Once they got to The Waterfall's entrance Undyne give him a thumbs up and grin, " Make sure you said I said 'Sup chumps?!' See ya later Asriel!"

" Goodbye Undyne! Tell Mister Gerson hi for me!"

Undyne turned around, running off as she shouted, " GOT IT!" Asriel watched her speed off into the other parts of The Waterfall and chuckled, thinking to himself how Undyne really wasn't that bad after all. She was always just rough, but always meant well in the end. He began his march to Snowdin, his paws feeling the cold snow underneath. He liked the cold while Undyne and Alphys hated it, but it made sense since they had no fur. And the skeletons technically had no flesh, so it worked out for them. Asriel began to hum as he walked to the town, only to be stopped as he heard humming from elsewhere.

He searched around, his floppy ears perking up ever so slightly, " He-Hello?" He asked as more hums came around, eventually, two more distinct humming were heard. He clutched the pie's container and looked around fearfully, turning around and around almost tripping over himself. He paused as the hums from all around sounded closer, this made him sprint off to the town only to stumble into a scaled belly, making him flop back into the snow. " O-O-Oh golly! I-I'm so sorry-" Once he looked up to see who he ran into he stopped, his breath hitching while clutching the container even tighter.

" Sup crybaby?!" Frostdrake looked down upon him examining his new prey. Asriel heard three other monsters walk over to him, being surrounded by the large bird, the swooping fish-like monster with a huge grin and white sunglasses, the muscular seahorse... or was it an eel? And the small round monster with the huge eye that looked straight into someone's immortal soul. Asriel gulped, trying his best not to shiver nor cry.

" H-H-Ho-Howdy... U-Uhm, n-nice to meet you a-all... My-My names Asr-" Before he could finish his introduction the horse monster snatched up the pie container and held it, looking at the contents inside.

" Hey! This kid has pie!"

Frostdrake smacked the back of Baron's head, glaring behind his sunglasses, " Who cares about the damn pie-Wait... Were you taking that pie somewhere?"

Asriel being the small naive goat he was nodded and smiled faintly, " W-Well yes a-actually. My m-mom made it so I could give to-"

Frostdrake busted out laughing, soon the other joined in, " HOLY SHIT! He's a little goody-two-shoes! Ahahaha! Mama's boy does what he's toooold~! Oooh~! That's adorable!" The other snickered being the 'rebellious' teenagers they were. Asriel fiddled with his fingers, looking down, feeling hot in his cheeks from embarrassment. But he loved his mom, why was he feeling bad about it...? " Okay, since you're such a good little boy, how about we play a game?! All you need to do is catch the pie before it falls all over the ground and you run to your mama crying!" Asriel was smiling lightly once the word game came to his head, only to then stare horrified, his mouth a gap as the bird told him what they'd do to the pie. The four spread around and away from the goat who got up and gasped.

" B-But! But that pie is for someone!"

" Well then, come and get it~!" Snickered out Frostdrake. Asriel ran over to the older bird who had it out for him to snatch, but at the last moment, the bird tossed it to Glyde who caught it with his tail. " Keep away!" The goat skidded to a halt, turning around to run to the fish, for it to be tossed to the Loox.

" Keeeeep away~!" Glyde called out, Asriel turning his attention and direction to the small monster who threw it above him.

The Loox giggled out, chiming as Asriel jumped to catch it, but was too short. It landed in Baron's hand easily, he looked at the pie and licked his lips.

" BARON! DON'T EAT IT!" Frostdrake puffed his feathers up, making him look bigger. Baron chuckled nervously a small bit before throwing it to Frostdrake.

" Sorry bro! Keep away!" This went on for a while before Asriel stopped in the middle of the bullies, putting his hands on his legs and panting. The pie was now in Frostdrake's wings.

" St-Stop it! Th-That pie! I-Is for someone special!" Asriel glared, baring his teeth ever so slightly. Asriel did get annoyed, but he had never found himself angry before. " A-And b-by the name o-of Prince Asriel! I-I DEMAND YOU HAND IT OVER!" Screw being equal like Sans treated him for now, this was personal. The bullies looked at him, gasping.

" Y-Y-You're T-The Prince?!" Baron nervously yelped out.

The other looked back and forth at one another before Frostdrake raised a feathered brow. " You? YOU'RE THE PRINCE?! Holy shit... Our future king is going to be this wuss?! You can't even get this shitty pie back from us! And we're just normal monsters! Some prince you are!" Asriel was shocked, these guys... They didn't care... Sans didn't, but that was different, very different. Asriel growled to himself before charging at Frostdrake, ramming his head into his scaled gut... Only to fall back on his ass. Chillydrake blinked, as well as the others. The bird hadn't even moved, he stood there shocked.

" O-O-Oh jeez! O-Oh g-g-golly! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that-a-are you hurt?!" Asriel asked as he got up, trying to inspect the bird.

" ... PTH! AHAHAHA! Did you see that, guys?! The 'priiiince', our future king tried to attack me! A-A-And he didn't do a thing!" The other joined in laughing. " Our future king is so high and mighty, but can't harm a slime! Let's knock him down a peg?" The bird grinned to the other three who nodded, smirking as well. Frostdrake tossed the pie behind him, Asriel tried to get a look if it had opened or not, but was soon swarmed by the four, getting smacked, pecked, punched, and clawed.

- 20/440

- 20/420

- 20/400

The attacks didn't let down, but the teens weren't aiming to kill, only to get him down to half health considering his defense was pretty good than his attack. Asriel curled up, thinking he was going to die, he didn't want to die! He was scared, so scared! He cried, tears streaming down into the frozen water below. Asriel cried out for help...

...

...

A bone smacked Glyde, making it bounce around, smacking all of the teens. All of them backed away and rubbed their bruised foreheads. " AW MAN, WHAT THE HELL?!" Before they could look up from the stinging pain, the Loox tripped over, falling on it's back.

" He-Hey! G-Guys?! Help! Help me up! I can't get u-" He flailed wildly before noticing Doggo staring at him as he chewed a pupipop in his mouth before grinning. Doggo gently kicked the Loox, making the monster spin around and around on the slippery ice. " Wha-what the hell are you doing? Stop it! Stop it, I'm getting dizzy! Ahhh! GUYS!"

The horse shook his head, snorting a bit before charging at Doggo who simply opened a cell-phone, revealing Baron's mom on speed-dial.

Baron skidded to a halt, falling down, " AHHH NO! I DON'T WANNA BE GROUNDED DUDE!"

Frostdrake ruffled up his feathers, " For the love of-GLYDE!" Glyde nodded, gliding to Doggo only to crash into a pile of bones that shot out from the snow, making him spin around and sputter into a pile of snow... Afterwards a small explosion was seen from the pile.

" I-I'm okay!" Yelled Glyde as his friend stared blankly.

" ... How did he explode?" Frostdrake then felt a shiver go up his spine, or... rather a hot shudder since he was kinda made out of ice... Right? Well anyways he soon felt his sins crawling up his back.

" H E Y B U D D Y..." Frostdrake gulped nervously.

" Aw man, he's right behind me isn't he?" Asked the bird as he looked over his shoulder.

" nah, i'm in front of you." The bird looked forward to see Sans grinning at him with half-lidded eye sockets.

" BAKAW!" The drake fell back and nervously laughed, " He-Hey! S-Saaans! My m-man Sans! Sansy-boy-ehehehe... We were uhh just..." He slowed his talking before dashing off leaving his group behind. Sans chuckled and conjured up a bone, flicking it, with it catching up to Frostdrake and bopping him over the head, making the foul fowl fall face first into the snow.

As Doggo and Papyrus patched up Asriel in the skeleton's home, along with being treated to some pie, Sans snuck outside to the back door. Only he and Papyrus knew about this door, even if the neighbors lived there all their life in Snowdin. Sans pulled out a small key and opened it up, walking inside and shutting the door behind him. Gaster stopped his work, pulling up some goggles and looking over wondering why he felt the wind. " GAH! Sans?! How did you-"

Sans grinned as he held up an extra key, " you should really hide this better dad."

Gaster's expression turned to an irritated one, " ... Clever boy... Anyways, what is it?"

" uhm... azzy kinda got beat up-"

" OH LORD! TORIEL WILL END ME!"

Sans threw out his hands to his dad, " whoa, whoa! wait, wait! doggo and paps are with him at the moment, just hold on before you heal him up! i wanted to tell you something."

" O-Oh dear... Erm, yes Sans?"

" ... dad... i wanna' be a judge." His father gawked in-

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Silence... That was all Sans could hear besides the wind blowing and the drips of water from The Waterfall. The magma at Hotlands popped and boiled to make some noise, but other than that was silence. He headed his way down The New Home's long hallway that viewed over the capital. Everyone was gone, including his brother, or well he thought. He stopped, eyes looking up to The Judgment Hall that lay before him in the next room over. He gripped hold of his brother's lucky red scarf and gritted his teeth together. With a long silent moment, he concentrated before opening his eyes with the one single glowing blue pupil. He walked into the hall, seeing his brother down the end of the hall passed out, passed out, wrapped around in vines. Sans inhaled to ready himself for the fight for his brother's soul.

Is it was quiet along the hall that the only sound was from his sneakers tapping on the golden tile. As he predicted the golden flower reared its face, it's stem slinking down from above like a snake. The flower gave a friendly smile to the skeleton, " Howdy there~! You know, I didn't think you'd show up considering you LET EVERYONE ELSE DIE..." Flowey's face twisted into a ghastly distorted monster face with jutting teeth before returning to his innocent smile and beady eyes. " Golly, you sure are a great judge... You know the others would have stopped me, I'm sure of it... But you. YOU! You don't care~! That's what I like about you. You don't CARE about ANYONE but your lousy brother. Not even Alphys, Undyne, Grillby, The King... Golly, that's low..."

Sans shook with some anger, trying his best not to snap at the flower who had pushed his buttons for the past week. He really did miss everyone, and he had to endure a full week of the killings, making his brother distressed and fearful of everything. San's finally looked a the flower's eyes and smiled, " heh, the only thing that's lower is the dirt. which is where you belong weed." Flowey gave him an unamused expression before a vine struck the skeleton swiftly and violently.

-50/780

Sans took a step back, rubbing his cheekbone, the flower looked... Concerned, " Wh-what... Wh-Why is your HP 780?! I-It's suppose to be 860!"

The skeleton chuckled, wiping the after-effects of the hit off with his sleeved arm, " aww, does the flower care about me all the sudden? that's adorable." Flowey growled as more vines shot to Sans, this time with the skeleton dodging them fairly well, hell with some, he was keeping his eyes closed. With a flick of his wrist bones appeared from thin air, shooting at his enemy. Vines curled up around to shield their owner, being cut down by the sharpened ends of bone. Each one zooming by, slicing up the vines easily before the Flower's stem slithered out of the way once the bones broke through.

-300/3500

Flowey snuck behind a pillar summoning up pellets, shooting them at Sans who casually jumped back away as they popped when they thought they had hit their target. Flowey summoned more upon more pellets shooting in all angles and directions. The skeleton gave a short chuckle, vanishing right when the pellets drew near, popping up on another side of the hallway. He did these for a few times before not appearing back up, making Flowey poke his head out from hiding. Flowey took this time to catch his breath only to feel stiff and thrashed around from pillar to pillar, to the ceiling and slamming into the hard tile below.

-300/3200

-300/2900

-300/2600

-300/2300

The flower groaned weakly as some dust a debris cleared him. Sans stood in front of him, looking down upon him with the damn smile and flashing blue and yellow mixed glow in his eye while the other pupil was gone, only for an empty eye socket to look at him. " say, bud-dy, you look a bit down..."

" S-Shh-Shut up!"

" nah, i'm handling this pretty well, you know, like a moss" Flowey quivered in rage before vines shot up from the floor, almost smacking the bag of bones away, only for him to teleport behind the flower. " missed~!" Sans called out, though Flowey began chuckling under his breath. Sans couldn't see it before it happened, but somehow the flower managed to create some pellets on the floor behind himself, all shooting off to hit Sans.

-10/730

-10/720
-10/710
-10/700
-10/690

It would have continued if the skeleton didn't teleport to the side, making it rain spiked bones at the downed flower. Flowey quickly trusted pellets up from the ground, shooting up to the bones. Each bone and pellet shattering into one another, until bits of cracked bones littered the ground by raining on Flowey. Flowey tucked under the flooring to pop out away from Sans. " hehe, not bad for a pussy-willow..."

" Not bad for a smiling trashbag!" Sans grinned before stepping back, he was now on the right side to run over to his brother, snatch him up and teleport the fuck out. Thick vines flew up from the ground, blocking off the area Papyrus lay, making Sans a bit startled as he turned a heel to see the vines keeping him away from his brother. Sans teleported right over, but spiked thorns waited his arrival. There were so many vines it was hard to tell how many there were. They all stopped wriggling around any room they had in the area, then pointed over to the skeleton. Sans teleported back to the rest of the hallway before any of the piercing vines reached him. He saw glad that they didn't go anywhere near his brother though. Once teleporting back to the main area where he and Flowey fought, he was quickly greeted by two stray vines skewering him. He was then thankful for being a skeleton since the vines went through the gaps of his ribs, but it did hurt a bit.

-20/660
-20/640

Sans gripped onto both of the vines' ends, pulling them hard making the flower wince. Sans smirked as he summoned up his Gaster Blaster. The humming buzzed around Flowey's head as he watched it charge up. Flowey tried burrowing under the cracked tile into the dirt by couldn't while Sans was holding onto his two main vines which sort of acted like legs or arms in a weird way. Flowey twitched, recollections of old scattered memories popped up, knowing how bad those things could be. Flowey for once stopped and curled up into a ball and sobbed out. Flowey cried out for help...

...
...
...
... Why wasn't he torn into oblivion yet? He shakily moved his petals away from his face to see Sans halting the process of his Gaster Blaster. The hum faded as it looked at its owner before whining and vanishing into code and magic. Sans carefully let go of the vines which weren't holding him up anymore, making them along with Sans crash into the tile. Sans groaned, rubbing his head, as the two vines slid back into the ground, along with any stray ones excluding the one blocking the way to Papyrus. Any leftover pellets Flowey was going to snipe at the skeleton either faded or dropped it the floor as normal flower seed harvested from any flower in The Underground.

Sans got up, cracking his neck before walking over to the flower, " d-did.... did you just cry out for help?" Sans got a nod from the small flower who was crying like a small child at the moment. He didn't know if this was a trap or not, but any petals that would have sprung to action hadn't touched him. " can i ask why?" He lazily raised a non-extant brow, eyeing the plant with his normal white pupils. He stayed away from the flower as much as he could without getting too close.

" ..... B-because I-I was scared... I'm... I'm so scared Sans!" Flowey looked up at him with his normal face, tears running down his cheeks and small fangs. Sans took a step back, raising an arm in front of him, not really expecting the flower to change its face to his old friend.

" wh-what the-?! ... h-heh.. nice try, neat trick you can do, almost had me-"

Flowey spoke gently to him, " I'm so sorry Sans. I guess I'll always be a crybaby. I'll always be alone ever since you left me... Since Chara left me... Since everyone left me... I-I do have to say... Gaster would be proud of you."

Sans froze in place before slowly walking up to the weeping flower, crouching down for a better view, " how did you... no one remembers him...n-not even paps..."

" I'm so sorry Sans... I never wanted it to be like this..."

" azzy...?" San's pupils vanished before a bright blue and yellow pupil showed itself in his left eye, " why?! w-why?! why did you kill everyone?!"

" Because, they all forget when I reset... Except you. You remember small parts-but... You only remember the bad parts. Sans, I can't feel compassion, joy, satisfaction, pleasure... I-I can't feel love. I can't love... D-Do you have any idea how that feels?! Not being able to care for anyone but yourself?! Not even for your own sibling?!" Sans gritted his teeth, thinking of him in Asriel's place, not being able to care or love his brother... That'd be Hell on Earth..." I miss you! I miss everyone! Sure they'll love me, b-but-I FEEL NOTHING BACK!" Sans gulped as Asriel tipped his steam down, cowering and crying to himself.

Sans took in a deep breather before petting Asriel who stop his shaking and nuzzled into the touch. " shh, shh... calm down azzy." Sans bit his... lower jaw? Can't say considering skeletons don't have lips. He sighed while petting Asriel's stem, soothing him down. " it's okay... it must be stressful-a living hell... sorry buddy." He tries his best to keep the ears away from showing up. " but... it's not fair to everyone. you said there's a way to reset right?

Asriel nodded quietly, " B-But... I don't want to reset y-yet... I don't want to say goodbye yet... I want you to have a good memory for once. The-there is another way for me to reset but I'd have to-"

" shhh, calm down. it'll only hurt for a moment, i promise-"

" Wa-Wait! Sans, please! I don't want to die! I'm scared! I-I just want to spend some time with y-you... Please. After every reset, I'll wake up in the garden all... alone again. Please..." Asriel begged, having the most pitiful look that tugged at Sans' very soul. He went into instinctive friend/older brother mode for his old friend and sighed thinking of something.

" ... do you want me to tell you a story then?" Asriel nodded sadly as Sans pulled the long stem, placing the flower into his lap as he decided to sit down, petting him. Man, that stem seemed impossibly long, but oh well, no time to think of that now. He had a friend to sort of cheer up and a brother to save. " a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a-

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Hole with no escape. He couldn't get out, no one could help him. Why had he insisted on listening to his sibling?! Flowey woke up gasping for air, staining his stem by looking around frantically, before noticing it was pitch black around him. The flower started hyperventilating, " S-Sans?...C-C-Chara? Fr-FRISK?! An-Anyone?! Somebody! Anybody...? PLEASE HELP M-" A soft click was heard right next to his pot, a lamp illuminating the room, showing he was on The Surface, on Frisk's drawer in their room, or rather both of their room since Frisk considered sharing their room with him. A very tired looking Frisk looked over to them, tilting their head in confusion. They rubbed their eyes and yawned out before inspecting the teary-eyed flower again who shook in his pot. " Oh... Uhm... H-Hi Frisk..." They raised a finger to make a point in a statement they were about to say, " Yeah I know... This has been the third time this week... And it's JUST the start of summer..." Frisk's open mouth closed as Flowey self-explained himself. They rubbed their head before checking the clock, seeing it was six in the morning. Frisk groaned slightly, turning around to flop their head into their soft quilted pillow. " ... Wish I could say s-sorry." Flowey curled up, looking away from them. The flower never told them sorry before-well... one time, but that wasn't really Flowey-or was Flowey and Asriel one in the same? Frisk peeked overseeing the upset flower curl up tighter.

The child sat back up and grabbed hold of the 'Best Friend'flower pot, pulling it over in-between their legs, slowly and calmly petting his stem. " ... Dream?" Frisk asked groggily and tired. Flowey rubbed his head in his soil so only a muffled 'uhuh' could be heard. " Why-"

" Why do I keep asking for you, Sans, and Chara? Easy. You three are the only ones I think about. I mean, you've done so much, and kept trying to save me... I can never erase memories of Chara, they were my friend when I had none." Frisk leaned their face close to the flower, giving a concerned smile. " Oh, r-right the trash bag. Uhm... K-Kept killing me." He said rather quickly and bluntly, making the child puff their cheek up, knowing more than well that he was lying, but he'd never admit it. Frisk wondered if he ever would in time, same for Sans knowing Flowey or even Asriel. Their dunkle kept avoiding the topic as Flowey did, but not as much as the lazy cheeky skeleton. With a soft sigh, Frisk pushed the pot to the side, letting them look under the small bed, pulling a box from under it.

Frisk settled the box on their lap and pulled the lid off. Once done, they put the lid aside and took out a notebook, a childish one that looked like a therapist's notebook, being able to flip the pages up to keep jotting down things. Frisk reached in grabbing a crayon and several pictures on one side of the box labeled, 'Bro's Nightmares', while the other side had another stack labeled, ' My Nightmares'. And in the middle under the two stacks was labeled, ' Dunkle's Nightmares.'

Frisk sorted out the stack's top paper, moving it away, reviling underneath a drawn picture of Flowey in dirt with a blast shooting down at him. Frisk looked to Flowey, nodding as he laid back in his dirt, only telling them that he died by Sans, after telling him a story the skeleton memorized from reading it constantly to his younger dorky but good-natured brother. Frisk tore the page and was about to put it on top of the other picture but paused, lifting the picture up to study. Under that was another childish drawing of Flowey yelling at Sans. Frisk pushed the paper away, studying the one under it. Another picture reveling Flowey wrapping Sans in vines, crying. Under that, Flowey in front of The Ruins' exit/entrance staring at a pile of dust.

Frisk showed Flowey the pictures, quite worried. The flower gave a hard stare before growling, " I'm not thinking about him! Y-You just think I am!" Frisk stared back with a 'yeeeah' expression on their face, making the Flower ruffle his petals, " DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK!" Just then, the two heard a creak outside the door. Frisk hastily but neatly put the papers back, shoving them back into the box, closing it and shoving it deep under the bed. Frisk snatched up the pot, putting it on their lap right as the door opened up with small creaks. Sans poked his skull in to get a glance of Frisk awake with the flower.

Sans smiled as Frisk waved, and getting the normal hiss from Flowey. He opened the door, moving in and shutting the door quietly behind him. Sans only wore a plain white T-Shirt and black pajama pants, with fuzzy pink slippers. He yawned, making the child yawn from the contagion. Sans walked over as Frisk put Flowey to back to their side, Flowey's pot now between Frisk and the mild purple colored wall. The skeleton sat on the side of the bed, lifting a leg up onto it. He smiled at the child and ruffled their chocolate textured hair, earning a small giggle.

" the flower bloom before morning again?"

" Up yours."

" wow, rude much, huh kiddo?" Frisk rubbed the back of their neck giving a nervous smile. " ah it's fine kiddo. now... you tired?" Frisk nodded slowly as they felt as if they were about to pass out.

" how 'bout a story?" Frisk smiled, nodding and tucking themselves back into a comfortable spot. Afterwards Frisk put the small pot on their chest, both hands holding Flowey tightly. The gold flower huffed angrily and curled up, not arguing for once. " heh, you gonna' sleep?" No response from the stubborn flower, only making the tired skeleton grin. " hey... what kind of flower doesn't sleep?" Frisk gave a bored look, knowing what was going to happen. " a day-zzzzzz." Frisk smiled, trying not to laugh, only making a muffled snicker while Flowey glared up at him.

"Fuck off."

" well... anyways..." The two let their eyes close so both could fall back to sleep easier. " a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call....."

Chapter Text

A brand new morning-or well, that's what the clocks said anyways, it was always hard to be sure if it was actually day or night in The Underground, considering the only places to check were the barrier and that one big hole in The Ruins. Asriel practically bounced in place, excited about what he and his small group of friends were going to do today, especially since Gerson had let Undyne know about a game Undyne found at the dump site. Toriel placed her larger paws on his shoulder and readied him up properly for the watery area. Making him put on a yellow rubber-like cap, coat, and boots, which in truth the young prince didn't like, and wanted to keep his feet bare, but it would help from keeping him from slipping up. " There we go-Oh wait! I forgot one special thing, my child!"

Asriel stopped his excited bouncing, looking behind his back up to his mother, tilting his furry head as to question her. Toriel held the small rubber yellow cap in her paws, Asriel thinking she was just going to hand it over to him, only instead for Toriel to lean down and lick her child's head, smoothing down some small tuft of fur. " Aww, mom! You're ruining my fur!" Toriel couldn't help but laugh as she put the cap on her son, before giving him a large kiss on the cheek.

" There, there. You are ready now, now please do be careful..." She smiled half-heartedly, fearing the young goat monster would again get harmed... He looked up at her with a warm confident smile on his fuzzy face. She and Gaster had been able to heal him back up, but couldn't seem to get rid of a black, the same one that had originally been bruised by tripping. Sure it would heal on its own, but she still worried about the bruise.

" D-Don't worry mom, I'll be safe. I'll be okay! I-I promise, I'll always be here." He gave her a pure happy smile before being swaddled up in his mother's arms, giving him a larger hug only to let him go a moment after. As she waved a farewell to Asriel, she closed the door and sighed, watching him run off from the nearby window. Toriel nervously placed the tip of her small claws to her fanged mouth, still not getting over the worrisome emotion that fluttered in her.

" He'll be fine Tori. Do not stress yourself out, or you'll never relax again." Asgore walked over, soothing her as he put his paws on her shoulders, comforting his queen who merely sighed, turning around to give a small kiss on the king's snootle.
" I can only hope."

Undyne twirled her small blue glowing spear in her fingers, showing off to the young skeleton who looked up to her so much as she did to Gerson and Asgore. She twirled and swirled it even faster before tossing it up into the air, snatching it up right as it was about to plunge into the moist ground. Papyrus clapped his bony hands, giggling, " YAAAY UNDYNE! THAT WAS SO COOL!"

" yeah it was so cool it was hot, right alphys?" Sans sat nearby on the bench in the small store, playfully nudging the nerdy lizard who wore a tank top and jeans rather than her normal white coat. The chubby girl's face flushed up as her eyes stared widely at Sans like a fish.

" WH-WH-WHA-WHAT?! N-NNN-NO! I-I MEAN! YES! I MEAN-SAAAAANS!" She shrieked out, pushing the skeleton roughly as she could, which was actually just a gentle shove.

" HEY BROTHER, WHY IS ALPHYS FACE ALL RED-DID SHE GET A BURN ON HER FACE?!" Papyrus gasped out, worried about the lizard's condition as she continued to be flustered, making Sans burst out laughing until he fell on his side holding his gut if he had one. Alphys puffed up her cheeks as she glared down at the skeleton who was continuously laughing.

" SANS SHUT UP!" Undyne spat out, watching the older brother fall off the bench, laughing still while the younger of them all sat next to Alphys, patting her arm while she looked down, utterly embarrassed.

" W-What did Sans do this time?!" Yelled out a meek voice from the store's entrance right as Undyne was about to either kick the downed giggling skeleton or pick him up and shake him... or chuck him across the room, it was always hard to tell with the aquatic finned girl. Undyne swerved her head to find the young prince removing his rain suit and cap, to which Papyrus ran over to hug him.

" AZZY AZZY AZZY!" The toddler shouted as he almost knocked Asriel down, but managed to stand his ground laughing with the small skeleton. He took off his cap and placed it over Papyrus' skull, only for it to flop over from how big it was. Papyrus grinned with a big smile and tooth gap as he wandered off with his arms stretched out, making sure he didn't bump into anything along the way.

" Er... N-Nothing." Undyne's fins flattened as she glared at Sans who finally stopped as he was pulled up by the goat monster.

" hehehe, yeah, nothings goin' on. just watching alphys have cold beet." As he got a small chuckle from the prince, the other three groaned. Normally Alphys would join with Asriel, but with her face still red as well, Sans just said a beet, she joined the other two on this one.

" S-So, what did Mister Gerson find?" Asriel asked as he put down a hefty backpack, making the other three wonder what could be in there since it seemed rather bulky.

" He found this!" Undyne exclaimed as she ran to the counter, hopping onto it, leaning over to grab something from behind. This only made Sans nudge Alphys and point to the fish monster's rump, making the lizard cover her face with her claws since she didn't have a coat to sneak under at the time. Asriel watched and tilted his head, not really understanding what Sans was going on about.

Undyne quickly snapped back up, done hunching over the counter and standing proudly before the three while Papyrus kept walking around with the cap happily. She then pulled out from behind her back a rope with handles on each end. Sans raised a nonvisible brow, " uhhh... he found a rope for you to chuck at people?" Undyne's cheek fins flared up as she gave a glare.

" No idiot! It's a toy from The Surface! Apparently, it's like Sticky-Rope but better since it's not made out of spider silk!"

" What's wrong wit-with spider silk?" Asriel asked, fully interested in now. He had watched other monsters play with their own version, but he never got to play it with anyone himself, so he just left the idea of the toy behind.

" Spider silk is too sticky! If it catches you by the foot, it's hard to peel off! With this, all that happens is that you stumble! See?! So much better! And the only thing better than Sticky-Jump with people, is this with people! Gerson said they called it a 'jump-rope'."

" Why did we not use rope before?" Asriel shrugged, making the shy lizard speak up.

The shy lizard pipped up, " We-Well, rope i-is a bit harder to make since we don't have much of the supplies to make it, w-while we have tons o-of spi-spider webs a-and cobwebs."

" Exactly! Like Alphys said!" Undyne grinned to her yellow friend.

Sans sat on the bench next to Alphys and scoffed lightly, " so, is this all we're going to do today?"

" Wha-NO! We're waiting for Gerson to come back so he can tell us stories!" The other three soon went, 'Ohhh', now realizing why they were here. The elderly turtle could tell some amazing stories, even if they were long and dragged on a bit. " But why not play with this thing until he comes back? Or are ya scared~?" She grinned manically.

Sans seemed to shrug off her words easily, " i would but well paps's timing is always kinda off, and i rather not have him loose and cry a bit, and sides he's having a ball with that cap."

" Well what about you and Asriel?"

" mmm... then that means you'll be paired up with alphys..." He looked over to her who made a face that clearly read, 'Don't you dare.' His perpetual smile widened as he winked to her.

" Yeah! C'mon Alphys let's stick it to Sans!" Before Alphys could interject Undyne ran over, grabbing her wrist and pulling her off from her seat.
While that excitement happened Asriel scooted to his skeletal friend, "Uhm, why do you keep harassing Alphys?" he whispered, only to have a snicker retort back to him.

" 'cuz i know she likes undyne and is too shy to do anything about showing her affection."

Asriel's face fell into a puzzled look, " but they're already friends aren't they?"

Sans' grin started to downgrade, perhaps his mother didn't tell him this type of stuff yet. He was only a few years younger than Sans, but still, you'd think he'd know by now... Then again the shy kid barely hung out with monsters his own age who didn't really want to play with him, expecting to get into trouble by accidentally hurting the prince's feelings. " well yeah... but there's another feeling than being friends. it's like... like 'liking' someone. kind of how... oh geez, how do i explain this-like how your mom and dad like each other."

" So... You mean love?"

" well there's love of friends, family, and then really real love you have for someone you like."

" Ohh, I think I understand-but wait, they're both girls."

Sans chuckled at Asriel's naïveté's, " doesn't mean anything. girls can like guys, and guys can like girls. girls can like other girls, and boys can sometimes like boys. has your mom not told you anything about this?"

" Oh! N-No, no, she has. That's what she says so when I'm king I-I can have a queen, but I didn't know... You could choose either one. Unless she was about to get to that since she did get called away and said she had more to tell me, but she got caught up." Asriel pondered to himself before Undyne nearly screamed at them.

" HEY ARE YOU TWO READY OR NOT?! C'MON! LET'S DO THIS! BOYS V GIRLS!" Undyne made herself hyped up by picking up Alphys, letting the other two know how ready she was, all while the lizard curled her tail up and squeaked out, trying her best not to move. The two boys smiled before snickering at the spectacle.

After playing with the jump rope, Undyne and Sans were at a tie of twenty-seven jumps while Asriel and Alphys had only managed about seven consecutive jumps. While Undyne and Alphys swung the rope, Asriel started to hop, and then afterwards Sans. The same happened with Alphys and Undyne, only for them to switch positions.

" NGAAAAAAAAAAAH A TIE?!" She asked out loudly as Papyrus kept score by keeping track with the numbers. If he had messed up, Alphys and or Sans would let him know what the numbers really were. " Okay, that does it! SANS I CHALLENGE YOU TO A HOP OFF!" Undyne paced herself to the rope before pointing to the other two monsters. " You guys swing it with both me and Sans in it, whoever flops first loses and the other wins!"

" wow, you really don't know when to give it up do ya?" Sans smiled casually as he walked over to join her as the other two held the ends of the rope.

" I NEVER GIVE UP PUNK!" She showed off a toothy grin. Once the rope started to swing, the two took off to hopping over it. Sans kept a pace of hopping on one foot, then the other somehow while Undyne kept up the pace. Just then Gerson walked into his store speaking over to them.

" I see you all find the jump-rope might fun, eh?!"

This had made all of the children stop, catching them off by surprise except for Papyrus who was focusing on the rope. Undyne looked down, noticing she and Sans had stopped, " AWWW MAN! Now we don't know who won!"

" OH! OH! I KNOW WHO WON!" Papyrus shouted as he jumped up and down, waving an arm in the air. " IT WAS-" He took a glance at the two, seeing his brother give him a wink which Asriel seemed to catch. " ... IT WAS UNDYNE!"

" YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Undyne whooped out as she picked up her other scaly friend again.

" AHHHH UNDYNE PLEEEASE!"

As Gerson put down some bags on the counter and congratulating Undyne, Asriel went to Sans to whisper again, " Why'd you do that? You won didn't you?"

" hehehe, yeah. But sometimes ya just gotta' be a good sport and make your friend feel better about themselves. besides paps looks up to her as a heroic figure, while i'm just a brotherly figure. i know he thinks i'm great too, but undyne does need the confidence in herself even if she says she is. sides, do you really want her throwing stuff around and yelling?" He said with a smug smirk.

" Pthehe, yeah you're right about that part." Asriel quickly went to his backpack, dragging it over to the group, opening it up to reveal all sorts of foods and snacks. " Here we go! My mom packed these up before I left home for us to enjoy! Including your favorite green tea packs Mister Gerson."

" Wha ha ha! Why thank you, little prince! This will do well to smooth my old voice for a long story! Now little ones, go grab yourself a pillow, blanket, and some snacks!" They all nodded and took out some pillow Undyne ran to who tossed them over to each of the other children while Gerson got a pile of blankets to give to each. Once they were settled on the blankets, munching on their snacks, the elderly turtle made up his tea as the rest made a small semi-circle around a stool. Alpyhs put herself at the end, sitting next to Undyne and away from Sans' comments to embarrass her. Undyne placed herself next to her yellow friend and the toddler who loved being around her. Papyrus sat in the middle, between the fish and his brother, while Sans sat next to his younger brother to keep an eye, and next to his new friend who seemed to be clutching his pillow, trying to look away from everyone like Alphys. Gerson then walked over placing himself on the old pillowed stool, and leading them into the tales of his time.

The doctor sighed in relief as he was finally done with his plans for the day. He was glad Gerson took over to babysit his sons. Sure Gaster loved them, but it was always hard when they were around for him to finish his work. But after he was done, he felt much better... However, the feeling passed when something sprung up in the back of his mind. What his eldest son had requested... Gaster took his glasses off, rubbing his skull, not quite sure if he would let his son become a Judge or not...

The front door opened, letting in Sans who carried his baby brother in her sleeved arm as he closed the chilly door. The small skeleton nodded to his dad who nodded back, signally a 'hi' so Papyrus wouldn't wake up. Once after Papyrus was set upstairs in his and San's room, the skeleton walked down to talk to his father. " So how was it?"

" it was long, relaxing but long."

" Well that's good to know." Gaster smiled brightly, swerving his stool back to his work which lay all over the table next to the wall. Sans' smile faltered a tad as he got a small serious look in his hollowed eyes.

" ... dad, you can't keep avoiding me like this."

The scientists' soul quivered as he let out a hard sigh, turning over to face his son with a worried but serious expression. " Sans, I know. I just don't know if... If it's right for you. Especially at his age."

" but dad, w-what if something does happen? what if a human falls down here? you're always so busy with your machines, we both know you need to hand down this to someone, and a lot of monsters have grown too sensitive being down here. i want to help. i want to help more than just watching over paps. i want to help you and our future king. i-i don't know what'd i do if i let azzy get hurt without me being there to protect him. you know how emotional he gets." Gaster's took in a deep breath as his holed palm rubbed his forehead.

" I know. And you do bring up some fair points. I just don't know if I'll have time to train you so much as I had to go through. It took many years Sans, and I need to work on The Core and other things."

" there isn't something that will help it go by faster?" Sans looked down, fairly disappointed, but his dad was right. Someone had to maintain The Core. And he rather not waste Gaster's free time to training him for such a long period of time.

" Well... I do, but... Hypothetically... But it might be a bit risky." Sans looked up, hopeful and curious. " Come, follow me." His father requested, leading Sans to the rather large shack where Gaster did most of his study away from work, the other being in the back of the house. Gaster shut the door behind them and made his way to one table that had a glass jar with what seemed like millions of small red liquid-like pills. He took one out and showed Sans, placing it into his hand. " This Sans... Is something I made a while back. You see, when your mother fell down. I-I... I took a soul." Sans' eyes widened as he looked up to the scientist shocked, it was highly illegal to do such a thing when on The Surface, treating the bond of human and monster.

" We were already in war, your mother had just fallen down, I was wracked with grief... I didn't kill anyone else, since I knew it was un-monster like and just uncivilized if I used it for destruction. I kept a hold of it once we went underground. That way I could at the very least study it. And Study it, I did. You see humans have something I call 'Determination', something that makes the soul still be around for a small while before vanishing away down below or up above. I kept it in until I was able to put it into a holding container so it wouldn't fade away. I began inspecting it, breaking down some components and tinkering with it. Of course, that took some 'Determination' away. I knew I had to make it stay so I could do more works. So, I was finally able to extract a small percentage and finally make it into many pills that could be taken and indigested by monsters. The reason why, is so I could have more supply to test 'Determination' on, and to make us stronger, encase humans found a way to make their way down here to finish us all off once and for all. The good news is that there are many, many pills that contain .050% of 'Determination'. The bad news is that the entire soul itself faded away once all the 'Determination' was extracted."

" and...i-it worked?"

" Indeed so." Gaster smiled proudly from his hard work.

" wait, then how... how do you know if it makes a monster stronger?" Sans asked, skeptically question his father's invention.

Gaster's smile quickly vanished into a thin line while his pupils looked away. " Sans... You're a smart boy, you figure it out. I mean how else did you think I got the scars?"

Sans' pupils vanished, he had always thought his father had those cracks down and up his skull near his eye sockets from the war... " y-you... you tested it on yourself?"

" One too many times, trying to figure out the right amount for the pills to give enough 'Determination' but not too much, and not too little. I would never test it on anyone else. That is the risk of being a scientist. Either you take the blame, or others blame you for endangering their loved ones or their own lives. And-"

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" So, what do you make of it?"

" Dunno', I think it's a statue."

" No shit it's a statue-oh, my god, Aaron really?!" The horse-faced monster shrugged to the small group of monster that was made up of an astigmatism, Chilldrake, madjick, a seal-like fish headed monster, and a camel-like monster who seemed to be puffing a cigarette. The small monster child with no visible hands peeked out from the back to get a better look at the gray toned statue that sat under the cave's rainwater, constantly dripping onto its umbrella, letting the music box hum along in its hands.

" I'm just shocked you never saw this thing dude." Aaron pointed out to Chilldrake who left Snowy home or in the forest with other kids and younger teenagers.

" Dude! Come on, I live near Snowdin! You expect me to walk to Hotland that often?! Anyways... Any of you guys know what it's for besides some crappy old music box playing a lullaby?"

" Hoho, I heard it symbolizes the dead prince I did! According to rumor, this was his music box and this is a statue to represent how lonely he was with no one to play with, quite sad is it not?!" Piped up the magician, moving a brow under his hat.

" ... That's stupid! If they had a statue of the prince, why not put it near New Home or something?!" Chilldrake fluffed his feathers up, always quick to turn to his temper.

" Maybe, maybe, because The King would be upset if he walked by it every day." The small monster with the biggest grin suggested, while Chilldrake didn't seem to be moved much by the theory.

" Well ya know what? This music box would be much better at that little cave Glyde lives near! Anyone who walks into to take a break from the snow could rest and listen, and the Gyftrot wouldn't be so pissed off man. Sides, we got a piano nearby here anyways, so why not? It's not like the guard captain plays it with anyone anymore ever since Shyren hid away." Aaron proclaimed, making absolutely everyone look at him shocked that, that much thought had occurred to him. The astigmatism nervously looked side to side before stepping back. " ... Uhh... I mean... We could do that and uhh maybe fool Onion-San with that umbrella by throwing it into the water and making them believe it's another monster?"

" Both of those ideas seem wonderful for once Aaron." Chilldrake praised the buff monster who chuckled nervously from embarrassment.

" Yo! But wait yo! Wha-What about the statue?! Won't it get like wet and cold and like lonely and stuff?!" The older monsters gave the small lizard a look.

" Kidd... It's a friggin' statue. STATUES DON'T HAVE FEELINGS! If you like it so much, how about you stay with it then?" Chilldrake asked making the small yellow lizard hunch over a bit defensively.

" Well-well... Maybe I will yo!"

Chilldrake groaned, he knew he'd get into trouble if the Guard's captain happens to walk by and ask why he sat in the rain with a statue. Kidd would talk, he always did, for better or for worse." No-that's not what a meant-Ugh!"

" Well... Aaron, how many people sit here at this statue?" astigmatism asked, making Aaron raise a brow.

" Pth, like no one dude. They just grab an umbrella and walk off."

" There you have it Chill! We just take the back the box, destroy this thing and go tease Onion-San. No one ever mentions this thing, and no one cares about it! Might just put it out of its misery if no one cares!" The small bulbous monster waved his stubby arms out explaining it to the others.

" Hrmmm... Good idea! All in favor?!" The monsters agreed, raising hand, fin, claw, or whatever else. All leaving the young monster child who gulped, semi-worried about this deal. Sure he didn't stay with the statue, but he felt it had some deeper meaning.

Right as the seal headed fish monster was about to scoop up the small rusty music box, surprised that it still kept going, was stopped when someone spoke up.

" HEY!" The fish thing nearly dropped it from its fins, only to clutch it to its chest. The group looked around seeing where the voice spoke up from before they noticed a small talking flower, who looked concerned. " Stop that! Put that back, you idiots!"

The chilly bird cocked his head, turning his attention to the buttercup, " What the-Why not? You gonna' tell the Royal Guard?"

" Huh? Wha-NO! JUST-JUST LEAVE IT THERE! Madjick is right, it's supposed to be the prince!"

The cloaked monster gasped out, " HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME FLORAL PLANT?!"

Flowey glared, his patience was getting the better of him, " JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME! I-It mean a lot to me. So... Just put it back and leave it alone."

The monsters looked at one another, the small lizard popping out from behind the group, walking to him, " Yo! I wanted them like leave it too yo! See guys?! It means like ya know... Something to someone!" The small lizard turned around, bouncing up and down while the gold flower nodded in agreement.

" ... So... We listen to a flower? Something that can't do anything but grow an inch a month?" The astigmatism responded before walking up to the statue and flicking the snout of the statue with its small claw, making Flowey squirm. Flowey's stem twitched from under him, eyes snapping attention at the disrespect.

" I told you... LEAVE. IT. ALONE." Flowey practically snarled out.

The other monsters except the kid looked from him to the statue before all of them started to poke it. This made Chilldrake snicker, " Ohh, look out guys, he may bust a root~!" That got the others to playfully poke and flick the statue as well as earning some chuckling.

" LEAVE IT ALONE!" Flowey screamed out, vines sprouting from the ground at a high speed, knocking the others flat on their asses except for the child who froze from the pure power. Shocked in such power by something so small that could sound so dangerous, made him tremble in place. The other monsters quickly got up and ran away quickly leaving the lizard with the yellow and striped shirt alone with the psychotic flower. Flowey muttered to himself, vines catching the music box and gently placing it into the statue's hands. He sighed before noticing the monster kid was still there.

" Hey, piss off, go home." He demanded at the kid who backed up, tripping over a vine clumsily.

" Y-Y-Y-Yo! D-Don't hurt me!" The kid curled up since he saw the small flower lower the other's HP.

" Wha-No! Look, kid! Just fuck off and I won't kill you!" Flowey was losing his patience, he didn't want to deal with the child.

" Ki-Kill?!" Yelped out the monster kid, only making Flowey show his sharpened teeth, trying to scare him away. However, the small monster was too scared to move. A vine slithered near him, ready to grab and throw him elsewhere until a neo blue spear skewered the vine, making the now torn half retreat to Flowey.

" AHHHH WHAT THE HELL?!"

A monster wearing the Royal Guard's armor leaped out, landing in front of the lizard kid, slowly standing up and summoning another spear, twirling it within their fingers. " Back away from the kid!" A loud muffled aggressive voice echoed from the suit. Flowey groaned thinking to himself.
'Great she watched the anime again...'

" I wasn't doing shit you damn fish! So piss off or I WILL START SHIT AND END YOU!" Flowey snapped out at the guard who removed her helmet, revealing a grown Undyne with an eye-patch over her left eye.

" Look, just beat it okay?! You scared this poor little guy!"

" FUCK YOU WOMAN! I CAN BE ANYWHERE I DAMN WELL PLEASE!" Flowey's rage was starting to crack out now. Vines with thorns were held up from the ground while Undyne readied to summon more spears, putting herself in front of the kid. Both glared viciously at one another before...

" hey plant, can't you just lettuce go? and undyne, don't make this even more orcward." Both Flowey and Undyne internally groaned as they both looked, glaring at the smiling skeleton who walked over calmly. " look that kid just wants to go home. there's no reason to fight, now is there?" His left eye flashed a spark of blue for a split second, making Undyne lower her guard and Flowey to retreat back into the dirt. Flowey really didn't want to deal with anyone today.< /p>

After Undyne took the small monster back home, Sans looked back to the cold statue and frowned. He walked over to it, sitting down listening to the music. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck bones, looking disappointed as his eyes scanned the music box. Underneath the box was a very old worn out aqua blue scarf that looked like it had been nibbled on but was now cold, wet, and ragged from being there for so many years. He wished he could apologize to him like he had with-

-------------------------------------

Alphys carefully adjusted herself in her stool, carefully pouring some pink liquid from a beaker into a small tube. She stuck out her tongue, her buck teeth digging into it slightly, her eyes full of concentration. " A-Almost... There... Annnd-"

" sup alphys?"

The lizard jumped in her seat, making both glass containers fling into the air, thankfully not spilling them. Both of them stopped halfway in the air, having a blue glowing hue surround them both. The levitated beaker quickly filled up the test tube up as it floated over to a stand with other test tubes. The beaker was simply put on Alphys' head once she turned around to view the skeleton. She twitched in irritation from the beaker being placed on her scaly head as Sans cheerfully looked over to her chuckling.

" Dam-Damnit Sans! I told you not to-to just teleport in here unannounced! You could have called me or knocked-no wait... With th-that chemical, it could have gone very bad if only a small amount dropped ont-"

" woah, alphys calm down. hehehe, and here i thought you got over the stutter. you keeping it because undyne likes it?" He asked in a cheeky manner as the scientist sat the beaker down, who then folded her plump arms, huffing.

" No, I've gotten much better, thank y-you very much!" She gave a glare as Sans stared at her, still with the cheeky grin before making her break down into a face of red. " ARGH! O-Okay! Not all of i-it! And yes Undyne likes it! But I'm still improving either way!"

" ahh, so you're just trying to... blend in?" The grin grew, as Alphys glared more intensely.

" Sans..."

" won't worry, i've been monitoring you."

" Sans."

" what? is it newt a good idea?"

" SANS!"

" yo."

" HRRRRNG!" Alphys looked like she was about to claw up her face when she ran her claws down it in anger. " Why... Are you here?!" She sat there, shaking with anger, how did Papyrus put up with it?! How had Undyne not accidentally killed him?! How did Mettaton do his best to ignore it?! It was so frustrating at times!

" ....." Sans closed his eyes, his grin going to his casual smile. He opened his eyes, to give her the cold chilling stare of his hollowed eyes. " i wanna' talk about that flower..." He hated doing the look to Alphys, but he couldn't help it when he was serious about something. He tried never being serious at all, much how he learned to shrug off anything as he grew up, hiding any emotion and having a happy glance plaster everything.

Alphys' blood ran cold-er... colder as she quickly left her temperament behind. She fiddled with her claws and gulped, " W-W-Wh-Why? Uhm-AHERM! W-Why would y-y-y-you bring that up Sa-Sans? Ehehe?" He tail curled up and she began sweating profusely. Apparently, her main stutter stayed when she panicked still.

" just some things it said the other day. the kid tricked me into talking with it while looking at some flower packets for sale with paps. it was talking about how it has no emotions, and i could have sworn for a moment, it was talking about me. and considering you're the only monster other than asgore who worked on these golden flowers, perhaps you may know something since the big guy only just gardens them." His pupils came back as he began talking again.

" S-Sans... I-I. I-It's not so-so simple to e-e-explain. I-I promised F-Frisk, that I'd keep th-that information confidential. I-I'm sorry, b-but... But I can't just tell you. A-A-All I can tell y-you is that I-I accidentally made i-it live. W-Well... Sentient t-that is since w-well flowers a-are living things unlike r-rocks and-and such..."

" i see...". The pin-point glowing irises lowered down to the tiled floor. " so... you won't tell me-"

" It's n-not that I don't want t-t-to. But... B-But I-I kept a promise to Frisk. I-I'm sorry. Y-You'll have to find some ground an-and ask them, s-so that they can tell me they g-give permission for yo-you to know many things ab-about that one flower. I'm s-sorry... Y-Y-You know monsters... D-D-Do the best to keep their promise."

" it's fine, i understand privacy. i understand promises. sorry to bug ya alph." He walked over to the wall, leaning his back against it and raising his leg bones up to put a sneaker on it. Why did Frisk keep a secret from him? He was their dunkle, right? They could tell him anything-then again... Thinking back on it now, he had and still did keep secrets from the persuasive child. Maybe it was getting back at him for that, or maybe the promise made with them and the nerdy lizard was genuine. He rather not believe promises anymore, and only sided with the kid for living n the surface as he was given proof of the half shattered reset button. " it just irks me is all. i mean, don't you remember when the kid took that thing in?"

Alphys adjusted her glasses, he nervousness calming down as she wasn't fiddling with her claws again. " Uhm, clearly I don't consider I wasn't there at the time. You and Frisk w-went to pick it up when everyone else was gone."

Sans stared off into space blankly before realizing Frisk had bribed him with ketchup that one day they were by them lonesome selves. " ... ohhh... yeah, okay that clears some things up." His skeletal hand was raised up, smacking his skull lightly, now remembering he hadn't told 'HOW' the flower reacted when brought up from The cold Underground before being pacified by Frisk. He lowered his hand as he heard the chubby lizard's seat creak from under her. He saw Alphys give him a small smile with a semi-worried expression.

" C-Care to elaborate ho-how he was when you guys brought hi-him in? I-I mean I don't mean to pry! B-But, t-this might prove something that I-I can look into later."

Her skeleton friend's pupils visibly shifted away, his small frown showing the questioning face of, 'how do I explain this?' After a brief silent moment, the smirk replaced that small frown as he shrugged his shoulder bones, " ehh, sure. the trip back up here was uhm... how would you say? irritable."

----------
A month or two ago...

On the way back to their home, Frisk sat in the very back of the bus as Sans placed himself nearby them, but at the very least one seat away so that the newly potted plant wouldn't snap at him. " kid, are you sure you're not having any second thoughts?" The child looked over to their dunkle with a bright smile, showing off their teeth. The skeleton rubbed his temples gently, now in full regret of that bribe. As the bus stopped, Frisk got up, hopping off the boss as they held the flower pot, making Flowey yell and hiss at them to be more careful. Sans diligently walked off the bus, following the child's lead, slowly thinking to himself as he watched Frisk merrily skip to the house. All the while Flowey spat insult and threats after one another. " good god, what have i done?"

As the two reached the door, the skeletal monster opened up the door allowing Frisk to enter due to them holding the medium-sized pot. As they walked in, Sans flicked on the light, Frisk smiling proudly, holding up the pot for the pissed flower to get a better look around the entrance of their home, " New, New Home~!" They chimed out, only to have Flowey hunch his stem back, looking around his new surrounding and hissing under his breath at the sight.

" uhh, kiddo?" Sans interjected, but too late as Frisk placed the angered flower on a small table, before running over to the couch, nabbing a small toy sized pillow from a playset. The monsters still didn't make heads or tails of what gender the kid was, but apparently, they played with any type of children's toy, making everyone question even further. They ran right back up to the flower, holding out the pillow for him.

" See? Comfy." They held out the tiny toy pillow that was amazingly soft to the flower, only for a vine to slip out, slapping it out from under their hands and then shoving the cheerful kid down to the wooden floor. Sans reacted instantly, running over once he shut the door.

He quickly helped up Frisk, enraged by the flower's actions but didn't show how mad he truly was since Frisk asked him to give Flowey a chance. " hey! what is the matter with you?!" The only response he had gotten from the buttercup was an audible hiss with teeth poking out of the once was an innocent looking face. Sans was trying his damnedest to hold back, this thing had just shoved their friend down without saying a single thing!

Frisk frowned, looking over to their friend, slightly shaking Sans' arm to snap his attention away from the flower. " Please be careful with my little brother!"

Sans' head swerved to the child who surprisingly was shorter than even him, leaving the flower to slither into another room, growing out it's stem in order to do so while their attention was distracted. " that thing is not your brother frisk, i don't even think it's a flower! look, clearly this was a mistake, we should really take him back!" Flowey ignored them as he slithered up to a cozy fireplace whose flames were long extinguished. The flower was able to point out some pictures of the monsters and Frisk, brand new pictures that made his determined and non-soulful self, quiver in envy. With a quick slither of the long grown out stem, he reached the top shelf of the fireplace, glaring hard at the pictures... Everyone looked so... Happy. It made him sick.

" He's just cranky because he's new here!" Frisk pleaded out to cover the flower's hasty and irrational actions.

" he's creepy kid, i won't be able to sleep knowing he's loose in the house!"

" Undyne's loose in the house all the time and you sleep just fine!" Frisk called out as they wandered into the room, following the slim grown out stem which seemed more like a vine at the moment. They gasped out as Flowey nudged the picture off. Thankfully dodging those monsters a month or so ago, aided Frisk's movement. They quickly jumped over, letting their back hit the wooden floor in order to slide over and catch the pictures one by one right after putting any down so that they didn't clutter up in their arms.

Sans peeked into the living room to catch the sight. The flower was getting on his nerves, ever since the walk to the bus that thing had cursed, swore, and threatened the two of them. " hey, whoa!" He quickly flicked his wrist, making the upper part of Flowey glow in a hazy blue, forcefully reeling him back to the other room. Flowey's tiny leaves snagged the edge of the doorway somehow, pulling himself to stay in the living room. With a bit more force Flowey slipped away from his grip. " look at him frisk! he's obviously mutated from something else-we have to take him back!" Frisk quickly managed the pictures onto the floor before dashing out the room to the other two to keep Sans from teleporting away with their new family member.

" He has no one else and I care about him! What about being a family?!"

Once Flowey was forcefully retracted into his pot, the blue aura glowed out, making the pot levitate to Sans who was about to grab it, only for Frisk to burst over in between his action. " he hasn't even been here that long to actually be in a family!"

Frisk spread out their arms, sadly looking to their friend, " Neither have I! Mom said if we take in someone, they're family!" Sans nearly dropped the pot by accident, letting it sway slightly all while Flowey glared before being shocked a bit. Sans' pupils faded away into the black eye sockets. Frisk hadn't told many of the new family members, but they had told Toriel and Sans for the most part. Apparently, they never had a real family to begin with and had only stumbled into The Undergrounds from the Orphanage's field trip. The adults were quick to think they had just run off like some did in the past. Hearing this made Sans' soul break... Well figuratively.

" Huh?" Flowey questioned mainly to himself.

" He's family now... And family means no one-"

Sans joined with them, his pupils returning showing how sad he was for being so hasty to actions, " means no one gets left behind..."

" Oooor?"

" or forgotten..." He looked over to Frisk, the smile growing on his face again, giving off a smug look, " i hate it when you use family against me kiddo."

Chapter Text

The small skeleton suited up on his normal attire held up a rather large bag as he waved to his younger brother who paused himself from watching T.V to wave the sibling off. The tall slender skeleton took Sans by the hand and teleported them in front of the King's cozy home. Sans groaned dizzily, thinking the world around him was spinning, just to make him vomit. " ugh, it feels like i'm having a party inside my soul, but everyone's throwing up!"

Gaster rolled his glowing pupils, scoffing it off. For such a smart witty kid, he sure knew how to be a drama queen... " Right, are you ready Sans?" Sans shook off the feeling, quickly giving a large happy smile, chuckling as he always did which annoyed his father to no end. Gaster furrowed his non visible brows, raising a hand to his face, " Why did I agree to this?"

" 'cause you know you love me."

" I do and I hate it." Sans snickered to himself, holding his skeletal hands up to the wide smirk. Ah, he had fun teasing the shit out of his dad. Gaster couldn't blame him, he brought humor into his life once his wife had fallen. It was a shame, most other monsters didn't appreciate his personality more, and instead just pissed them off. Gaster shook his head, cracking a small smile, chuckling lightly to himself before ringing the home's doorbell.

The door opened, wonderful smells of Toriel's cooking flowed out from behind it, making the house seem much cozier inside. " Ah Doctor Gaster! It's wonderful that you're letting little Sans spend the night. My child will be so grateful, in fact he's actually rather nervous. Excited but nervous, the poor dear. And as a thanks, have these to share amongst you and young Papyrus as well." Toriel smiled brightly as she hand over a plate of cookies which the scientist took grateful for her consideration.

" Ahh, thank you Madam Tori, mmm, they smell wonderful as always. I best drop these off before I go work-"

" Gaster dear, please. Me and Asgore would rather you have the day off. You overwork yourself to much. Please, go spend time with your youngest son." Toriel tilted her head, looking a bit sad mixed with some worry.

Gaster watched Toriel give him the saddened and soft expression, but his stubbornness was getting the better of him for the moment, " N-No, no, Tori. It's quite fine, I enjoy what I do an-"

" Is he still going to work?!" Called out the king's joyous yet booming voice from deeper inside the house. Gaster clutched the plate he was given, shutting his mouth before he could say anything to further upset the queen. Toriel turned her head when Asgore had called out before slowly shifting her eyes to Gaster as an evil grin spread across under her muzzle.

" Tori... T-Tori, don't-"

Toriel raised her white paw to her mouth to shout out to her hubby, " WELL I THINK HE'S GOING TO-"

Gaster nearly dropped the plate of freshly baked cookies, almost jumping up as well in panic. " Ah! Blast it woman! Okay, okay! I'll take the day off!" He really rather not have the king and his boss to come over and tell him to enjoy the day. It was embarrassing... and Asgore could be a bit persuasive for such a big fuzzy pushover when it came to his friends.

" TAKE THE DAY OFF~!" Toriel called out almost in a sing-song like tone before smirking to the adult skeleton who was trying to hide under his grey scarf that was strewn around his neck, enough to hide his mouth and slightly flushed purple cheeks. " I only do this because we care about you."

" ... I know... Thank you." He stopped his hiding, poking his head back out from being in the scarf, making his attention to Sans who was pretending not to pay attention. " Now Sans." He began, kneeling down to the short sweater bundled skeleton who glanced over to his father. " Be respectful, and don't forget to take your medication at nine, got it?" The smaller one nodded to the instructions. " Have fun. Be good and don't get into trouble."

" geez dad which do you want me to do? get have fun or be nice?" Gaster gave away a hardened stare while Sans chuckled, hugging his dad before heading inside the home. Gaster got up and sighed to himself.

" That boy is too smart for his own good." Toriel laughed a bit before her and the scientist parted ways. Once Toriel had closed the door, she put a gentle hand onto Sans' shoulder, " Sans dear, Asriel is out in the garden to help out Asgore today, if you want, you are free to go talk with him. Or you can rather wait for him to be done."

" aww, now why would i not? except i would need something to wear to go gardening..."

" Oh, and what would that be my child? Do you need gloves?"

" nah... just garden hose." He smiled brightly as the queen held her fingers to her mouth covering the laughter to a muffled giggle. She took him by the hand, showing him where the garden was located. He blushed a small bit of blue on his cheekbones, embarrassed to a small point of the queen of the entire Underground was leading him along like she was just a normal adult. As the two reached the sliding doors that revealed the royal garden through the clear glass Sans kept his grip on the larger monster's hand.

" Hmm? Are you alright?" She asked, kneeling down to try and get to his level, though she was still much taller than the other monster. He finally let go, taking a step back.

" ye-yeah! yeah! s-sorry miss tori! i-i just...uh..." The small skeleton looked down. He never got this way with his father. It was always when it was an older woman. Toriel's face grew soft as she gave a sad smile, hugging the skeleton.

" I understand... Alphys gets this was with both of us. Ever since her parents had fallen down. It must be hard to not have a caring mother." Sans' body jolted ever so slightly before he found himself clinging to the queen. True he had his father and brother, but he really had longed for a motherly figure who didn't treat him like the teen he was, and instead being treated more of a child. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it was just a nice warm feeling that he and his brother would never experience. Sans stayed, holding onto Toriel, a small part envied his friend for having a mom, but seeing as the kid didn't have many monsters to play with or even a sibling, made him feel bad in the long run. He nuzzled his face into Toriel's shoulder before taking a deep breath as he let her go. Toriel pulled away to give a sweet smile and a small kiss on his forehead, " It's okay my child. Now go have some fun, alright?"

Sans thought he was going to burst into tears at any moment and only nodded, trying to put up the charade of not wanting a mother figure, only nodding slowly before going into the garden. The skeleton inhaled deeply, exhaling the new breath, shaking any of the emotion off. He began looking around the garden, treading lightly to not step on a precious flower or scaring his friend. Once his eyes caught hold of the prince, the whole mother feeling drifted away, letting his small frown spread into a smile. He decided to start walking over, his sneakers crunching the fallen leaves from under him, gaining the prince's attention without spooking him. Asriel hopped up from whatever yard work he had begun on and ran over to his friend, almost toppling him over. Sans caught him into the hard hit hug and laughed, standing his ground, nearly falling over. " whoa! hey, where's the fire?!" He laughed out as he embraced his friend's hug.

Asriel stepped back giggling joyfully, wagging the small poofy white tail that stuck out his pants, " Sorry Sans! I-I'm just excited is all-I-I've never had anyone sleep over here before! Le-Let alone someone I actually know!" He balled up his fingers to a fist, telling the skeleton how excited he was. Sure his parents had a monster or so sleep over since they needed help, like if one got lost or got too drunk, but no one he ever knew. " O-Oh! Ri-right, I need to finish the garden. Y-You can wait inside or-or just talk while I'm finishing up."

" tch, what kinda friend would i be if i didn't help, sides four hands are better than two right?" He held up his skeletal hands putting them over the furry knuckles of Asriel who felt like he was teeming with hyperness at all of this happening. " so, what do we need to do?" He took his hands off the others, Asriel leading him to what he had been working on. The two knelt down, Asriel handing him a small trowel.

" Not much, just digging the soft soil to plant these little guys." He said, picking up a flower that bloomed from a clump of dirt, small bits of root poking out from the rubble. Sans nodded and took to digging holes out for Asriel to fill in with the plants. They had just been chatting of how each others day was so far until Asriel paused, almost dropping the flower, quickly Sans caught it rather quickly. Thankfully Asriel's attention was turned to something else as he looked away from Sans. Sans gasped lightly as the plant in the dirt pile hung there in the air with a blue aura. Sans quickly snatched it up with his hands, thankful Asriel didn't see. Sans held the pile and watched his friend in pure curiosity.

" uhm... a-azzy? you okay there? something got your goat?" Before he could anything else the prince hunched over, lowering himself into the grass on all fours. He raised his lower back up like a cat and remained quiet until leaping away and nabbing something nearby from the grass. Sans leaned away as the prince pounced out, his pupils shrinking down in shock. What the hell was going on?!

Asriel soon sat up after he was done wrestling with something in the grass, turning his head to his startled friend, munching on something, " Hmm?" He saw the worried concern on his friend's face and swallowed up whatever he had been chewing up. " O-Oh! S-Sorry! I saw a slug." He laughed nervously before heading over back to Sans' side who was still staring at him. " ... What?"

" you... eat slugs?

" Well... It's a real close second to snails. But uhh, ye-yeah. I got the taste of them from my mom." He rubbed the back of his head bashfully as Sans went to fill in the newest empty hole with the flower he had just held up.

" it's fine dude. undyne eats things that are hot, when you'd think a fish would like cold damp stuff. i take it snails are your favorite?"

" I-In a way, I guess they would be e-ehehe... Uhm, what's your favorite food then if you don't mind me asking?"

" ahh, that's easy. ketchup!"

" Like as a condiment?" Asriel asked, tilting his head, letting his floppy ears dangle about.
" nah, just ketchup. it's weird, but ehh, everyone's got an odd taste for something. so like, how do they taste?"

Asriel pondered for a moment of how to explain the taste, " Hrm... Slimy yet satisfying." Sans chuckled quietly while Asriel continued to ponder to himself. " ... I wonder what they would taste like with ketchup..." The thought went through Sans' mind, making him laugh out. Wiping away a tear of laughter from the thought he looked over to the prince teasing him.

" pthhehehe, you're such a dork dude!" Sans laughed, nudging the goat monster's arm with his own. The prince stared back, scrunching up his face before a smile slid onto his mouth as well.

" Takes one to know one!"

The skeleton stared at him, his permanent smile halted, " ... holy crap, me and undyne are rubbing off on you!"

" Rubbing what off me?"

" rubbing this!" He snatched Asriel into a headlock, giving him a soft solid noogie, brushing his knuckle bones against the winter white fur. Making the smaller monster giggle out. Toriel watched from the glass doors, her face plastered into a gentle expression. She was so happy someone was helping her son out of his shy shell that he constantly hid in. He was only this way to other monsters, but not to her and Asgore. So for this to happen, made her soul swell up in joy, knowing that her son was truly happy with someone else for a change. She noticed that the two boys had been done with their gardening and slide the door open to call out to them.

" Boys~! If you are both done, we can order some nice pizza! So come along inside!" Sans and Asriel both stopped, the skeleton unhanding the goat so both could run over and into the nice warm house. Asriel hopped up and down to his mother.

" Oh-oh can we get pepperoni plant and mushrooms?!"

" Of course my child, Sans sweet what would you like?"

" i'm good with anything, but i do need to know if you have ketchup here."

" Hmm? Yes we do."

" then i've got everything i need." He smiled brightly as Toriel gave him a pat. She walked along into the kitchen to make the call. Asriel insisted that he wanted to help call the order for his new found friend, so with that being said he followed his mother into the nice orange tiled kitchen. This gave Sans a moment to snoop around the living room which had a large couch, chairs, a soft velvet like rug, a T.V, desk, table, the normal things you'd find in a home. Photos of the family were placed above the fireplace's shelf. Photos of the queen and king getting married, dressing out in their royal attire, Toriel holding the small swaddled up Asriel in a white cloth, another of the baby goat blowing out birthday candles, and then... One that made Sans focus deeply into it. The photo was much grainier and old, a bit of the edges singed from fire. The picture contained that of his father and a plump skeleton standing next to him in smooth silk robes. The robes stood out the most, almost like The Riverperson's clothing in a strange way. The other skeleton was just a tad shorter than his father, smiling proudly to the camera as Gaster had his arm around her waist, as the other had their arm slung over Gaster's shoulder, giving the cameraman a victory symbol with their skeletal hand.

" You can keep that one if you want." Sans jumped up, he swore if he had skin, he'd have jumped out from it. With a quick turn of the heel his eyes focused onto the large king of monsters, lowering down to the table, calmly blowing steam from his cup of tea. He sat down, giving Sans a gentle smile, reminiscing the past within his eyes, before they looked down to his cup. " We were good friends with your parents... Losing her was hard for us, but much harder on your father. He loved her so much... If we had known she was bearing two other souls in her, we would have helped. Your father must have kept you two a secret, possibly thinking you both weren't going to make it. He probably didn't want to let us know, not wanting us to go through more pain, knowing I had just failed my people. We were all upset and wanted time to ourselves. Or maybe it was for other reasons, that I am not sure. Perhaps he wanted to keep himself and his family isolated... It is hard to keep your work and your loved ones apart from each other. When you mix the two, things happen... Like little Alphy's parents and Undyne's family."

He took a small sip, reaching his large paw out, patting the floor next to him, as to call Sans over. Sans walked over, sitting next to the colossal sized king. " If we had known of you and your brother sooner, we would have given that photo to you long ago. We had one of Alphy's and Undyne's families and handed them over to them to keep. We only had them to keep our memory strong and protected, knowing them in the past, knowing how much they meant to us." He raised the large white paw onto Sans' small shoulder bone. " I am thankful that you and your brother are here. You two must help Gaster to keep in line, that he has something to live for. Since your mother had fallen down, he had not been the same, living as a shell of his former self, but with you two, he broke out of most of it. And I'm glad for that, as I am for you helping with my family. Asriel is... A fragile child, knowing he has a friend in this world he can depend on, make me at ease. Like your father he has a shell of his own, but with you and the others, he's coming out of hiding."

" ... w-wow... that means a lot sir... i'm happy that i can help you and dad. a-and... thank you for the picture." Sans was shocked, for all the years about hearing this big mighty king and how he was on The Surface during the war, washed away once he had shared his feelings. He was a kind king, and a friend to all at heart. The large king got up, grabbing the frame, opening it gently and handing it to Sans who folded it neatly into his pocket.

" Just... Do not show your father, it might bring up painful memories."

" that explains why there's no pictures of her at my house..." Sans mumbled quietly so that Asgore couldn't hear him.

Asriel came running out from the kitchen to wave over to his dad then to Sans, " Pizza is on its way!"

" sweet! so what do you normally do when you wait for something?" Asriel fiddled with one of his floppy ears thinking, but more of just being quiet...

As Asriel lead Sans into his room, the skeleton gazed over, seeing drawings hung up with tape over some of the wall, a wardrobe with drawers, a nice tucked in bed, large salmon colored rug, and many stuffed monsters in a pile in the corner, neatly organized. He whistled out viewing over the room, especially when his eyes caught hold of fake star like gems over the ceiling. His eyes also stumbled onto a small table with child sized chairs around it, most of them being occupied by the stuffed monsters, while fake food, plates, and cups were placed n front of them. Asriel stood near the door, putting his hands behind his back, his foot nervously sliding around on the floor. Sans took a look back to the prince who tucked his head down. " It's girly I know....."

" ... nah, i understand dude. your pretty sensitive, and i'm not saying that in a rude way. it's fine, alphys does the same and heck, me and paps join her, even undyne... though she normally gets up and flips the table..." Asriel's cheeks blushed slightly as his new friend told him this. He giggled, imagining a very unhappy Undyne sitting at a table like his.

After a while Toriel knocked on the door to let the two know the pizza was here, " Come in!" Asriel called out politely, letting Toriel open the up to view Asriel dressed with a black tailcoat, black bowtie, fake monocle, and a tiny toy top hat. Meanwhile Sans had tied his sweater onto his waist, turned around to simulate as an apron, a floral looking unbuttoned shirt, and light blue cap with a fake white flower on the top of his skull.

Toriel help her mouth, trying not to giggle and instead remained calm to smile, " Pizza is here, do you two boys want to get it?"

Asriel nodded and got up, stretching out his tiny bow, trying to suave, " Of course madam."
Sans got out of the chair before placing a hand onto his chest, " ma'am, do you not see the hat? I am mrs. nesbitt, thank you very much. but as one lady to another... heck yeah." The two got to their normal attire, walking to the front door with Toriel.

Toriel opened the door for them, unveiling a tall lanky brownish cat like monster who donned a diner type of clothing, complete with the little white folded hat, holding three boxes of pizza. He wore a happy smile, as his other paw was on top that of a smaller cat, bundled into a blue baby carried. The toddler looked down, waving to the two. " hey burgy."

Burgy shyly responded with a simple nod, while the older cat handed the pizzas to the two boys. " 'Eyyy! Sansay boy, sup my amigo?!"

" not much zack, the baby carrier, loving it, pretty paw-some honestly."

The older cat laughed out, " Ohoho yeah! I get all the ladies with this baby~!" He smirked, putting his thumbs on the straps, " Chicks dig a man who can handle a kid! Am I right misses T?" He winked to Toriel who gave out a chuckle.

" Ohoho Zack, you cheeky monster you."

" And wanna' know what's even better than one baby? BAM!" He swerved around, arms raised out, thumb-upping to revel the carrier was one with the double carrying capabilities. There sat a much older looking version of Burgy who was in his early teens. His arms folded with a very unpleasant look on his face.

" Put me down you asshole, I can walk on my own!" he hissed out, only to be turned around as Toriel paid the older cat.

" Thank you~! See you around, miaou~!"
----------------------------------------------------------------

Flowey quietly snarled as his pot was placed on the living room's table in front of the T.V and the soft lumpy green couch. Sans was relaxing on one end, flipping through channels mindlessly as Frisk knelt on the floor, watching the channels sip one another. Suddenly the doorbell rang, making Frisk gasp out in joy, jumping up to the front door as Toriel aided them. " Fucking bullshit... Why does Frisk insist that, that obnoxious little brat spend the night?" Flowey growled out, seething with pure anger and hate.

" tch, you act like you've never had a sleep over. i'm sure you of all people would have a had a sleep over, considering you popped up to bundles of flower beds all over the underground, then slept there." Sans merely said, his half lidded eyes glancing to the angered flower.

" That's not what I meant you! YOU!... Hrnnnng!" Flowey quivered in a fit of rage, being reduced to nothing but sticking out of a damn clay pot with childish scribbling on it. It was a new low for him.

" don't pop a kernel there pal."

The golden flower soon calmed down as a thought twisted and wormed it's way into his head. He lowered himself from being stiffened from anger to a smug smile, " Well... Have you ever had a sleep over?"

" mmm... nah, not my style... but i did crash at alphys every now and then. but the reason for that is none of your business."

Flowey nodded silently, " Mmm-hm... No one else?"

" nada."

" Really?"

" yup." Flowey raised a brow, staring at Sans intently. The skeleton's gaze looked over to him before his normal smile shrunk slightly, " ... what's with the look?"
" Oh, nothing. Nothing at all... Mrs. Nesbitt." Sans' left eye flared up for a split second, before going back to normal. Sans' expression hadn't changed, making the flower upset. Sans was getting to good at covering up any type of shock or reaction. He hated how Sans stoop to the level of not reacting anymore, but Flowey had been the one to blame, making him feel rather ironically dead inside over the past years with all the resets. Deep down it had effected the flower's core... That and the fact that Sans denied personal matters, and lying about many things. Flowey's gaze turned its attention to Frisk chatting with the lizard like monsters with no arms, or maybe they had tiny T-Rex ones... Maybe wings hiding under their over-sized striped shirt. Frisk smiled brightly and hugged onto the monster child, which was a touching scene for Toriel who gave an affectionate smile.

Flowey gritted his teeth harshly, quivering in... was it rage? Or that of longing for a good feeling, maybe even reminiscing the past of his former life. It just wasn't fair... Everyone got to be with their friends except for him. Sure there was Frisk, but they didn't really count since they treated Flowey as a brother most of the time, not to mention Flowey denied them so much. Same with Papyrus who would always become friends with him, no matter what time-line. But it wasn't the same as it was in the past. Undyne, Alphys... The others moved on without remembering him at all... Chara was long gone, nowhere to be seen anymore, probably more than likely faded away at this point, not even lingering to Frisk anymore. And all the while Sans denied knowing Asriel... After all Flowey put him through, he couldn't blame him for trying to become friends again.

In Flowey's own little world, his friends forgotten him, his sibling dead, and his best friend had abandoned him. Flowey shook as Frisk and the monster kid ran up the stairs to go play and spend precious time together. Flowey's stem went limp while his petal drooped down. " what's up there buttercup?" And now his old friend was there to pour salt in the scarred wound.

" S-Shut u-up... Just... J-Just leave me alone..." He had done his best to never break down in front of anyone besides Frisk. If he cried like the crybaby he really was, it would know that he was actually rather vulnerable. No could know! No one could understand, no one could help...

" aww, the hard jerk flower is turning into a worry wort." Sans said smugly, knowing Flowey was vulnerable. Sure it was cruel, but he didn't care anymore since the plant made his life a living hell. Getting back at the flower wasn't all that bad... was it?

" I-I said... Shut up... J-J-Just-Just leave me alone dammit!" Flowey spoke up louder this time for Sans to get the message.

" say is that dew running down your petals or tears? 'cause honestly, hehehe, it looks like your crying."

Flowey jerked his head to the skeleton, not noticing Toriel was walking over, hearing the upset flower. " I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU BONEHEAD! JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" He shrieked out, managing to make Toriel spooked as she jumped back. Even Sans leaned further to the couch's arm, with a small shocked look in his eyes. " YOU THINK I WANTED TO BE BROUGHT UP HERE?! HUH?! I JUST WANTED TO STAY DOWN BELOW AND ROT THERE JUST LIKE HOW I WAS MEANT TO! T-TO STAY THERE... BEING-B-Being... being left alone... Like always... Abandoned by everyone I knew... Being alone, scared... And forgotten..." Angry burning tears turning into bubbly sad ones, streaking down his face. He panted lightly to himself, trying to calm himself. His stem bent back as if to step back, seeing the skeleton in more shock now, while Toriel having her fingers over her mouth, equally shocked, possibly even worried and scared.

The three stayed in silence for a while before the pot was taken away. Frisk had gone downstairs after hearing the yelling. They quickly rushed off before either of the two monsters could say anything, let alone react at all. Flowey was still in his position, locked there, not being able to think or move. As soon as Frisk got up the stairs they sighed heavily, holding the pot up, giving a worried look. Flowey's blurred vision came back as he saw Frisk's face. He broke his stiffened stem and sniffled, calming down. Frisk gave a concerned smile, giving the flower a small kiss on the forehead. " ... Thanks Frisk..."

" Come on... I wanted to show my little brother to Kidd. My brother shouldn't be all by himself while I'm with a friend. Maybe... Maybe we could have a tea party?" Flowey sniffled again, looking to Frisk with watery eyes. He needed to think about something else for the moment.

Flowey nodded silently and sadly, keeping quiet, " That... That sounds nice..."

Chapter Text

The smaller skeleton chased, or well... slowly chased after the group of snails who were fleeing away from the toddler who was a giant compared to them. The snails slithered away from Papyrus, leaving a slimy gooey trail behind them. Toriel had been in charge of babysitting the two today, and brought them along with her to one of her favorite shops, The Snail Farm. It was run by about five ghosts, a married couple, and the husband's brother and sister who were currently divorced. Then the brother's new girlfriend who had a child of her own. It was a rather large family to say the least. Though monsters were made of magic and love, some did still break away from their soul mates oddly enough. They weren't perfect, no one was perfect in the world. The two ghastly parents had a small ghostly child who was around toddler age, and probably more than likely would have been friends with Undyne and Sans' group, but he was too shy. The small light green colored glob of a ghost watched as Sans and Asriel talked to each other, peeking his head from around the fencing. They poor thing was more shy than Asriel and would vanish once anyone outside his family said a single word to him. Sans's eyes caught the blob out from the corner, as he turned to smile to the ghost their white eyes grew bigger. The scrunched up and faded away into the air.

" man... that guys more spooked than you ever were Azzy."

" We-Well... I could understand, but I guess it's hard when you can disappear like that. I would have done that if I had that ability."

" well, i'm still glad that you didn't or else we wouldn't be here no, now would we?" Sans asked in a smug tone, receiving a small glare from the prince, making his ever constant smile widen. Just then a slightly bigger sheet looking ghost colored in a translucent light color of orange appeared before the two children all the while Toriel was busy talking to the parents who had invited her into the home for some tea while the kids played in the farming area.

The orange one snarled out to the two friends, glaring deeply at them, flailing and contorting his flabby body all around, " ARRRRRRGH! DON'T PICK ON MY LITTLE COUSINS YOU BIG BULLIES!" Asriel bleated out in horror, jumping behind Sans, placing his paws on his shoulder bones, cowering behind him as his eyes kept shut to avoid eye contact of the angered spirit. " YEAH YOU HAD BETTER STAY BEHIND THE BIGGER MONSTER! Then again... YOUR SHORT TOO! YOUR MADE OUTTA BONES-YOUR PROBABLY AS BRITTLE AS WE GET!" He kept up yelling at Sans who was startled at first by how loud it was, but suddenly went into his collective, calm, and cool mode when normally facing the forest bullies. It was best not to let anyone ever get to him, otherwise how would he stand up for his little brother? And now that he was training to become a judge, he had to be even stronger and braver than he was before. Before training, he could swing a punch, but was more on the defense and just talk... Now with his 'medication' he had become stronger and had more of a bite.

Sans gave out a tired sigh, " look buddy we were just trying to say hi, we didn't hurt him or his feelings-"

The ghost snapped out at him, still aggressive to the older child, " YOU SPOOKED HIM! NO ONE SCARES MY COUSIN AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" Sans lifted a non-visible brow, tilting his head before grinning to the specter, raising his small shoulders up with his arms and shaking his head, chuckling.

" I'd calm down if I were you buddy, or you might get a booboo." Asriel shakily lifted open an eyes to watch Sans talk back the ghoul with the best way he knew how when messing with someone younger than him... With puns. If the ghost had been any older, Sans would have threatened him like the forest teens, but would never harm someone younger.

The already more than angered ghost child got riled up more, " OH YEAH?! I CAN TAKE YOU ON! COME ON! LET'S GO! FIGHT ME!"

Sans snickered to himself, letting Asriel overhear how confident he really was, " what? you're gonna' kick my pelvis around? what happens if i do it to you? do you even have a butt? or do you you have a boo-ty?" The slightly smaller monster behind Sans held his muzzle with his snow white paws, not to laugh out. Ever little kid loved the butt jokes, considering Papyrus overheard and giggled out, trying to make himself be quiet. The mad ghost glared over at the younger skeleton before his attention went back to Sans.

The ghost's cheeks were slowly growing into a red color, " ST-STOP SAYING THOSE HORRIBLE BOO JOKES!"

Sans' pupils glimmered as he saw the opportunity the ghost had just given him without even knowing it, " boo jokes? ohhh! you mean like knock, knock?"

" NO THEY WERE MUCH WORSE!"

" ... knock-knock."

" STOP THAT!"
" knock-knock."

The spirit thrashed it's sheet like boy around, stubby hands pulling the sides of its cheeks, " WHOSE THERE?!"

" boo."

" URGGGGH! BOO-WHO?!"

" just me, but i'm not sure why your crying." The mad ghost slowly looked over to him, seeing Sans having the biggest smile spread across his face. The prince giggling from behind him, making the ghost wonder how someone could find this funny? The ghost's orange color soon degraded into that of a dark red before brightening itself until he was a full shade of bright crimson. He shook their uncontrollably as he seethed in pure hate. Both Papyrus and Asriel ducked, thinking he'd literally explode from being so pissed off, all while Sans stood his ground, watching the event unfold. Before the red coated ghost could do anything more, a high pitched voice spoke out from nearby them all.

" Oh my gosh! Madstablook, stop that! Your upsetting Blooky!" A pink shaded ghost roughly an inch or two shorter floated over to them all, nodding his head over so that a small strand of pink like hair flipped over one of their eyes. Behind him was a another ghost, about three inches smaller, hovered right behind him, cowering as Asriel did. The smaller light blue ghost's eyes wobbled about, ectoplasmic tears growing in the corners of his large eyes. The now reddened ghost slowly went back to his normal orange color, exhaling a large amount of air for making himself puff up so much. " Their just here to while the grown-ups are talking, jeez! You're such a drama queen! What if they just wanna' be your friends?"

The orange floating blob of ectoplasm huffed angrily, puffing up his cheeks, " I don't need friends! I've got knives! AHAHAHAHAHA!" He cackled out madly, making him sound even crazier than before as a floating spoon hovered over to him.

Asriel squinted his eyes before perking up from behind his friend. " That's not a knife, that's a spoon..."

" Eh....." Madstablooks eyes darted to the silverware floating with his magic, nervously darting the now worried panicked eyes around, " Uhm...Er... I'M OUT!" The small ghost dropped the spoon before floating away quickly into The Waterfall's wall, vanishing from sight. The pink ghost sighed loudly, hovering to the two monsters.

" Sorry about that. Madstablook is... Hard to deal with."

Sans scoffed, rolling the white glowing pupils, " tch, no kidding... anyways, he must know that this kid here is the prince right?"

" Yeah, but he doesn't really care."

" wow, rude."

The pink spirit flipped his strand of hair again, nodding in agreement, " He's mostly just talk, don't worry. Anyways, I'm Happstablook~! This is my younger cousin Napstablook! Say Hi Blooky~!"

" O-Oh...uhm...h-hi..." Napstablook spoke out before vanishing away... then reappearing behind the fencing only to unknowingly bet hugged by the skeleton toddler, who phases right through him. " O-OH! O-Ohhh! Uhm..I-I! Oh no, ehhh I'm so sorry...I...Ehhh..." The light blue blob faded away before Papyrus could tell him it was fine, leaving the toddler slightly disappointed.

" ... He'll come back don't worry." Happstablook reassured. Sans tried to poke the mellowed pink ghost, only for his hand to go right through him, " huh... cool, never seen a ghost before. let alone a sophisticated kid."

Happstablook twirled in place, winking his eye, " Got that right~! My mom has taught me many things, such as manners and style. Sides, never seen a skeleton before-and which I must say, your baby brother is one of the most adorable things I've ever seen!" He waved a stubby nub to Papyrus who waved back, slightly confused.

Sans soon sat down next, leaning his back to the fencing while his friend hopped on top of the wood, dangling his feet off to watch Papyrus try his best to look for the shy blue ghost. " so what do you ghosts normally do? besides ya know... boombling about?"

The pink ghost rolled his one visibly bright eye, just ignoring the pun instead of engaging it like his angry cousin had. " Most of what other kids do... Except we have the best sport ever!"

Asriel looked over to his side, " Like Nose-Nuzzle?"

" Hehehe! Noooo, silly~! Snail racing!" Asriel's eyes grew into amazement, as if thinking it was the best thing ever, gasping out a bit, making the skeleton laugh at what a dork the prince was.

" hehehe, really? snail racing? is it that extreme?"

" Ohoho... You have no... Idea." Happstablook grinned evilly.

" oh, man! he's never gonna' make it over that next pebble!" Yelled out Sans. The skeletons brothers watched several snails speed their way to some lettuce that the ghosts used to feed the snails daily. They only placed it a little bit away from a large group, making the snails crawl to it without tiring them out. Asriel seemed invested as he leaned his upper torso through the gap of the fence, as two of the four child ghosts cheered on the snails. The shy green one was busy helping Napstablook gather up snails that were too far away from the food, by gently scooping them up somehow, then placing them onto the damp blue ground. Sans finally gasped as Papyrus cheered the little snail on, " wait, wait! oh my god! he made it!"

The children cheered, waving their arms or in the case of the ghost, their stubby nubs up, waving them in excitement. Even the angered ghost seemed to have calm down by the 'sport', while the two shy ones were getting a bit closer, but still keeping their distance.

" SUP PUNKS?!" Screamed out a familiar voice that made the entire group look over, making the small green ghost vanish quickly as stomping of boots came towards them. Undyne ran over, her boots splashing against the water of small puddles, jumping onto the fencing, making Asriel bleat out and falling over into the small area of the farm where the snails resided in.

" UNDYNE!" Papyrus then started to bounce up and down, happy to see her.

" Thought I smelled fish..." Mumbled the angry orange spirit, avoiding her eye contact.

" Hey, screw you too Mads! You're just jealous 'cuz I'm stronger than you!" She folded her arms, grinning her sharp teeth proudly.

Papyrus conjured up a bright orange colored tongue, sticking it out at her to blow a raspberry, " NU-UH! SANS IS! RIGHT BROTHER?! YOU GOT REALLY STRONG!" As much as the toddler looked up to his fishy friend, he always had his brother first at heart. But it was actually true... Papyrus just didn't know how exactly, but he had overheard from Gaster that he had gotten stronger.

" Hmm? Is that so Sansy boy?!" Undyne questioned, making the other skeleton rub the back of his neck embarrassingly from the praise his brother had given him.
" we-well... i have been training with my dad ever since those bullies hurt azzy." Asriel noticed his name being said, looking over to the sweater bundled skeleton. A small blush growing on his cheeks, thinking that it that was pretty sweet of him to worry so much to start training.

" All right then... YOU AND ME! Right here... RIGHT NOW! Let's spar!"

" NNNO! YOU MIGHT HURT THE SNAILS!" The three remaining ghosts, Papyrus, and Asriel yelled out, all looking extremely worried... Well except Madstablook who just looked to be in a fury of anger.

" UGH! Alright fine! ... You, me, over to that space where the path splits ways near the dump!"

" jeez undyne i don't... i mean we are waiting for azzy's mo-ahhhhh!" He was suddenly pulled away, being dragged by his older friend. He sighed to himself, thinking of who to blame. Probably Undyne since she was always such an adrenaline junkie. Papyrus might have been one to blame, but he was just a small toddler who believed in his big brother too much. Was that so wrong? Undyne let him go as she had dragged the skeleton along by his hoodie, running over to some free space to face her opponent. Asriel stayed close by with the others, making sure they stayed behind him and to the side. He knew how rough Undyne could be at sparring, even if she had never hit his dad. But had seen a bruise or two from Gerson. The only reason she never fought off against Asriel was because he would fall over and start crying.

Undyne hopped around her spot as Sans stood up, dusting the back of his pants. The gilled girl bounced up and down, side to side, throwing punches at the air, psyching herself up. " Let's go! Let's go! Come on!"

" undyne just calm down, i mean it's not like we're in a real battle or anythi-" A blue neon spear sprung by Sans' face from just a few inches away before plunging into the ground, cracking the rubble. The skeleton didn't get a second chance before Undyne swung a glowing spear in her hands, making a small cut on his cheek bone.

-3/860!

Sans quickly jumped back as his friend grinned, taking a step forward, using another hard swing. He quickly turned around, high tailing it away from the aggressive fish who chased him. " NRG! STOP RUNNING!" Undyne skidded to a halt, summoning several glowing spears, shooting them to the fleeing skeleton who either managed to out run them, dodge them, or with them just missing him completely. Either way it was making Sans' bones rattle for sure. He ran up to a wall of The Waterfalls, looking over his shoulder, white snowy pupils snapping to her attention. His sight catching just enough that she was about to throw more spears to his direction. Undyne never knew when to take a spar lightly... One of the main reasons the forest teens ran away from her. Sans' felt his soul tingle, magic surging through his bones, making both of his pupils brighten up. Both pupils had a blue tinted aura around them, with a mix of yellow sparking in the mist flowing out from his eye sockets. Sans' mind nagged him that he was cornered, and how bad Gaster's training was, making him more defensive and scared. The skeleton summoned up a bone from his own magic, and commanded it to be flung to Undyne. The glow in his eyes became a large mist seeping from magic, while something deep in his soul stung him painfully.

All Sans could remember was white... Pure white like his bones or Asriel's soft fur... That was funny, he felt like his bones were being brushed up against fur... It was nice... It was so soft and warm. He didn't see anything but white, not even his hands were inside as they held onto the fluffy thing. A ringing buzzed in his skull, a constant tone humming the same note. This felt nice... why did he feel tired? " NSS!" What was that? " HNSHS!" There it was again.. Some muffled voice being blocked away from the loud hum... That hum was getting a lot louder... Really loud! It got so loud to where Sans had to shut his eyes as it got louder, and louder. The ringing suddenly stopped at the sound of a loud pop. The muffled voices were starting to get clearer. " ANS!" ...... " SANS!" Who was calling him? He opened his eyes slowly, a white and green blue melding into shapes until everything came to him. " SANS!" Asriel was sobbing, looking down at his friend who was on the ground for some reason. His hands were clinging to Asriel's shirt like he was hanging onto dear life.

" wuh..." Sans mumbled out, finally letting go of the prince's shirt and sitting up. Asriel looked terrified, more terrified than he had been with the bullies. It took a moment to notice his paws were stained with a blue liquid. " azzy?"

" D-D-DON'T WORRY! I-I-I! I CALLED YOUR DAD! HE'S ON HIS WAY!"

" wait wha-what happen? where's paps?" He peeked out from the side of his friend who was obscuring his vision. Nearby was Toriel hovering her hands over a passed out Undyne. Her large paws glowed brightly as they stayed above her left eye. She looked panicked. Sans couldn't tell why until he noticed a blue liquid was splattered all around Undyne's head, dripping from her left eye. " u-undyne!" Sans reached out, only to have Asriel grab his arm to keep him put. He was so confused and wanted answers. But two the goats were busy healing or crying. That was until Asriel froze up, staring behind Sans. Sans felt an uneasy feeling behind him, looking over to see his father.

Sans sat there in the lab's lobby, feet dangling from the chair as he felt terribly disappointed in himself. He couldn't believe that he had nearly skewered out his friends eye with a sharpened end of a bone. He could have sworn the bone was just a normal one-not having a sharpened tip... He must have terrified everyone there... Poor Papyrus just witnessed this, along with his new friend. Thankfully Undyne had her back to them, so for the very least they didn't see it go into her eye. From what he could make out, he had slightly snapped and shot it at Undyne. Madstablook went to the farm to tell the ghosts and Toriel. Asriel had tried to help Undyne until his mother got there. Once the adults arrive the ghosts took their children and Papyrus to the farm. Asriel had stayed by Sans' side since he couldn't help with Undyne's injury. Apparently Sans went into shock and collapsed, making Asriel trying to wake him up, snatching up his cell phone and calling Gaster.
Gaster walked out with another lanky monster. A dark brown furred cat, whose whiskers were just a mess. Sans could tell it was Burgy's and Zack's uncle, almost as intelligent as his own father, but more nervous and cowardly, quite the opposite of Gaster. The two walked over to Sans who was in a stupor, crying his sockets out. Gaster sighed, " Undyne is fine. Tori managed to heal her up quite nicely. Except... She may be blind in that eye and not have much focus on her magic anymore. And that could make here pretty dangerous when it comes to training. Considering the bone pierced a nerve that controls her flow of magic to target things..."

" bu-but she...she loves training-s-saying that she can't do it will make the world end for her! is there nothing you can do?!"

" No, I'm sorry son... It's not like we have any donors who'd be willing to give up their control of directing their magic."

Both scientists looked down in shame, out of all the knowledge, they couldn't fix her up. That was until the cat monster told the head scientist he'd be right back, leaving the two alone. Sans held his father's hand, slipping his finger through the hole, making the older monster look over. " i'll do it."

" What?! Blast it boy, how will you become a judge if you can't-"

" determination." Gaster paused as he thought quietly to himself. " if what you've been saying is right. over time that nerve won't be needed if given enough determination. that amount of determination can easily make my remaining eye better, and be able to direct my attacks with no problem. we just... we just need to hope that i don't lose it all and become blind in my eye."

Gaster took a deep breath, " Sans, I can't have you do tha-"

" what good am i as a judge if i can't help anyone lower than the future king?!" Gaster gritted his teeth, not sure of the idea. But Sans had a point... And it would technically be in the name of friendship, and not to mention science.

" ... Very well."
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Each of the eyes glared at each other. All until the pale black eye with a blue dot hid behind blue scaly lids. A clamor was heard as the Royal Guards cursed under their doggy breaths. Undyne leaned back into her chair, taking a quick snap at some fries Grillby had just served her. She chuckled, " Guys, I only stopped 'cuz I smelt those fries! I'm starved!" She explained, clasping his hands together, eagerly rubbing them as her one good eye looked at her fries. She licked her lips as the dogs went to eat their food as well. Undyne strapped her eye-patch over the oddly placed eye, grinning to her enemy of the staring contest. Sans chuckled as he was about to take a sip from his ketchup bottle. The two had made their odd eyes go into a staring duel, only that Undyne's was much worse. Sans' right eye wasn't badly damaged as Undyne's, it was hard to tell that something was wrong with it. He could see just fine, so the only time anyone could see it didn't glow in magic was from him being mad. But that hardly ever happened. " Hehe, that was a good stare Sans!" Undyne cheered her friend who winked to her.

" hey what can i say? i've always got an eye on you." Unknown to the monsters in the restaurant, a small flower had been peeking in from the window. Flowey huffed in the chilly air, only he, Sans, and Alphys knew the true hidden power behind the fish's eyes. She didn't even know that it held a small bit of determination. It slipped into her ever since Sans had his father extract the magic from his right eye and into Undyne's left.

The flower sighed and shivered from the cold breeze. He soon dug into the dirt, popping up at The Waterfalls, looking over the area, remembering clearly of what had transpired there long ago. The only thing that would wonder in this area was Shyren hiding or singing to herself. He shook himself of the old far out memory, trying to cover it with recent ones, like how that orange ghost had moved into that stupid training dummy. Speaking of the ghosts... He started to recall the shy one had hid in the ruins somewhere. The pink had become the star; Mettaton. While the parents of them all had moved out and into the capital, leaving the four behind once old enough. Now the three had left poor Napstablook alone. The worrisome ghost probably felt like him... When Flowey needed to mellow out from being constantly pissed off or sad, he would visit Napstablook... Every time line had him pop in by the ghost, and he was quite welcome. The ghost hadn't felt joy in a long time, while Flowey couldn't. It was perfect. Flowey needed his mind to go elsewhere for the moment, so he dug into the earth, popping up in front the droopy house. A vine sprawled out, wrapping around itself to finally knock the door. The door opened slowly as Nasptablook looked around wearing his headphones around his... neck? " Down here."

The ghost looked down and shyly hovered away to let Flowey in who only rolled his eyes, digging into the ground. As the door closed, Flowey had managed to pop up through a cracked part of the floor. It had been there for a while from being an old home, and would go back to looking like normal flooring once the flower slid into the ground. " He-Hey Flowey... How's... How's it going?"

" Mmm, bout the same as you." The ghost nodded silently as he floated over to his computer. His nubby hand clicking the mouse's button, turning on calm music. He went back to his guest who already had his stem laying on the floor. Napstablook then laid on his back beside the plant, both staring at the ceiling, feeling the universe pass by them as they felt like garbage. " ..... Do you ever wish you could rewind time? Like... Before your cousins left?"

" All the time... What about you? if you could rewind to anywhere, where would it be?"

Flowey squirmed his stem a bit, " I think... I think before anything really bad happened."

" What do you mean?"

" Just... Something that happen in the past. I would change things. Then my friend wouldn't have left me. Then I'd have someone to listen to clearly to tell me what I was planning was a bad idea. Then maybe people would remember my friend. And I wouldn't have gotten hurt."

Napstablook sighed softly, " That sounds like a lot... I understand. No one wants to be alone. Not even me or a tiny spider in the ruins. I know that old lady feels lonely, but... I'm too scared to talk to her. Even as a kid when I'd see her. All I remember is that she was some lady who bought snails."

" Yeah... She's a sweet lady."

" You've talk to her?"

" Yeah... I'm just not good at making friends I guess you could say." The flower lied to his neutral friend. Best to lie than to tell him he can't feel any good emotion.

" O-Oh... Oh... I'm sorry to hear that... Maybe... Maybe we could be friends?"

" It wouldn't work. I get upset easy and then angry-"

" My cousin did too." Napstablook butted in for once. He was only hopeful of finally having a friend.

" Yeah but. I-I'm. I'm worse... I hurt people when I don't mean it. And what monster hurts their friend?"

" Oh... Y-yeah, that would be difficult... Sorry."

The flower sighed as he closed his eyes, " It's fine... Let's just be mutuals and listen to the music."

" S-Sure..." Napstablook continued to watch the ceiling, he was never one to press a subject for long. That's something Flowey liked besides his apathetic attitude. He could have someone he could relate too, if only slightly.
---------------------------------------------

Toriel knelt down to Frisk's level and embraced them into w large warm hug, kissing their forehead before letting go and standing back up. " Now Frisk dear, please be good for the ghosts while the skeletons go shopping and while me and..." Her face seemed irked, " Asgore... Have to go to a meeting. Okay?" Frisk nodded as a semi-sleep monster child yawned, waiting for his friend near Flowey. Toriel then patted their brown hair and hollered, " DREEMURR HURRY UP!"

" THE SUIT IS STUCK!" Asgore miserably cried out from another room, making the female like clone as Papyrus would call her, rather upset. She grumbled to herself as she stomped off to help the large kind ex-king. Frisk sighed with a small smile, they were sad Toriel wasn't going to give the big guy another chance, and in his case he wasn't exactly innocent... But he only did it for the best of his kingdom. Frisk knew deep down when the two fought, they could see a glimpse of a tear or two dripping out his hardened eyes.

All the while that was going on a large pink tinted ghost around Frisk's size chatted to the taller of the skeleton brothers, " Papy, don't worry~! Me, Blooky, and Mads will take care of them just fine! We got the okay from deary Tori you goofy skeleton you~!" The ghost giggled into his tiny nubs of hands before flipping his strand of hair.

" I KNOW, BUT... BUT ARE YOU QUITE SURE YOU CAN DO THIS WITHOUT ERM... WELL, WHILE YOUR BODY IS BEING UPGRADED? I MEAN, I WOULD FIND IT CERTAINLY HARD TO DO THINGS WITHOUT A BODY MYSELF. LET ALONE HAVING IT ON HOLD WHILE UNDYNE QUITE FORCEFULLY TOOK ALPHYS ON A DATE." Papyrus fiddled with his gloves, trying his best to smile to the joyful ghost. Frisk over-heard this as they walked into another room, leaving their family to go talk to someone in particular. All they could think of was Papyrus saying 'Undyne forcefully taking Alphys on a date'. The poor nerdy lizard was caught up on working on Happstablook's, or rather Mettaton's body that she hadn't noticed her and the fish had arranged a date. That being said, Undyne nearly tore the hinges of the door with a kick, stomping over to pick up Alphys over her red head and shouting, ' YOU! ME! DATE! NOW!' and then carrying Alphys out all the while the chubby lizard flailed about. Frisk giggled to themselves, they always loved how Undyne would get riled up and take Alphys out somewhere by just picking her up and running off.

Frisk finally made it to the one person they sought out, their dunkle. Sans was busy on messing with his magic of levitation or telekinesis, which was a first to the child's surprise. Normally he'd be sleeping, run off somewhere or just kinda sit there and think. Perhaps he was starting to finally gain back some hope, knowing the small twelve year old wasn't going to reset again, letting them live peacefully and happily. Sans suddenly stopped, a bone floating in mid air that had been twirling away, stopped. With a look over the shoulder, he saw the small savior of monster-kind walk over to him, " heh, sup kiddo?"

Frisk gave a worried smile, reaching into their back pocket of their jeans and pulling out a folded up paper. Unfolding the small paper reviled a child like drawing of the laid back yet stubborn skeleton saying sorry to a flower. Frisk held it in front of their face, hiding their nervousness, before lowering it to where their eyes met Sans. Sans sighed, rubbing the back of his neck bones, " ah jeez kid... i know, i shouldn't have pushed the daisy up like that-trust me tori kinda got onto me about it. everyone's giving him a chance-but kid... just try and understand okay? i just can't do it, he's rude, selfish, and stubborn like a little snot nosed brat. i know he's made my life a living hell until you showed up, even if i only catch the past timelines as nightmare snippets, but seriously kid. i can't forgive him-" Sans immediately stopped as he saw water leak from the small child's eyes. " oh no-nononono! ki-kid, no stop crying! tori will kill me! oh jeez-uhm...uh... okay, fine i'll try it! but keep in mind, i said 'try', got it? no promises." Frisk sniffled, wiping their tears away with their sleeve and nodding. " your killing me kid, your killing."

Frisk looked over from the corner to see their tiny flower sibling talk casually to their orange friend. Even when Sans poked his head out above Frisk's, he was taken back from the conversation. Flowey was actually just talking with the monster kid. He wasn't swearing, insulting, or spitting out threats... Okay that wasn't true he was cursing, but not at the child, but casually as friends would do once older. Frisk moved from below their dunkle and pushed the skeleton over, which made Sans' body nearly jump since he was invested in the conversation. The small child managed to shove him over to the table, letting the other two look up at him. Sans was greeted by a friendly smile from the other child, and of course a glare from the plant.

" uhm hey... look, uh, buttercup-" This only made the flower watch him more pissed off, receiving a hateful glare instead of an annoyed one. " i just. uhm. i just wanted to say that i'm...i'm.i'm...i can't do it kid! i just can't do it!" Sans swerved around letting Frisk know the short lived gig was up, as he flung out his arms in the air in front of him.

" You... You wanted to apologize?" Flowey spoke up, Frisk and Kidd noticing he had a small hopeful look on his face. Sans on the other hand folded his arms, shutting his eyes, avoiding eye contact at the plant.

" no. no i don't." Frisk's mouth popped open as they noticed Sans didn't even look at the flower's gentle face as he said it. Flowey's hopeful face was soon replaced with one of pure scorn.

" F-F-FINE! BE THAT WAY! Y-YOU FILTHY TRASH-BAG! I DON'T NEED A DAMN APOLOGY FROM THE LIKES OF YOU!"

Sans snapped over to the flower, normally he didn't let the anger get to him, but finally being free, finally not worrying about the resets, he could finally give up most of his laid back charade, " listen flower, if it wasn't for the kid, you'd be in the worst time of your life." He said lowly, a blue flame covering his left eye as the other pupil faded away. The two glared at the other before Sans walked off, grabbing Papyrus by the red scarf, " c'mon paps, let's get going before traffic hits."

" NYEH! OH-OK THEN SANS! UHM! I'LL SEE LATER TONIGHT FRIENDS!" Right after Papyrus was dragged out of the entrance, an equally frustrated Toriel exited much like Sans, only to be pulling Asgore out by his big dangling ear. And with that the door was closed, making Frisk sigh and sit down disappointed in themselves. They just wanted everyone to be happy...

" Frisk... Look, Sans will always be stubborn in his own way. And well... So will I. I'd wish I could help, but ya know eheh... No soul." Flowey looked over to them as Kidd tried his best to hug them despite having no arms. Frisk nodded silently before wrapping their arms around Kidd and nuzzling up to them. The small monster's tail moved around the back of Frisk like an arm, calming them.

The pink ghostly blob hovered over them, unsure what they were upset about, made him frown before a light bulb went off in his head, " Hey, hey! Cheer up guys~! How about we make some muffins and popcorn, and then watch a loooovely movie, your pick~!" He winked his single visible eye, making the two children move out of their saddened funk. " Erm, Flowey right? Mind staying here while we make the muffins?"
The apathetic flower avoided eye contact as his beady eye shifted away, " Sure why not..."

With that the children followed Happstablook into the kitchen. While the two helped with the mix, the shy Napstablook came out of hiding, getting a happy hug from Frisk. Ever since he was reunited with his family, Napstablook started to make himself solid like Happstablook, being able to pick up various things, press buttons, type, or anything else. He squeaked as he was suddenly hugged before blushing up a tinge of soft blue and smiling to Frisk. " O-oh, rig-right we're watching the kids. He-Hey uhm Frisk?" The child tilted their head. " W-When we're waiting for the muffins to bake... Maybe before... uhm... Any movies we could... Feel like trash, i-if you want that is."

" Lay like trash?" Kidd asked as he watched Happstablook pour the batter into sections of the bumped flimsy tray used for cupcakes and such.

Happstablook giggled, " It's a family tradition~! So what say you darling?" Frisk nodded as they smiled brightly. They strolled over to the oven, opening it for the ghost.

" You'll like it." They said quietly to their lizard friend who wagged his long tail happily. Ever since he and Frisk became friends, he'd try anything they did, while Frisk would for him.

" Yo! Okay! Sure thing! Just don't tell me parents that I made myself feel like trash." He chuckled out as the pink ghost pushed in the tray, Frisk then closing up the oven and setting the timer.

" It's a wonderful idea Blooky~!"

" O-Oh... I-It's... It's nothing...." Nasptablook said shyly, looking to the tiled floor with a small smile.

" Wait a moment... If your here and I'm here... Where's Mads?" Both Napstablook and Frisk looked up and over the pink ghost, eyes grown wide. As if on cue they all heard loud angered yelling, making Frisk dash out and to the living room.

In the room was Flowey, glaring coldly at a training dummy that looked more like an alligator with that type of snout, or something with a large snout. Stitches placed all around it's torso, concealing sharp teeth underneath it, as it was placed on a type of pole, letting it stand up. It's hard scowl rivaled that of Flowey's, showing how upset and angry it was. Nobody was happy with happy with this... Frisk gulped, before slowly stepping over to the two angry, non-armed entities who were in a death stare of a contest. Once Frisk was close enough to the table that held the pot they opened their mouth to saying something, only to be rudely interrupted by the Mad Dummy, " OH DON'T YOU START KID! THIS LITTLE PUNK-ASS FLOWER HAS ALREADY GOTTEN ME RILED UP!"

Flowey gasped out before his sharp fangs stuck out, threatening the dummy who was lifting up his upper torso to show off his own teeth. Flowey's eyes sunk in, letting the two only make out white pupils in the hollow blackness of his eyes. He snapped out at the dummy, his stem leaning all the way foreword as he hissed, " DON'T TALK TO THEM LIKE THAT YOU SON OF A BITCH! ONLY I CAN YELL AT THEM LIKE THAT! THEIR MINE TO YELL AT! NOT YOURS!" Frisk didn't know whether to feel glad that Flowey kinda cared... Or disgruntled considering they were his to yell out at.

Just then the other three came in, the pink ghost holding a spoon full of the mix while puffing up his cheeks, glaring at the two who yelled, " Girls! Girls! ... Your both pretty." He flailed his stubby hands, getting their attention.

" WHAT?! I AM NOT A GIRL, YOU GIRLY DUMMY!" Spat out the increasingly pissed off dummy while Flowey's face reverted to his innocent look, winking to them.

" Bitch, you know it~!" The dummy stopped his irate ranting, turning to the flower.

" NO YOU AREN'T! YOU JUST A STUPID PANSY! ARRRRRRRRRRGH!" Happstablook sighed as Frisk nabbed the spoon away, walking to the Mad Dummy and staring at him. " THE HELL YOU LOOKIN' A-" As his mouth opened up, Frisk quickly shoved the spoon filled with batter into his mouth, then wrapping their arm around the muzzle as he flailed his detached head wildly, just until Frisk heard a gulp. The child let go, backing away as the dummy made horrid faces of hacking and coughing, " OH GOD! AURGH! ACK! BLEH! ACCCCK! AHHHH-Actually that tastes pretty good." The dummy calmed down extremely quickly, licking it's clothed lips.
Frisk giggled along with Kidd, while Napstablook came back to them with a radio, hooking up a wire and an iPod to it. Happstablook sighed in relief and twirled in place, " Good, now that your calmed down, we're going to feel like garbage to wait for the muffins, and then movie time~." He winked to his angry cousin who nodded. Despite all their rage, he'd never pass up 'Garbage Time'. Frisk explained what the ghosts did, helping him onto his back to lay on the ground while the two ghosts did do already. The dummy levitated himself with his own magic, slowly placing his back onto the fuzzy shag rug. Once everyone had laid down to look at the ceiling above them, Flowey grew out his stem, slithering next to Frisk, joining the group.

Since this was Kidd's first time, his eyes were glued to the ceiling all while calming music played for them. It felt like an out of body experience with the galaxy swirling around them at a gentle pace, " Yooooo...." Each of them had their own experience of being in the peaceful trance. For Flowey it was him closing his eyes and remembering the better times. The times he had spent with his deceased sibling... Laughing, playing, being happy... Then came the memories that were so far behind Chara's... Being with his first friend, and possibly his best, spending time together. Flowey curled himself up, shaking, wanting the past to override the future. To still be friends, to live happily, to finally feel again. As the others were entranced Frisk could feel something bad. They turned their head to watch their tiny flower friend shudder in emotional pain. Frisk turned their head to look above again, feeling hopeless to help the poor plant. They had to do something...

Chapter Text

Snow angels littered the open space of a snowy yard, several children making their very own special ones, like each snowflake being different in their own way. Each seemed to be in pairs, almost holding their wings out to each other, connecting just barely. One pair were of two small toddler like figures, one with triangular points sticking from the head, as the other had long bunny type ears, molded into the ice below. Another pair was much larger with fins indented into the plush snow next to a short chubbier version with a long dangling tail, almost making the snow angel, fish like... or that of a messed up jellyfish. Nearby lay another couple, again two triangular ears popping out parked right next to an incredibly small angel whose head looked more like a then skull. Asriel gazed at all of the angels the children had done for today's field trip. His mother had talked to each parental guardian, receiving an okay to take the kids off to have some fun. Others were busy, but deep down she was content with the group she was keeping eye over.

The small goat like monster leaned over, pulling on something to help gain it's ground back. With a small grunt he managed to pull up the very slightly taller skeleton. Sans' hand gripped tightly to Asriel's arm as Asriel did the same to the skeleton's blue sleeve. Without too much effort the two managed to pull up the skeleton to stand right next to the fluffy prince. After departing each other's arms, Sans whisked his head down to see his own snow angel imprinted into the equally bone white snow. A grin spread across his face, playfully pushing down the prince into the snow. Asriel let out a small startled bleat as he crashed into the soft ice. With all that warm fur, Asriel hadn't minded the cold tempter at all. " okay azzy, now just do what i showed ya." Sans instructed his younger friend who stuck his tongue out at him, a small bitter payback for pushing him down unaware. The prince of monsters swayed his arms up and down, while his jeaned legs went side to side. After a good minute Sans leant down, Asriel then taking his hand. With another pull from the two, Asriel looked over at his former self that laid in the snow. The shape was like the others, except for two floppy ear printed into the snow, poking out of the head. Sans snickered quietly, " aww, that's adorable."

" Oh hush." Asriel teased him, shaking his body off from the ice that had latched onto him. " Sides, I like your angel way better."

" no way dude, yours has floppy ears! floppy ears! i can't compete with that!" The two laughed as they headed over to the group of children who sat in a circle, Toriel being at one end of it, having two empty spots from the other end. Each child sat on a small colored mat, to save them from sitting in the cold snow. Each had their own small meal to eat up before their next activity started. Toriel had already placed the lunch bags onto the mats for the two who came over. Sans and Asriel each sat on their own private mat, opening up their crumpled up bag and taking out the foods that were packed deeply inside.

The children had wanted to make snow angels when they first met up, not letting Toriel have a moment to actually meet them. So now since they had been settled down, she could evaluate the three kids she hadn't met. " So, my children. Who are these three new little ones?" Her furry head tilting to the older ones who knew about the other three.

Sans chuckled, leaning over slowly as the husky child nibbled his food. Doggo hadn't said anything since he was too busy eating his food, while the other toddler kept quiet, being fairly shy, letting the older ones speak up for them. Sans slapped the back of Doggo, making the canine yelp, clutching his cane and swinging it at Sans. The skeleton swiftly moved away, not being hit with the small blow, making Doggo swing it around, " AHHHH! SOMETHING MOVED I KNOW IT!
" hehehe... this is doggo, me and him have been pretty good friends. 'cept first day we met he tried to gnaw on my arm."

Doggo growled, ears folding back, " Dang-it Sans! You know I hate when people do that!"

Undyne then spoke up, her booming voice yelled out as normal, " Yeah! He's also being trained to be a Royal Guard to become like Lesser, Greater, Miss Dogeressa, and Mister Dogamy! He's gonna' be so awesome once he's in!" The gilled girl gave her usual grin. Toriel thanked the fish, still feeling bad that her she had to wear a white gauze bandage over her eye. She tried to help the girl so much... Thankfully Gaster had let her know Undyne would be fine. Alphys nervously shifted her eyes to the snow to Undyne's patched eye. Only she and Sans knew Sans' proceeded to help her. She had been unconscious when it was done. The only other one who knew was Asriel, but that was only between Sans and him.

Toriel then pondered, before looking at the husky who was still trying to swing at the cheeky skeleton. Sans noticed the thoughtful look and smiled, rubbing his knuckle bones to his sweater, " heh, don't worry about him miss tori, he's not blind. he just has trouble seeing, but man when he sees something move or hears something, he can pull off some neat tricks." Toriel got a small giggle from the subtle joke, only making Doggo stop flinging his cane and finally hearing where Sans exactly was. He twirled it in his fingers of his white snow paw, then nudging it against the skeleton's cheek bone. With that he kept poking him until Sans gave out a loud groan., " urrrrrgh! dude stop it!" He started to flail at the cane, right as the cane starting to flail lightly back at him simulating a sissy slap fight.

" You started it."

" aw c'mon, you know i can't help myself with jokes!"

" And that's why I'm going to teach you a trick or two." Doggo said as he nibbled on his packed food.

Toriel chuckled from the polite bickering before turning her head to the cat and rabbit, " And these two little ones?"

Papyrus gave her a huge smile before pointing to the light blue creamed color bunny, " THAT'S NICE! HE LIVES WITH HIS SISTER AT THE LOCAL INN! THEY MAKE THE BEST NICECREAM EVER!" The blue bunny nodded before waving over to Toriel excitedly.

" Hi thewe miss queeny!"

" Why hello yourself young one! It is certainly nice to meet you. And whose your little friend?" The queen asked softly. The small bundled up brown cat shuddered and quickly hid behind the rabbit who tried looking over his shoulder. The small cat peeked his head out with his ears folded down showing how nervous he was.

" A-Ah, t-that would be Burgy-He's Zachery's ba-baby brother." Alphys informed Toriel who nodded, smiling to the shy child hiding behind his friend.

" Ah yes, now I remember. I saw you last time we ordered some pizza. There's no reason to be shy little one, it's quite okay."

The small cat stepped out from behind the bunny, receiving an encouraged hug of the arm from Nice. Burgy gulped and withdrew his arm from the hugs so his paws fumbled with one another, " H-Hi... My... My uncle works with... Mister... Mister Gaster..." He looked down, his ears still folded down, making the adult question in a kind manner.

" Oh yes, I've seen him around-uhm is something wrong young one?"

" ... N-No... Maybe... Mister Gaster is scary..."

Sans let out a chuckle, " burgy dude, my dad is just another dad like anyone else's, hehehe. sure he can be scary, but he's never scared me too badly before." He reassured the tanned cat before finishing up his small meal.

Toriel clasped her large white paws, smiling, " Okay my children. Go play while I clean up and prepare our next activity for the day." The children handed over their empty bags to her as she started to clean up the picnic like area she had created for them all. Afterwards the small monsters ran off, still within sight of the queen and started yammering to themselves of what to do next. Alphys decreed them building a gigantic snow-monster, with the others following along letting the shy girl kow that was a great idea that everyone could pitch in together. Doggo went on all fours, digging viciously at the snow underneath him, letting Undyne and Alphys collect it up, packing it into an extremely oversized ball. Papyrus and the other two toddlers were already teaming up to make the torso for the snowman, and soon the smaller head. That left Asriel and Sans to scavenge anything they thought could be used to make the snow-monster.

The pair had wandered off, but not to terribly far away just encase something happened. As the two looked around for anything of use the prince kept close to Sans, nervously chewing on the scarf Sans had worn the first day they met. Sans stopped, Asriel almost falling into the white snow from not paying attention since his mouth was still latched to the scarf, " Baa!"

Sans giggled as his friend bleated, getting his balance back, " azzy you seem kinda tense, loosen up a bit. you only nibble on my scarf when you're hungry or nervous. i mean yeah bad things happened, but it's all good now, ya' know?"

" Hehe... Yeah I-I know. Sorry it's just... the bullies and then Undyne's eye... I never seen your eye glow before. I-It was kinda... Kinda scary." Asriel managed to say, finally getting it off his chest. His legs moving once again, almost leaving the skeleton behind.

Sans usual smile fell as he caught up with him, " scary? ohh... i'm sorry man, i didn't mean it."

" I know, it's just, heh... You could have warned me you could do that."

" it's uhm... hard to explain. let's just say i'm training with my dad."

" But w-why all of the sudden?" Asriel watched his friend who wasn't smiling anymore. Only for that frown to turn upside-down quickly.

" weeeell... i waaaas gonna' save it to tell you later buuuut. hehe, since you asked and your worried, it's because i'm working on being your judge dude~!"

Asriel halted his progress of walking, making Sans the one to almost stumble away from his friend. Asriel bit his lip, his tiny fangs digging into his smooth fur and skin. " Y-You... Your tr-trying to become a judge? f-for me? but... why? isn't that a-a large responsibility? Your still a ki-kid, you shouldn't worry about it like I am to royalty." He asked, growing more afraid.

Sans' grin lowered to a gentle smile, his eyes looking sincere, " azzy, i chose to become myself. i chose it for you. after i saw those bullies beat you up, i felt guilty knowing i couldn't protect you. but now, i can protect you just like my dad does for yours. your my friend dude, and what's a friend for if they can't help another out?"
" You'd still be my friend even if you didn't do anything..." The goat monster's foot fumbled about in the white frosted ice below, holding his paws behind his back almost shamefully. " I don't want you risking yourself for me..."

Sans sighed lightly, walking to the side of the upset prince. He put his hand onto his shoulder, letting the other looking him in the eyes, " azzy, your my friend. you deserve someone that you can rely on. i have believe that you'll be an amazing king. so, please, believe in me. i just want to be there for you, so you're not lonely anymore. we can help each other out, no matter what."

Asriel's lips were tugged slightly, a small frown growing under his muzzle, " Hehe... I'd like not being alone anymore... No matter what?" Sans nodded, making the prince sniffle, drying some tears away with his sleeve. After that he gave a large smile, hugging the skeleton who chuckled, patting the younger monster's back. " Oh! Those twigs look perfect!" Asriel spoke out, pointing behind Sans who at the moment couldn't see them.

After a few ore minutes the two came back with several sticks, small black rocks, a pine-cone or two, and some other trinkets. With the others being done with the large icy monster, they all decorated it and cheered at their marvelous, monstrous, masterpiece. Sure it was a bit lopsided and some parts didn't fit, but all of them were proud at their shoddy craftsmanship. After that, Toriel had gotten them ready to walk out from the cold air of Snowdin and into the mild tempter of The Waterfall, walking them down the narrow paths until finally reaching their main destination. The kids were finally at a nice medium sized area which was near the dump, yet the waterfall flowing down the cave's wall was clean. There were a water lodged path that stuck out every now and then from the pond overflowing with water, making the room fill up with shallow water. In the pound were small rocks, glowing plants, and bright neon blue echo flowers sprung all around.

Several adult Woshuas greeted the queen and the children, as they shuffled by to try and tidy up the dump like normal. Passing by each child, reassuring that the pond and waterfall's water were sanitized, and that none of the dump's trash would ever float into that room. Toriel had taken towels which were place on a large beach type chair which sat near the pond. " Alright class, here we are~!" She said proudly, letting the children get wide smiles, knowing they'd be able to play in the water. " This is why I asked for you to get any type of bathing suit or clothes you were okay with getting wet, and to wear them under your snow clothes."

" I thought that sounded weird... Now I know... AND THAT'S AWESOME! THANKS TORIEL!" Yelled out Undyne who was skeptical at first, while the rest had followed her instructions. Sure the girl didn't like the cold, but when with her friends and a nice coat, she was A okay with being there. And now, they were on her turf, which made her grin showing almost all of her pointed teeth.

" Ohoho, your welcome my child. Now, I will be keeping eye right here. I brought along some of these tubey things to float on, floaties for the little ones, and balloons in case any of you want to throw water at one another." She smiled as she put down a huge bag that contained all that she said. Once the kids took off the winter gear and set it down on the chair, they sprung off to run to the pond to swim around. The toddlers on the other hand were helped into their small floaties. Burgy being of cat nature was reluctant to go in the water, but that didn't stop his bunny friend from playing in the shallow water with him, poking at small things with the plastic shovels. Doggo went with them, not really wanting to get wet and smelling, so his cane would often poke some things the two hadn't seen. Toriel even joined them, explaining anything they found, further gaining them some knowledge about the wildlife.

Papyrus had grabbed a large pink noodle of Styrofoam and took off running to the pond, jumping at the very last bit of water filled land and into the small pool of water. The splash got Undyne and Alphys wet, making them laugh along with the tiny skeleton who was clinging to the noodle. " IT'S LIKE WERE IN A BIG TUB OF SPAGHETTI!" He squealed out in joy, making the rest laugh at how adorable he was.

While Undyne had just a normal black tank top and swim trunks, Alphys had put on a large one piece white bathing suit, too embarrassed to show off her gut. She lounged near the rocks watching the fair toned Undyne swim around Papyrus who sported red swim trunks, giggling as the fish circled him around on the noodle like a shark. Sans lounged next to his nerdy friend, wearing blue trunks and a plain white undershirt, his smile growing as his eyes scanned Alphys blushing up from the sigh of the fish. After a small chuckle, the yellow lizard gave him a stern glare, " D-D-Don't ev-even..." Sans of course didn't head her warning and simply nudged her with his foot, making her slip away from the rocks and float to the other two. Which Undyne took the opportunity to pop out of the water and attack... Well, just splashing her and hugging her, but it still counted since she was moving around like a damn shark. Papyrus yelled out for the frazzled lizard to swim to the pink noodle as if he was on a boat, getting someone out of dangerous waters.

Sans chuckled at the flustered lizard, lounging there before finally stopping and looking around. He could have sworn the prince swam over to the soft spongy like rocks with him. He sat up more, peering around, glancing over everyone, getting slightly worried. However that went away quickly as Asriel had only the upper part of his head sticking out from the clear wavy water like a crocodile, getting closer to his prey. With an underwater smile, he popped out from behind Sans, making the skeleton yell, before getting pounced as the prince jumped him and into the water together. Sans and Asriel both quickly surfaced, thankfully the pond wasn't to deep, and the two knew how to swim. Sans coughed lightly as water leaked from the holes in his skull and gave a cheeky smile to Asriel whose fur was completely matted down from the water. His fur covering his eyes like a shaggy dog, as he smiled brightly, " hehehe, dang you got me good!"

" Sure did!" The prince laughed, shaking his head to see again, only to make some of his fur poof up, letting the other have a laugh at how funny he looked.
" Yeah Sans! I didn't know you could scream like a little girl!" Undyne hollered out receiving a smirk from the skeleton. Her proud grin shrunk, " What? No witty smart-ass come back? That's a fir-" Before she could finish her sentence, her face came into contact of a water balloon Sans had been secretly filling while with Alphys. " NGAAAAAAAAH!"

" ohh crap! take care of my brother azzy!" Sans said dramatically before swimming away as Undyne swam after him. All in all, it was a wonderful day full of laughter.
As the group swaddled themselves up into towels Toriel lead them near Gerson's store to the mysterious Riverperson. " Now class, We're going to divide into two groups. Older children take the ride to Hotland first, there we can all dry off and set for home. And then tomorrow we can all get ready for more fun filled activities including as special treat at home." The children eagerly cheered, thanking her once again. " Now, Undyne, Alphys, Sans, Doggo, and Asriel go first. That way I can keep an eye on the little ones." They nodded in agreement before getting onto the large dog carved boat. The Riverperson gave Toriel a quick nod as they set off, letting the dog like canoe boat run on the water.

Undyne who recently saw the Riverperson casually talked to them while Alphys held her mouth, trying not to throw up from the speed. Doggo just stuck his head out from the boat panting, letting his tongue dangle out catching the wind go past his fur. . Asriel was clinging to the end of the boat, never riding it without one of his parents. Sans had noticed the poor goat and put his skeletal hand over his paw, slowly moving it away from the edge of the boat, " azzy, calm down, it's okay. if your that scared you can hold onto me."

Asriel tensed up, he was so damn shy to take his friends advice and shook his head harshly, declining him. With the speed of the boat, not being with either parents on here, and conflicting feelings were starting to make him dizzy. Sans gave a worried look before a surprised one as the boat accidentally hit a stray rock, or some type of garbage that had somehow drifted away from the dump. Either way, it made the monsters go into the air for a moment, and making Asriel loose his grip. Before he knew what had happened, the prince was digging his claws into the back of the boat, dangling on for dear life. With the tiny claws piercing into the boat, the boat yelped, making it go faster. The Riverperson tried to handle the boat but just couldn't seem to control it. Sans yelled out as he saw his friend slipping away off the back, " oh shit, azzy!" This made the others turn their heads to catch a glimpse of Sans trying to grab hold of the prince's paw, only for him to slip away off the boat and crashing into the water below.

" SHIT!" Undyne quickly got up and jumped off the side of the boat, diving into the murky water below, all while the Riverperson forcefully made the boat stop by spouting out a chant. Alphys and Doggo crashed into the Riverperson at the sudden stop, while Sans had stayed in place, grasping the boat.

Alphys waddled to Sans to look over the side, " O-OH-OH MY GOD! SA-SANS?! CAN YOU SEE THEM?!" She was the only one who really knew about Sans' new ability of telekinesis. Unfortunately the skeleton looked mortified as he shook his head. In order to lift up something with magic, it had to be in his view.

The Riverperson was freaking out for once, and was about to dive in after the two, until Undyne popped her head out from the surface, gasping in air and swimming to the boat carrying a passed out Asriel. With some help she got into the boat, letting Asriel lay down. She was busy getting air back into her lungs and coughing up water, sure she was aquatic, but that didn't mean she could breath underwater. And with the force of hitting the water and carrying the child, only made her more out of breath. Alphys patted her back, grimfully looking to the prince. Sans quickly scooted over to the drowned goat monster and pushed on his chest before giving him CPR. He was glad his father had taught him how to perform this just in case something happened to Papyrus, or if something happened in the lab to either Gaster himself, or a lab assistant if Gaster wasn't there.

It a took a moment but Asriel sprung up, coughing up water, panting in air harshly. The rest sighed in relief, The Riverperson's sleeves glowed with magic, removing any left over water from Undyne and Asriel's lungs. Once things had settled down The Riverperson ordered the boat to go back to a normal boat, leading them to Hotland safely this time, " I am so sorry children."

" I-It's okay. I should have listened to my friend is all." Asriel said shyly and quietly as he clung onto Sans. The prince was going to have to thank Undyne and Sans for this later, but for now... He needed some time to relax.
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The snow crackled underneath the seemingly heavy footsteps. This was the absolute worst... Sans was finally able to collapse into the soft snow below him, the ice cradling his bones as thin vines tightened around them. Sans just wanted to sleep, to wish for the flower just to reset already... He just wiped out the entirety of Snowdin. All of the population turned to dust gathering up in the wind. Men, women, children, it hadn't mattered, they were all gone. All because he let up his guard to the seemingly weak flower. If only he had used his gaster blaster to tear the thing into the void. Then maybe... Everyone wouldn't have been killed by his boney hands. Sans' glowing pupils had long faded once he fell into the ice, he felt like he was trapped. And the sad truth is that he was... He was trapped in this ongoing nightmare, he was trapped in his own body, being a slave to the gold flower. He just wanted it to reset... That's all... Flowey's vines slithered about, losing some of the grip on the skeleton's bones, but not fully, letting the shaky body rest.

Flowey poked his head out from right eye socket of Sans, shaking his petals around in the cool crisp wind before looking over at his puppet that was controlled by him. All of Sans was being controlled by the vines like a marionette, along with a tight grip on his soul, just for extra precaution. Flowey grinned madly, his stem stretching out to slide out of the empty hollow eye socket. He rose up to get a good look at the exhausted and terrified skeleton who asked for mercy every time he killed someone. He eventually stopped after more than a quarter way through of all the Snowdin villagers. Flowey's evil grin opened, reviling the sharp needle like teeth he formed, giggling to himself. " Aww, do you think we're done yet~?" He whispered darkly as if the words were venom. " Come on, put a smile on your face~! You always seems so happy, why should this be any different? I'm doing you a huge favor! I'm making you move around just like your brother wants you to instead of slouching there and moping about in one spot. How boring... You really needed to get around, moves your bones, he'll be happy. Say... How about we visit him next huh?"

Sans' marrow went cold as soon as the flower spoke of his brother. Sure Sans had hated what he had done, but he could move past it for the most part. Sure it was fucked up, but he had only stayed around instead of tossing himself into the hot lava of Hotland because he had someone to protect. He had one thing to live for, one thing to hold dear too after everything that happened. Flowey could hear a small whimper let out from the skeleton, the vines feeling him shake once again in fear. " Oh now calm down, calm down. I promise it won't last too long... Maybe~" Flowey snickered evilly, watching tears pour from the empty sockets. " Aww, don't be like that Sansy, you should know big kids don't cry, riiight~?" A tip of a vine slithered to Sans' eye socket, gently whipping away the ever flowing tears that just wouldn't stop. The vines in Sans jaw bones pulled and tugged, making Sans smile painfully. " Come on, smile a bit. Cheer up. At least look at me." Flowey cooed to the skeleton whose left pupil appeared slowly staring up to the flower. The pupil shined with a mixture of blue and yellow as Sans had a pleading looking upon his face, mismatched with the forced smile the vines made. " Shhh, it'll be okay... It'll be just our little secret that you couldn't protect anyone you cared about AGAIN. I won't tell anyone, I promise-In fact! I pinky promise~! I won't tell annnnyone ehehehe. Hell, I won't even tell anyone you cried."

The skeleton quivered under the vines, Sans chokingly let out his hoarse voice, " w-why...why are you doing this...? what did i-i ever do to you? what did paps ever d-" He was coon cut off by vines squeezing his soul as a warning, making him pause on his words.

" You've done A LOT... That's all you need to know. Papyrus-though I do enjoy him at times, is the only connection I can get to... YOU. As for why I'm doing all this, list it under motive, revenge, frustration, loneliness, orrrr~" He said in a sing-song like tone, " Because maybe I just want to play with you. Like we use to..." Flowey's evil grin faltered a moment, his eyes going soft. Sans was so confused by the rambling of the flower, but quickly changed his mind to pure fear as the flower cackled out, the vines tightening their grip around his bones in a harsh manner. They made the skeleton stagger up, soon making him walk off near the river. " You know... It's a good thing your brother is always out patrolling, heh, like anything interesting would happen around here. Oh! I think I spot him~!" Flowey smiled brightly, making Sans try his best to stop himself from moving any closer to the taller skeleton who wasn't too far away now.

Papyrus was actually working on yet another puzzle to fool a human if they came by. He heard the soft crunching, turning around he smiled to greet whoever had walked over to him while at work, " WHY HELLO THERE-.... S-SANS?" The tall lanky skeleton took a step back seeing his tiny flower friend wrapped snugly around Sans' while his brother struggled underneath the vines. Sans was forced to have a large smile spread across his face, moving stiffly like a zombie, pleading eye pouring tears out down his cheekbones, and with Flowey poking his head out from the right eye.

" pa-pa-papyrus...pl-please-r-run!" Sans managed to say from all his crying and forced jittery movements.

" It's okay Papyrus~! It's just me your friend... Flowey~! And with my new friend Sans. I'll leave you two alone for a moment." The flower winked to the scared skeleton who was horrified to see his brother in such a state. Flowey slid back into the empty eye socket, making Sans reach out to him.

" paps-please... please just run! h-he's going to make-make me kill you!"

The taller skeleton couldn't make up his mind, his brother needed him! Even if Flowey had turned evil. He couldn't leave Sans alone. Papyrus started to sniffle a bit, reaching out to his older brother, " SANS I-I CAN'T... I CAN'T JUST LET YOU SUFFER HERE."

"papyrus i ordered you to run! N O W-"

The tall skeleton knelt down, hugging the wrapped up body of his brother, " BROTHER PLEASE... IT'S JUST A BAD DREAM. L-LIKE YOU ALWAYS SAID WHEN I GOT NIGHTMARES. I CAN'T LEAVE YOU... YOU NEVER LEFT ME." Papyrus soon head tears flowing down his own cheekbones as Sans stood there, stiff from the hug.

" paps...plea-"

" YOUR MY BROTHER! I CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM YOU! NO MATTER WHAT!" Papyrus loosened his grip, watching Sans look back to him, so broken like. Papyrus gave a stern look, his eyes glowing a bright orange, showing how serious he was. It didn't matter what timeline, Flowey always saw Papyrus to never leave his brothers side... Why did Chara have to leave him... Why couldn't he have the bond of what Sans and Papyrus had. Here was Papyrus knowing he'd be killed, yet he stayed... It didn't make any sense... Why couldn't Flowey understand. Papyrus tearfully smiled, his gaze softening, " I... I GUESS THIS MAKES YOU A-S... A SANSFLOWER?" Sans' force smile relaxed into his own, making the shorter skeleton chuckle silently.

" h-hehehe... g-good one bro..." As much as this was a tender moment, Flowey's gaze grew to a frown of him trying to figure out why his life had to become to this... Why did his life come to forcing his old friend to kill his own brother? Just for fun? He really was a monster with no soul... The flower then sprung his small petal covered head out of the socket suddenly, making vines grab hold of the taller skeleton, dragging him away from his host and wrapping around, making Papyrus forcefully stand on his knee bones. The vines tightened their grip, pulling his arms behind him while others made Papyrus stay still like he was hoisted down by rope. " P A P S! b-break yourself loose! please, you still have time!"

" QUIET YOU! I GAVE THIS IDIOT ENOUGH TIME TO RUN BUT HE JUST SQUANDERED IT JUST TO HUG A LOW LIFE SUCH AS YOU!" Flowey shrieked out to Sans, making his host flinch. Vines soon wrapped around Papyrus' jawbones keeping a tight grip to keep him from speaking. The younger skeleton quivered, trying to shut his eyes, only for thinner vines to slide into his eye sockets, forcing them open to watch his brother reach out.

" please-please stop-stop! if we were friend like you said-y-you'd stop!" Sans cried out.

Flowey paused for a moment, the vines tingled up against the bones. " If we WERE FRIENDS... You wouldn't have left me..." Flowey made Sans summon up one single sharp ended bones while his vines around Papyrus slowly snapped the bones under them. Papyrus screamed out, muffled by the vines over his mouth, all while sans pleaded against Flowey.

The flower ignored his skeletal host, soon making a vines pull out Papyrus' orange glowing soul. It felt so warm to him... Flowey shook off the need to rub against the warmth and steadily made the sharp ended bone dig into the soul. Papyrus' health that had already been cut down significantly from his bone cracking, was now fading in a constant manner from the piercing tip of the conjured bone. Until all 680 health was drained, making the soul's color fade to white. The heart shaped upside-down soul cracked into two segments. This made Papyrus' skull actually fall off from his neck, the thin vines letting him slip out and into the snow. Papyrus looked up to his frightened brother who was blubbering sorry over and over in a rhythm to himself. " ... SANS... JUST... JUST KEEP SMILING O-OKAY? ... I LOVE YOU." The decapitated skull smiled gently up to the other before all of the skeleton turned to dust.

All the vines shuffled back into the ground, Flowey looking quite pleased, loosening the grip again, letting Sans plummet to his knees and crash into the snow yet again, not budging a single inch. He had long since stopped his violent shaking, empty tears slowing their pace. He was broken... And Flowey knew it. Flowey hated when his toys broke... He couldn't talk to them anymore, they would never respond back to him. And here he was, vines filled with another broken toy like before. While Flowey hummed happily, poking the pile of dust and even wearing the bright red scarf, he soon stopped, sensing something. He was shocked and appalled! He saw Sans health decrease... 780 HP, lowering down to 720. Not from being hurt, but actually going down! It finally dawned onto Flowey that Sans was losing HOPE... That being an acronym, which stood for, Holding On Painful Ends. Flowey was going to have to be careful with Sans... But he knew deep down, the skeleton wouldn't lose all of his HOPE. Because again... e had Papyrus, and a monster could only have a limit on 1, according to the late Doctor Gaster.

Flowey frowned and slithered over, nudging against Sans' skull. This was starting to get to him, and he hated when he got emotional since memories of the two having fun still lingered inside him. " ... S-Sans?" His normal face morphed from his innocent tricky flower facade. " ... Sans?" He nudged the skeleton again, not getting any response. " ... Please... Please don't leave me alone..." Flowey didn't exactly feel guilty for what he just did, or to see Sans lay there broken down. He just hated being alone with no one to respond to him. Florey hung his head and summoned the reset button, " ... I wish I could say I was sorry..."A vine then pushed it gently almost in shame.
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The car sped up as it was seemingly alone on the highway, wind brushing through scales, fins, bones, hair, and petals as it made its bumper click and shine with color, letting anyone know it was about to turn into the exit. Alphys sat on a phone book or two as she managed the vehicle. Papyrus had leant them his car since it was hell trying to go to the town's lake by bus, and Sans was far too lazy to teleport them one by one there. Thankfully the overzealous skeleton hadn't been in need for the car since he was spending his day at home, cooking with Toriel who was teaching him how to make the legendary cinnamon-butterscotch pie. Alpyhs would have let Undyne drive, but feared for the worst, and the fish would rather not make her girlfriend panic. They all just wanted a nice relaxing day after Kidd had gone home to his grandparents.

Frisk had suggested going to the town's large peaceful and tranquil lake to swim around and relax, celebrating the first days of their summer break. They had also bribed Sans into going with them with bottles of ketchup, and having Toriel back them up, saying as their official dunkle, that they should keep an eye on frisk. Sure Toriel respected the fish and lizard, but she knew how the two of them could get, so she relied on the short skeleton to tag along. Frisk sat in the back, between Sans on one side, and Flowey's pot on the other. Both seemed to look to the side, rather than each other or Frisk. Frisk calmly held San's bony hand as well as Flowey's tiny leaf. They still wanted the two to make up, but of course both were rather stubborn. Sans always shrugging it off and whisking himself away while FLowey just seemed to flail about and make ungodly screeching fits of rage.

But Frisk wouldn't let up, and they both knew it. Frisk was too DETERMINED to give up. Hopefully while swimming with Undyne or lounging with Alphys, the two would talk to each other for better or worse... Hopefully for better Frisk thought to themselves. Besides they needed some time to the two girls and finally relax a bit. Once the car was parked, Undyne unbuckled herself and hopped out onto the sandy grass. The lake was just a large body of water that stretched out from the town to another town in the horizon, letting the two town seem connected in an odd way. Piers and boats filled up nearby as the ground underneath was full of vegetation before slowly morphing into a sandy bay. Turns out aquatic monsters didn't really enjoy the sea, too much salt in the ocean or something. They had been living in fresh water all their lives, so a lake was their second pick to live. Frisk unbuckled themselves and Flowey's pot, scooping it up into their arms and getting out of the car with the other two while Undyne pulled open the trunk to fetch several things, such as noodles, shovels, buckets, lounge chairs, towels, and sun tan. Frisk popped their sandals off and let their feet nestle into the warm sand, letting out a sigh of relief.

Flowey looked... Bored today. It was better than being depressed, miserable, evilly proud, or tired so it was a plus for the child who sported a tank top like Undyne and swim trunks. Again, the child was rather ambiguous when it came to their gender, so the monsters just got them whatever they preferred. While Alphys set up the chairs and umbrellas, Undyne dashed by holding up a surfboard and zooming into the water with it. " YEEEEEEEEEAH!"

The lake was a bit odd now that Frisk thought more about it. It seemed to actually produce waves, their thought was that the magic from the underground vibrated so subtly that waves could be made. It was like a self-contained fresh water sea, which again was a bit odd, but Frisk had braved harsh winter deep below the ground, which was equally as odd, so it didn't really bother them much.

Frisk placed the clay pot in the water soaked sand, making sure to keep it away from any small tide, and enough that Alphys and Sans could keep an eye on the grumpy flower. Frisk ran off to retrieve their own surfboard, running over to the flower, leaning down and giving it a small kiss on the head. Flowey snarled and hissed, making the child giggle and running into the water following after Undyne.

Flowey sat there, his vines peeking out from the pot and digging into the soggy and soft sand below. Flowey eventually start chucking the wet dirt clumps at crabs, birds, and anyone who was nearby enjoying the lake, laughing once they were hit. As Alphys tanned her back watching the two in the water, she glanced at a sandpiper waddling by, fluffing out his feathers to get sand off. " Erm... S-Sans?"

" i got it, don't worry alph." Sans chuckled as he lazily walked over to the flower who heard his sneakers move into the sand. Flowey made a sharp turn, throwing the sand ball at him, only for it to splat right into a conjured up bone floating in front of Sans' face. It materialized into nothingness, showing the flower Sans was smiling to him. For once Sans had his damn coat off, in his casual get up of sneakers, white undershirt, and black white lined pants. " nice try algae. boy, your just a stream of emotions recently huh? why so crabby today?" His response was the typical glare of death and hiss.

" FUCK OFF TRASH-BAG! GO ALONG THE SHOR AND REST UP WITH THE OTHER GARBAGE THAT GOT DUMPED OUT!"

Sans let out a hollow chuckle as his eyes skimmed where some litter had been collecting, which was being cleaned by some humans and woshuas, " nice joke kid, you actually reeled that one in pretty well, i'll admit."

" GO AWAY!" Another sand-ball was thrown, only for the skeleton to set aside easily.

Sans winked to the small angry flower, " don't play koi with me pal. look around you. it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, other flowers are blooming... hehehe, on days like these-" His glance of Flowey caught the plant shudder a bit from the saying, making the flower shrunk down into the pot, avoiding eye contact.
" Monsters like me should be burning in Hell..." Flowey muttered quietly, making Sans flinch. The skeleton gritted his teeth roughly as silence fell upon the two.

" ... look, that's not what i meant-i was just going to-"

" Apologize?" Flowey kept his eyes away from Sans who sighed.

" ... nah."

" Figures. So what do you want?"

" i was gonna' say, unless you interrupt me again... that ya know. you always want to wreck everything you touch. why not i don't know... make something for a change. i mean we got sand right here." Flowey made his stem set him straight, his leaf rubbing against his petal covered chin.

" Hmmm..." Flowey's vines quickly settled into the sand under him and spouted up, each one doing something different. Sans watched the ingenuity of the flower as it made a small area that resembled a city. Once done, Flowey smiled proudly examining the fine work he made with the sand. " Ah~!"

Sans blinked, staring at it blankly, just flabbergasted how quickly the flower made up the city of sand, rocks, twigs and shells. " wow... san fransokyo." The flower hummed merrily a bit before some vines dragged the pot closer to his sandy city. The vines rubbed against each other before shooting into the ground, only to come back up, tearing through the sand, snapping the twigs, and grabbing hold of the small rocks, crushing them against several things as he cackled out manically.
He brought up a shell that thankfully was hollow and made an even higher pitched voice to simulate it was someone in a car, " Ehhh! Save me!" With a small hiss at it, he continued to act the car out, " Ehhh!" Soon the vines holding the shell crushed it easily making Sans back away slowly until he got to Alphys.

" ... yeaaah, no more giving him any caffeine or chocolate..."

Eventually the flower stopped his rampage and decided to make The Underground, but couldn't help himself to finish it when he got to Asgore's garden. His vines twitched and curled up into a ball. He wanted to complete it, but at the same time he didn't, he was conflicted on what to do... So he did what his sibling would have wanted, and swept away the sand with a single swipe of a vine. Lowering his stem he became saddened. A vine strayed itself to make a several faces in the sand. All of which were happy, and of faces of those he knew. However it was soon short lived as the small inches of tide washed over the faces, reducing them back to sand. Flowey sighed and leaned over so his petals could seal up his face.

He was nudged by something gently, making him look up to see the human child smile to him with a sad expression. Frisk then sat down and started to build up the sand into a castle, the castle they saw so long ago, Asgore's castle... The exact one that was built near Flowey's original house, where the garden was. The one that could be seen from The Waterfalls. He remembered how he'd look at the distant castle with his parents, his friends, his sibling, then finally by himself. Flowey bite his lip harshly before thin vines helped Frisk make it. Even making a small moat around it, Flowey pretending small vines to be large ones that lashed out a tiny blobs of sand that Frisk made for him.

Sans watched them closely as he lounged with Alphys, pretending to read a book, " ... that flower is one odd monster. ya know? i mean why'd the kid go back for it? it's always crude, yet it plays with them like it's a kid itself."

Alphys looked over to her skeletal friend, shifting her eyes away, " M-Maybe if it grew up properly it wouldn't behave like this..." She muttered, making Sans' attention turn to the yellow lizard.

" what do you mean?"

" I-It's nothing. I-I'm just talking to m-my-myself is all-"

" alllll... heh, are you keeping secrets from me again?" he leaned over, smiling smugly.

" n-n-n-nnnnn-nooooo?"

" al, c'mon it's me, sans. you can trust me. just let me know and i'll stop bugging you." He chuckled to his friend, not knowing how serious this matter was to her.
" M-Maybe I-I would if-if you told us some of your secrets." She said rather bluntly, catching her friend quite off-guard.

" hehe... what're you going on about al-"

" Sans... I know. Frisk knows. We both know your hiding things. I-I just never found out until we came up here. S-Since I haven't been stressing out as much and c-constantly hiding in the shadows, I've started to notice how much you separate yourself from almost everyone. Always saying you were sleeping or got lost, when actuality you keep sneaking out, or stay outside and look at the sky for hours."

Sans' normal perpetual smile lowered slightly, " ... how much did the kid tell you?"

" Enough to figure some things out..."

" did they tell anyone else? did they tell you about t-the re-"

" No Sans... They've only told me. The only ones who know about the resets is you, me, and Flowey. They had to. I was the only other person who could look at it in a scientific way. I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you any of this." She slumped her head into her flabby arms, looking away from him.

Sans sighed, rubbing his neck bones, unsure what to make of the awkward situation. He couldn't stay mad at her. She had beat herself up so much before coming to The Surface. She locked herself away for such a long time, much like he had. And the last time he snapped at a friend was years ago, and that ended horribly. " ... it's okay al... i'm just glad it was you they told. sorry."

" It's understandable Sans. Frisk forgave me after knowing so much about me... If you want, I could help talk to you about anything."

" s-sorry alphys, but... not yet. i'll wait for the right time to come, but thanks for having my back... sides, i’ve been longfin for some nice company." He grinned, seeing his friends face that had grown gentle to let him know she meant her word into a sour expression from the pun.

Undyne lifted Frisk up as the child grabbed hold of her bicep, smiling and swinging. " Y-You guys almost r-r-ready to go?" Alphys asked as she carefully held Flowey's pot close.

The redhead and brunette looked at each other before grinning, " AWWW C'MON ALPHYS! JUST ONE MORE WAVE?!"

" Pleeeeease?!" Frisk cried out to the other three.

" ehh, i'm shore one last wave is good enough." Sans shrugged, getting the casual Undyne angry look as she pointed to herself and then to him, only making him chuckle more.

Flowey watched the two run off into the water, Frisk sitting up behind Undyne as she rowed them out further away. The flower watched the two encounter a rather large wave, both on the same board, steadying and balancing themselves, cruising the wave. Flowey's leaves patted the sides of his pot, excited as he watched them surf it gracefully. Sans noticed the flower and snickered quietly. He unfortunately thought the sigh was rather cute. Everyone seemed happy...

Well that was until another surfer, a blond human who had been showing off for his friends on shore crashed into the two. " F R I S K!" Sans let out a yell, Alphys gasped, almost dropping hold of the clay pot into the sand. The lizard quickly tossed the pot to Sans as she ran to the car, pulling out a first aid kit from the back, and running to the water. Both Sans and Flowey stood there frozen, the way the boards collided with one another, sent all three into the water, plummeting harshly as it swallowed them up. The other group nearby made up of both monsters and humans rushed out to the waters, several jumping in to fetch the three who were submerged at the moment.

Something kept replaying in their heads. Sans scared stiff to go over and help, again he felt helpless. Just like last time... He couldn't see Frisk or the other two, to lift them out from the water. Just like when Asriel fell off the Riverperson's boat that one time. He ran to the water, only to stop where the waters met with the sand, crashing against them softly. His body quivered, memories going through his mind a mile per second. Deep inside of his mind and soul, replaying his emotions out when he couldn't help his old friend, and then it finally being too late in the long run.

Flowey was more shaken up, remembering his previous life. When he hit the water hard, sinking down from all the dizziness and sudden movements, keeping him stunned. When he was in the water, he just couldn't move his body. Everything was rushing past him in his mind, he thought he was going to die that die. After witnessing a large tentacle emerging from the water, he cowardly tilted his stem away. Three long and large light mellowed colored yellow tentacles went to the shore, setting the three down gently into the sand. A large round orb moved out from under the lake's water. Two large eyes looked over worriedly as a the gathering of humans and monsters ran over giving them CPR. Onion-San's tentacles were pulled back into the water, the large monster holding their breath, hoping the three were okay.

Undyne shoved the monster who was aiding her and sat up, hacking up water and then summoning spears to be thrown about. Alphys tackled her into the sand, thankful she was okay, making the spears fade away so she didn't cause anyone to accidentally get skewered. The blond surfer sputtered out some water, sitting up. Both seemed fine, while one human seemed to still be working on Frisk. Sans put the pot into the sand, running to Frisk, trying to view their soul to see how hurt they were or if their HP was going down. " c'mon kid, c'mon! don't do this-please, pleas-please! you've got so many people who care about you!"

Sans hadn't paid attention to the pot, letting it fall over onto its side. Now was Flowey's chance... To slid underground with no one to watch him. He could go back to The Underground. He could go back and rot there forever. He could finally be all alone again like he always had been... Why hadn't he dug into the Earth yet? His vines curled up while he watched the other worry about Frisk. He couldn't. He just couldn't. Instead he dug into the sand to pop up next to the only person who truly cared about him like a real sibling. " FRISK! FRISK GET UP! PLEASE! D-DON'T LEAVE ME! Please-Please, I don't wanna' be alone again! Please wake up... I don't like this plan anymore-" Frisk soon sat up coughing up and puking a bit of water, Sans patted their back, making Frisk hack up more efficiently. Everyone sighed in relief, Frisk smiling weakly before noticing Flowey's sniffling under everyone's cheering. Frisk reached out and pulled the flower over, before smiling to their family.

Chapter Text

The crisp winter like air shifted by Asriel's cheeks, while he stared off, fear crawling up into his mind. Voices came round, muffled and faintly distant, until one snapped him out of his gaze of nothingness. The voice came with a touch on his shoulder, making him flinch, swerving his head to left in a harsh manner. His friend noticed he seemed rather tense and frowned from the sudden movement from the goat monster. The hand on Asriel's shoulder tightened its grip, " asriel." The prince blinked a few times then shook his white coated head.

" Huh? Sorry, I-I kinda blanked out there..."

" it's cool dude. i said are you gonna' be okay with this? i mean it's kinda scary in perspective, but it's really fun when you're on it!" The skeleton remarked with a grin as he held up a medium sized sled made of one of the many snowy trees in The Underground, with fabricated metal from some metal found near The Core and Hotland. Asriel looked down from the large and steep snowy hill the two were on, their friends waiting at the very bottom.

The two could easily hear Undyne's angry yelling, " WOULD YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS HURRY IT UP?!"

The skeleton hollered back down from the hill to her, " takes one to know one!" With this, they could hear Undyne's usual angry fish noises, making the two giggle. That's what Asriel liked about the skeleton and fish's interaction. It was a nice relationship, though it was full of shouting and insults, but not the bad kind. The two were always teasing each other constantly, while the shy ones, being Asriel himself and Alphys stood back behind their friends. Asriel and Alphys might have not been as forward but they could get pretty sassy at times. With the four of them and Papyrus, along with a few others made the goat cherish them more. Especially if it had not been for the cheeky skeleton, he wouldn't be in such a good environment... Speaking of environments, the prince had forgotten where he was as he dwelled on the others friendship.

Sans put the sled down and hopped onto the front part, his bony hand patting behind him, making the wood and bone make a crackle like sound. " c'mon azzy, let's do this!" Asriel nervously gulped before sitting on the lower half of the sled, pulling his up and clinging to Sans' sweater fearfully. With a small reassuring pat on the prince's tuft of fur on the head the skeletal monster shook the sled underneath them, letting it move a few inches until it hit the dropping point. The sled then started to take a faster plunge until the two were speeding down the icy hill, the sled's skies slicing through the snow. While Sans laughed out from the exhilarating ride, Asriel was screaming mixed with bleating. It stayed that way until the two were about half way down the slope, calming Asriel down since the ride wasn't going any faster. Before either of them knew it Asriel was joining Sans in the yips of excitement. The sled eventually let up the speed, slowing down to a semi-fast pace, bumping into a rock the kids had set up, letting the two passengers flinging off and head first into a soft pile of snow they had prepared for a safe landing.

Asriel poked his equally white furred head from the snow and giggled, " Okay, I take it back! That was awesome!"

" told you so!" Sans exclaimed back as he poked his own skull out from the pile, both of them having a small amount of snow on their heads. Papyrus and Alphys ran over, helping the two out from the pile and cheering them for such a sight. Sans bowed down to the others with a constant, 'thank you, thank you'. It didn't take long for the queen to walk over to them holding a large brown paper bag. She wore a genuine smile as she reached the children, Undyne's fins perking up as her one eye well... eyed the bag.

" There ya are Miss T! Sup with the bag?"

" Ohhh, this? Why this is a surprise I have for you all after I take you somewhere I can watch over you, without... Anything bad happening." Toriel's smile turned into a worried one. Ever since Asriel fell off the boat, she began to panic about the children's safety. But not as she use to considering her son had finally had a group of friends that she could rely on, especially since they did their best and saved her little boy.

Undyne nodded, " Fair enough. So where we headed to exactly?" Toriel didn't even say a word, and instead gave a sly smirk with her two fangs poking out from her upper lip.

" Tada~!" Toriel moved a branch out of the way, scattering some of the snow that had been sprinkled onto it. Once it was moved, it revealed a large open area with other monsters and families enjoying themselves, having picnics or sitting on benches around the main event that was in the center. A wide shallow lake frozen up with a thick amount of hard and sturdy ice kept hold of anyone monster who skated onto it. Along with a small tackle shop with what appeared to be like Frostdrake, only taller, a plump scaled belly, and a much smoother and feminine look to it, handing out skates to those who wanted to go into the ice rink. The kids all let out an audible, 'whooooa' before following their queen and teacher.

Toriel walked to the wooden booth, getting a cheerful gasp from the bird like monster, " Ohhh! Queen Toriel! Oh, how do you do deary?!"

" I'm quite fine, just taking my class to skate around is all, how are you Miss Snow?"

The bird chuckled, giving a wave of her blue frosted wing, " Oh, I'm doing well, don't cha know. Hubby's been trying his best to make a comedians' show, bless his heart. While Frosty keeps bein' a lil' hooligan with his little friends. Honestly that one kid is just a bad influence on 'em."

" Right, right, they did push around my son a bit, but well, that's what teenagers do I guess." Toriel sighed lightly, petting Asriel's fuzzy head soothingly.

" Oh tell me about it sister, and I'm so sorry lil' Prince. We took away his cell phone after hearing that, then he just yelled at us, ruffled his feathers and stormed off. We told him he can come back when he apologizes or helps his dad. I don't like leavin' him in that forest, but we can't worry too much, ya know? No humans and such."

" That is understandable. If a monster is going to be stubborn, they'll need to learn their faults by themselves I suppose. But anyway, may I have some skates?"

" Oh, but of course! Here we go~!" The drake fetched an amount of shoes with small metal blades on the bottom of them for each individual of the rather large group made up of children monsters. After doing so as Toriel helped the smaller ones with their skates, the hen put a sign of, 'Be Back In 10' onto the upper part of the small shack's roof. The motherly drake then put on her own special made pairs of ice skates and followed the group, still talking to Toriel.

Toriel helped the drake as the other mother seemed to wobble slightly from the round lump of her scaly belly, " So where is Huey anyways?"

" Oh, he's at home taking care of the egg, ya know, makin' sure the soul is still there and keepin' it warm."

" What a wonderful man, Gorey did the same when I had little Asriel's soul, hehe. So what are you two going to name it?"

" Ah, Hubby wanted to go with 'Chill', and if we ever have another one, I'm going to be naming him 'Snowey'."

" Awww, that's a wonderful tradition of icy names Miss Drake." The pudgy bird giggled as they both took Burgy's paws, helping him onto the ice shrouded lake. Toriel mentioning beforehand that the cat was from Hotland, not being use to anything that had to do with ice. As the two mothers did, the small blue bunny hopped next to his frightened feline friend, helping him along since he was well accustomed to skating and the cold. Undyne requested that her and Papyrus would be helping Alphys while Sans and Doggo handled Asriel. With an okay from her the others started their way to teach their friends.

" C'mon Alphys! You got this! SHOW THAT ICE WHOSE BOSS!" Undyne yelled out, only further scaring her yellow dinosaur friend instead of encouraging her. Papyrus cheered Alphys on as Undyne pushed her lightly onto the ice, skating right next to her, holding a firm grip on the lizard's puffy white marshmallow of a coat. Papyrus smiled brightly, amazingly skating backwards to view the older girls as Undyne gave out instructions" Okay, squirt! Tell Alphys the rundown of proper skating technique!"

Papyrus saluted, chalk filled with glee." GOOD AFTERNOON! WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A GREAT TIME TODAY! OKAY, FIRST YOU CRANK A HARD CUTBACK AS YOU SLIDE ON THE ICE! THERE'S A SCREAMING BOTTOM CURVE, SO WATCH OUT! REMEMBER: RIP IT, ROLL IT, AND KICK IT!" The young skeleton shouted in a rapid manner, getting a baffled expression from the nerd.

Alphys blinked for just a moment, shifting her eyes to Undyne, " It's like he's trying to speak to me, I know it!" Her eyes turned back to papyrus, " Look, you're really cute, but I can't understand what you're saying! Say the first thing again-"

" No time! GO, GO, GO!" Undyne cut in as she pushed Alphys away from herself, making the poor lizard go straight forward. Alphys froze up, not moving an inch with putting her arms out to keep what little balance she had. She shut her eyes tightly as she felt herself slide slowly. With a moment, she opened an eyes, cringing for the worst before noticing she hadn't fallen over. With both eyes opened, she smiled in amazement.

" G-G-GUYS! GUYS! I'm doing it! I'm doing i-" She was quickly cut off as her skate's blades bumped into the edge of the pond, sending her to slowly fall over and into the snow. She groaned as she lay flat in the thick but soft pile of ice. Both skating over to help her.

Sans watched from afar before his attention focused on the other two, " looks like alphys is cracking the ice over there."

Doggo huffed, his breath clashing with the coldness in the air, making a small mist, " Must you?"

" yes... yes i do." Sans proudly smiled to the two as Doggo was holding up the prince.

Sans skated over to hold Asriel up, " go on and skate doggo, i've got him." The husky shrugged before sliding off into the center of the frozen lake. " okay azzy, just put one foot in front of the other. there ya go, just remain calm." Sans gently guided the goat until he was managing to skate besides Sans without slipping up or going askew. The skeleton held Asriel's hand, skating and chatting casually.

The kids bundled themselves into blankets, sitting on the large couch, armchair and floor, looking at the television laid before them into The Dreemurr's den. Toriel came over, sitting down to the wide coffee table, setting down a tray of hot cocoa and small bowls of popcorn. She took out the last thing that remained in the bag, " Gaster found this a while back at the dump, it had gotten washed down here somehow but it still works. He let me borrow it to show you children." She smiled as she put the cartridge into some type of VCR looking device, letting the film flicker to life on the screen.

Undyne sat on the couch between Papyrus and Alphys, smiling brightly as she kicked her crimson boots off to enjoy herself with her group of friends. Burgy and Nice swaddled up together in a large blanket on Asgore's arm chair, awaiting the next bit of movement on the screen. All while Toriel sat next to her son and Sans, the two kneeling in front of the table's mahogany edge, watching as the movie played. The movie drew in their attention and focus, while the beginning was fairly sad, they soon enjoyed the small antics that followed up later on. Well until the major conflict happened making the sugarcoated mother having to leave their child in the forest since he had angered their neighbor. Undyne did her best to not tear up as both Alphys and Papyrus were blubbering next to her. Undyne sniffed hard and puckered her lips, " Must... Not... Cry!". The two toddlers on the arm chair were just confused of why this poor character had to be let loose because of some jerk's dogs getting hurt. The two didn't like the owner and one of the dogs, so why pay him any mind? Doggo more of just listened than watched, his ears twisting and turning all over the place, and from what he could gather made him irritated as well. If these fellow canines were intelligent why did they put up with this old coot? And since when were fox monsters so bad? He knew quite a few of them.

Thankfully everything broke when the main character met up with a girl, making everyone but Undyne and Alphys go into a panic of YUCK! Then came more conflict as two friends fought each other, making the children and Toriel even gasp out. Thankfully, the two had teamed up against a large crazy bear monster but everyone ultimately lived happily ever after, though the two friends were still apart. After that Toriel was slightly unsure about the movies the scientist would find, and started to lead the children out to take them home. As Sans being the last to get up, Asriel quickly hugged him, nearly tackling him over as he buried his face into his blue sweater. " whoa, hey, what's up buddy?" The skeleton patted his very slightly smaller friend.

Asriel's face moved from the sapphire sweater to look to his friend, sniffling a bit, " D-Do y-you think, we-we'll ever be like that?"

Sans' normal smile grew to a smaller version with worried eyes, " aww what? what do you mean? that's just a movie that stuff won't happen to us. because dude, there is no way i'm leaving just because of a girl or because we can't see each other anymore. in fact, we can always see each other, our parents don't mind, hehehe. i mean seriously... even if my pops didn't want me to, i'd sneak out. and your parents aren't like that. they want you to be happy, so i'm not splitting ways with you even if were older."

Asriel's small sniffled stopped until his eyes shifted around, a puzzling and sad expression growing, " B-But... D-Do you think... W-We'd ever have to f-fight each other?"

" heh azzy... everyone has a disagreement once and while, but there's no way we HAVE to fight each other, okay?" Asriel nodded as he started calming down, he was glad he had such a good friend. As Sans was happy he could cheer a friend up.
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Sans let out a sigh as he traveled through The Core and Mettaton's lavish hotel. He hated coming here... After all that had transpired with his friends, his family, the long departed prince. It made his soul ache in sorrow, but he had to give this package to the king. He would have teleported if he'd remember the area, but ever since then, he stayed away and avoided the lonely castle and home of the king. He would often have to ask some monsters to help find his way past everything, even calling up his old friend Alphys who rarely talked to him anymore. Let alone, anyone... He didn't know what had happen to her since she became the Royal Scientist, and neither did Undyne. Sure she was a shy monster, but now she spent most of her time locked away in her lab rather than visiting anyone... It was depressing to say the least, and it hurt Sans a bit. But then again, he had done the same for quite a while, so he wasn't exactly innocent either. With a heavy breath he made it to the castle's small cottage built into the colossal monument. Memories flashed over his mind as he pressed the old jingling doorbell. He remembered the king, a small bit of his wife who left long ago. The warm home, the garden where he had befriended the prince... All of it came surging through his mind, making him shake his head. The door opened up, showing Sans a slightly unkempt Asgore who smiled down to the skeleton.

" package from undyne buddy." He said as he tossed it into the large paws of the king who nodded lightly in return. Sans turned away to start his walk back home, only to have the large paw rest on his sweater's shoulder.

" Sans... Would you like some tea?" Sans gritted his teeth. He felt bad for the poor guy. He was all alone, his wife leaving into wherever she was, his adopted child dying from sickness, and his gentle flower of a son dead... Sans did wish that the king would remember his father, but... Well that wasn't going to happen anytime soon or ever. Sans looked over his shoulder and smirked.

" sure thing big guy, sure thing." Besides that, Sans WAS his judge. Sure he was never called on to often, so why not relax with the big guy who was in a constant rut. Sans was in one too, but it was much more different than the kings to a degree. The small skeleton followed behind the shambling and massive king, where the two chatted and collectively drank their tea. Before Asgore was going for his monthly visit of the snail farms for any small reminder of his family, Sans couldn't help but stare at the garden which had been taken care of to an almost creepy degree, since the fallen king had much less to do anymore.

" Did you want to go out into the garden?"

" huh-wha-oh, n-no, no, no. it's fine, i just needed to...uhm..." Sans looked up to king, Asgore's gentle smile and expression melting down his facade quickly.

" Go on Sans."

Sans looked out from the clear window of the sliding door, cradling the cup of tea closely, " ... i never got to say goodbye..."

" It is understandable my judge... No one knew he would do such a thing... Go on while I prepare my bag and coins." He patted the skeleton lightly before walking into another room, leaving Sans to himself. Sans sighed and looked into his tea, his normal smile turned down as his reflection looked back equally as unhappy. He put it onto the overly large table and hopped off the comfy and plush chair. He opened up the sliding door, closing it quietly, before walking into the garden, looking at all the plants, trees, and flowers blooming all around. It was just as beautiful as the time he met the shy prince who was so lonely. He soon stopped as he heard whimpering.

He looked around hearing the cry of a child, his eyes scanning the garden toughly until they landed on a golden flower hiding behind a large root of a tree that sunk into the ground. His left pupil flared up into a blue fire as he quietly walked to it. All he knew is that that sentient flower was responsible for his nightmares and the resets. With an accidental crackle of a fallen and dried leaf the flower turned around quickly before it's steam curled back, cowering before the judge, " PLEASE N-NO! PLEASE DON'T KI-KILL ME! NOT YET! NOT YET! PL-PLEASE!" Sans was stuck in place, finding the flower disturbing. Not because of it being a troublemaker that he could slightly remember, but seeing it in a meltdown begging for its life, though Sans hadn't done anything yet. The blue glow slowly faded away, Sans' scowl shrinking down. He hadn't even noticed that seeing the flower made him bare his teeth in anger. " Please just not now... Please... Just-Just let me get over this... Don't kill me, I don't want to die." The flower weaved side to side unsteadily as it kept crying.

Sans exhaled lightly, taking the chance to sit down next to the shaky flower. " ... you're lucky i'm not judging you at the moment... so... you're the one resetting huh?"
" Ye-Y-Yeah..."

" and might i ask... whhhy?"

" ... Because I don't want to die. I don't want to be alone anymore."

" and that's why i have bad memories about you?"

" I-I'M NOT ALWAYS BAD!" The flower shouted out like a kid throwing a hissy fit, before cowering back down, " I-I can't control it... I can't feel positive things... I can't even say sorry without meaning it...I try to be good, but... It never works out."

Sans rubbed the back of his neck bones, thinking this situation over. If he put himself into the flower's position... It would sound like a living hell. More of a living hell than he was in. He wouldn't be able to enjoy his brother's company, and that was the only thing left that gave Sans hope. " i... yeah that sounds... pretty bad... i probably won't remember, but you got a name?"

" A-Flllower...Fl-Flowey... Flowey the flower..." Flowey's stem leaned forward making it's owner slump depressingly.

" not real imaginative, huh?"

" Whatever, just kill me and get it over with so I can reset. It's best if I don't talk with you, it just hurts."

" hurts what? and who said i came to kill you? why can't we just talk?"

Flower bit his lip sharply before looking over to the judge. " St-Stop that."

" what? talking?" Sans' usual smile grew back just a bit.

" Ye-Yes!"

" well why should i? i just want to be friendly. i mean yeah i'm kinda pissed at the resets but... i'm on break."

" J-Just stop being nice to me!" Flowey snarled out, only to receive a small pat on the head, making his tough act break as quickly as it was thrown up. Flowey quickly broke down and wept under the gentle pet.

" shhh calm down kid... here how bout i tell ya story?" Flowey sniffled, nodding slowly as he then laid on his side, being pet. " a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call. the snake prince brought the fluffy bunny back to the castle. over time, the snake prince and the fluffy bunny became like siblings-" The skeleton was cut off from the sliding door opening, making the two look up to see the large king quietly walk into the garden. Sans smiled and waved to Asgore, then motioned to FLowey, only to see it was gone. " i-but....wha..."

" Are you alright Sans?" Asgore knelt down beside the skeleton who seemed a bit shaken from the crying flower vanishing.

" i....." Sans went back into his stupor of glumness before standing up, getting ready to leave. " yeah. yeah i'm fine." Sans looked up with a sad smile.

Not far away Flowey sprouted himself up from the ground and laid down, looking at the twinkling gems above, glittering various colors, making him long for the peaceful days. With a soft sigh, his gaze fell to his surroundings, noticing something in the distance. He squinted, thinking it was Sans who had teleported and was making his way over. But upon the figure emerging from the shadow... It jittered around as a black mass slide forward. Flowey quickly set out the reset button, slamming a vine into it before the figures got any closer to him at such a vulnerable state. This thing ALWAYS came after Flowey when he was broken down and alone... Resetting was the best option to make distance for a few days.
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This only meant trouble... Flowey could tell, he knew it... As soon as his eyes laid onto the large car, Papyrus' sporty car, and Undyne's beaten up truck meant hell was coming to him. Everyone was all bundled up, except the two skeleton brothers, making the flower snap a glare at everyone. " WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ALL DRESSED LIKE THAT?! IT'S SUMMER! ARE YOU TRYING TO OVERHEAT?!"

Sans casually walked over to the pot that was being held by the young hero, who was more of just giggling under their scarf. It was made apparent they hadn't told the more than angered flower where they'd be going too today. " aww, would you look at that? the gay angry baby is worried about us for once."

" SHOVE IT SMILEY! AND DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

" then why does the little toddler pen say gay baby jail on it?"

" BECAUSE FRISK THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY BUT IT'S NOT! THEY'VE BEEN ON THE INTERNET TOO LONG!"

The child only giggled more, making the gold flower quiver in pure rage. Toriel then came out along with the rest of what Frisk called family. The motherly goat monster walked over to their newly adopted child, giving them a kiss on the head, " Okay everyone to your engines! Ohoho, or that's what they say on T.V. Come along now Frisk."

Frisk didn't budge, only to look up at Toriel then to Sans, tilting their head afterwards. " Oh okay sweety. Sans, Frisk wishes to join you Papyrus and Mettaton."

" oh geez, i don't know tori... i mean the kid we can handle, but the flo-"

" OF COURSE QUEEN ASGORE! RAZZLE FRAZZLE! NYEH!" Papyrus abruptly shouted as he soon ran over, snatching up the twelve year old and dashing to his car. Frisk let out a loud laugh all the while they held onto Flowey's pot tightly, saying the quote from that show was wrong, but Papyrus could care less when the two were having fun.

All while Flowey screamed out, flailing his tiny leaves, " AHH SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Flowey himself enjoyed the show's twisted humor so he played in while also not wanting to go.

Toriel folded her arms, chuckling by the younger brother's antics with their child. She shook her head, slightly irritated that Papyrus still called her Asgore or Asgore's clone every once in a while, but she never held it against him. Sans sighed lightly as he made his way to the car. Toriel went into her own once everyone was ready, making poor Asgore ride in the back of the fish's pickup truck, since Papyrus' car was full and Toriel wouldn't let him in hers. Sure they all lived together, but Toriel still held a grudge, making the others help the big oaf.

As Papyrus drove, following behind Toriel's van, Flowey looked more pissed than normal. And since Mettaton was there, Sans politely gave up the front seat, for him and his brother to chat, thus making the hyper skeleton happy. Papyrus would acknowledge this, and would often thank Sans later, sometimes with a ketchup bottle. Sans sat in the back with the child and plant. As long as Frisk was with Flowey, he could feel at ease. It was only left with the flower that made him worried and uncomfortable. " Ugh so where are we going...?"

" what? frisk didn't tell you?"

Flowey shot him a dirty glare before the put was held closer to Frisk, who was trying to hug it. Flowey's gaze then looked upon the child, " Hey, hey, hey! Don't you start playing the innocent card on me!"

" heh, don't twist your roots around too much there. just dew us a favor and wait."

" URGH! YOUR PUNS ARE HORRIBLE! FUCKING END ME ALREADY!"

" later..." Frisk quickly swerved their head to the dunkle and put up a semi-serious angered face with a small mix of fear or shock. " i'm kidding, i'm kidding! geeze kiddo calm down, i was just trying to poke his funny bone... or... root?"

" SANS ARE YOU BEING BOTHERSOME BACK THERE?!"

" no!"

" Good, because if you are, then I'll come back there and sit riiiight beside you darling~" The effeminate robot looked over practically purring, winking to the three of them. Sans held a nervous smile, Frisk could see him internally screaming however, while the flower shut up. That's what they liked about Mettaton, he and Toriel could always make these two be quiet and behave for a small amount of time. Eventually the cars parked and the side doors soon opened up letting out the excited monsters and human. Frisk quickly brought out a spare scarf and put it around Flowey who struggled and insulted them before finally noticing they were on Mount Ebott. After the monsters were freed, some of the Snowdin folk founded an icy spot on the mountain, turning it into a ski resort and ice rink. What better place to go in the summer than an ice rink during the blistering heat anyway?

The mismatched family went to the small shop as an old friend of Sans and Undyne's handed out the ice skates for people and monsters alike. The husky peeked over and let out a howl of excitement, " Captain Undyne! Sans! Squirrel!" He pointed to the three... Frisk being the alleged squirrel that made it past him and kept ringing his station's bell in The Underground.

Undyne gave her famous toothy grin as Doggo hopped out from the booth's opening while no one was getting ice skates and ran over, halting before them and saluting. " Ahahaha! Stand down, I'm not captain anymore, ya big goober. Be at ease, and sides you're a civilian now right?"

" Oh right sorry sir-I mean ma'am-I mean fellow citizen-I mean... I don't know. So what brings you to my neck of the woods?"

Sans strolled over to the husky who know thinking about it, never got rid of the fashion of pink... " ah we're just here to skate around as a family ya know? it being summer and all."

" Ugh tell me about it! Me and my kin have been panting in the crack of down until night falls, it's unbearable!"

" if only you were a bear."

" Wha-What does being a bear have to do with anything?"

" because... then you could bear it." The skeleton grinned as his old companion's ears fell flat with an irritated look in his now twitching eye. Toriel and Frisk held themselves back from a giggle or snort, all while Papyrus rambled out in the back.

" OH MY GOD! SANS! WE'RE IN PUBLIC!" After that fiasco and getting their gear the family parted ways. Undyne with Alphys, who was still trying to teach the poor lizard how to skate after all these years. Asgore skating by himself... Well until Alphys crashed into the big gentle brute, making Undyne skate with the two of them. Papyrus skating near Sans but mainly off by himself, leaving Mettaton to do the same. Toriel and Sans hung around Frisk who carried Flowey's pot closely before the three stopped, seeing a large bulky and jittering figure stop nearby them.

The thing looked like a shambling corpse but was still full of life somehow, it's two eyes that were melted faces looked to the family, it's drooping beak smiling, " Sn-Snowy... Lo-look... Hueby... Fr-f-friends, Friiiiisk..." Flowey scrunched back trying to hide in the scarf Frisk wrapped around him while the small child waved happily.

Just then a frosted looking monster bird fluttered over with his skates, sporting large glasses and a tie, " Ahh, hello there! Boys come over here!" Soon a bird like monster skated over, as tall as his father, while two more slide by. One was slightly shorter than the other two while one was still fairly small, though still taller than Sans.

Toriel nodded to the other family, " Ahh, the Drakes, it is wonderful to see you. Miss Drake, you're looking lovely this afternoon, and getting better at the voices I see."
The amalgamation of the Drake's mother and wife chuckled to the other mother, " Thaaaank... Thank you Tori..."

As The parents chatted to the former queen the three kids looked to Sans and Frisk... And trying to avoid eye contact with Flowey as best they could. Chilldrake smiled and held out his wing, curling the sea foam green feathers, letting the small child fist bump him. Chilldrake lowered his sunglasses, giving an affirmative wink to the skeleton who gave one back before the two talked.

Snowy fluffed up his feather and shyly went to Frisk, giving them a hug as a thanks for everything they did for his family. As he let go he smiled brightly, " O-Oh! Right I've been working on some jokes!" This made Frisk hop as best they could being in ice skates. Flowey groaned, preparing himself for the worst to come from someone who was worse than Sans. " Okay, okay here we go!" He cleared out his throat before performing a voice that sounded professional, " Words freeze in the air. If you want to hear what someone said, you have to grab a handful of sentences and take them in by the fire!" Frisk almost on command started to giggle while Sans overheard this and looked over.

" hehehe... that's pretty good kid. but i also see you've been practicing your skating, and have to say it suits ya pretty well. how about you and the kiddo here go skate about? cause, i'm getting kinda snow board of some of these mediocre skaters." Sans received a small non-damaging punch to the arm from Frisk. " i'm kidding, i'm kidding!" He chuckled out as Frisk handed her dunkle the flower pot with a worried face. " don't worry kiddo, i've got him, i'm not going to leaf him alone. now go on and play with snowy and the other kids. yo chill, think you can watch these two?"

" Sure thing my main man, Sans." He nodded to the skeleton, skating away with the two children. Sans held onto the clay pot, regretting to be the one to watch Flowey, but the kid did deserve some time away from the pissy plant. He was about to skate over to the outskirts and sit on a bench like he'd normally do, but couldn't help to notice Frostdrake had not said a peep.

" hmm? couldn't help but notice your still here buddy."

Frostdrake was entirely different now than he was when he was a little snot nosed bratty teenager. He wore what seemed to be a business suit and small glasses. It was hard to tell if the glasses were for looks or reading. He cleared his throat, following his youngest brother and sighed, letting the cold air hit any glimpse of warmth. " Sans... It's been a while... I just wanted to say for all the lousy things I did to you and your friends. I am deeply sorry for everything. We had no right to do what we did, and as I've grown older, I sincerely apologize for my crude behavior."

" wow... was not expecting that... but ya know? it's all in the past, let bygones be bygones and such. i forgive ya man, and i appreciate you admitting your faults." His gaze shifted to Flowey for a split second before going back to the frosted bird monster. " so how bout just the two of us keep cool?" He smiled lazily, reaching out, soon getting an affirmative shake from the bird who soon departed. " see bud-dy, it's not so hard to ask for forgiveness as ya know... as long as you, what's the word? A D M I T I T..." Flowey gave a small snarl as the skeleton skated to the outside of the permanent frozen lake. He crunched his feet into the snow, finally making way to the bench where he placed Flowey, upon sitting beside him and resting his eyes.

Flowey watched as his so called 'family' skated around before him, laughing and smiling... It made him feel like he was watching a overly happy PSA... That was until a while passed, his eyes following as Alphys failing to skate, but slightly getting use to it with the help of her girlfriend and Asgore. So Flowey's small chuckles when she fell down ceased. He turned attention to Papyrus who skated beside to the glittery robot... Boring. He tried to seek out anyone who fell so he could laugh at them, but nobody was! Finally Toriel was back with Frisk, holding hands, skating around, twirling about in a happy manner. Flowey's non existing soul and heart ached...
There he was just sitting there while his mother joyfully spent time with their adopted child. She looked as happy as she did when Flowey wasn't a flower. He truly missed and longed for the old days when she would teach him, even when he didn't want to be taught. The days when his mother would tuck him into bed... Sing his favorite lullaby... Read stories... Keep his nightmares away, which were now a constant thing in his life. He didn't have anyone to keep them away anymore, only for him to talk about them with Frisk. Frisk was the only ones that would hold him from the nightmares while he cried out... No one else would, besides Papyrus but Flowey would push him away. Papyrus was just a different story... Not even his own mother would hold him anymore. She wouldn't try and dare make him feel better anymore. She no longer promised she'd watch and protect him when he was frightened... She couldn't say she loved him anymore.

Flowey's stem drooped forward as he watched the two be happy. He didn't feel envy or hatred to Frisk... Deep down he knew they deserved a good mother, he just wished he could enjoy it with Frisk... To be like siblings... To be loved again. He hadn't noticed he was gritting his teeth and panting rather hard at the point... " you miss them don't you?" The golden flower shot up and snapped his direction around till he noticed Sans having a half lidded eye open watching him. " your parents, right? i mean you had to have had to come from somewhere. or were you like just made?"

" Depends... Do you miss your father?"

Sans' normal smile grew, his left eye now flaring up with magic before going away, " heh... point taken..."

Flowey sighed and slumped over in his pot, " Imagine if you will... That you see your dad every day, except you can't tell him anything about yourself. You have to constantly lie because you're not his child anymore. He doesn't even really know it's you... Would you miss him and hurt all the time?"

Sans sat there in silence before sucking in a deep breath. That seemed to hit home since his pupil had faded into the eye socket of darkness. " ... i-oh crap! paps, watch out!" His and Flowey's attention shifted to Papyrus who stopped skating, and stood there, looking over to his brother confused. " boyfriend at 12 o clock!"
" WHAT?! BUT IT'S ONLY 10 O FIIIIIIIII-!" Papyrus soon got run into by Mettaton, who was busy focusing on a chipped nail. Both of them watched the two slide into a pile of snow before cracking up, avoiding the serious talking... Well for now...

Chapter Text

It seemed like just a normal regular old day, Snowdin was full of the hustle and bustle of life with the ever constant frost drizzling down to shower the monsters that dwelled there. The lone pine tree in the town’s center shined brightly as it was decorated in marvelous colors tat varied from the palette. Kids laughed out and ran around frolicking in the soft and cold snow while older monsters either made their stand chatting about keeping and an eye on their children, going into dine to the town’s special little restaurant, or sitting in the calm and snug library. In one part of the small cheerful town sat a festive looking cabin home. In front of the humble abode, were two snow walls built on each side. Children laughing from behind them. The fish like warrior in training quickly stood up to view over their own wall of white and light blue to scour her enemies’ wall. The prince peeked his furry head out, almost blending into to the ice an white stunning background. “ AHA!” shouted Undyne as her single eye targeted onto the younger child. With a frightened squeak, Asriel did his best t lower down behind the wall of safety. He managed t make his escape, Undyne’s snowball whizzing right above and over is small tuft of fur. “ DANG-IT!” Unyne filled into her small fit of rage as she barely missed her prey. She quickly was taken own by a snowball that caught her off guard. She helped out with shock that someone managed to it her with a soft, tiny, and slightly chilly ball, which broke when it had made contact on her red pigmented gills.

Sans who had popped out from behind the enemy wall chuckled smugly as his fishy friend spat everywhere, overreacting from the harmless clump of ice. That was until presumably his prince friend tugged is sleeve slightly, “ dude, id you see that?!” He asked his friend, turning round… only to have a snowball hit him right in the face, making him fall to the side, “ bwah! monster down! monster down!” He called out, wiping the snow off from is eye sockets to see his little brother all wrapped up in orange giggling, holding a batch of snowballs in his arms. “ azzy! he made the past the borders with a snowy vengeance!”

Asriel who was busy making an arsenal of snowy projectiles, swerved his head to see the small infiltrator from the other team. He bleated out and fearfully threw some of the freshly made snowballs at the toddler. Damn was this kid fast! Papyrus dodged them easily, considering Asriel wasn’t the best with physical games, especially when startled. He became so scared so easily. It was just in his nature of his personality, letting the sweet little flower he was. Papyrus ran side to side, hopping up and ducking down until Asriel was vulnerable. Once at tat state, Papyrus pelted the goat prince with such tiny harmless little snowballs, but enough to make the older child make a squeak before falling down next to Sans. “ NYEHA! GOT YOU BOTH!”

“ Ahhh! We surrender! Asriel cried out flailing his sleeved striped arms. Sans however got up with a cocky grin.

“ i don’t! and sides! now you're on our side paps!”

“ Not on my watch punk! GEEEEEEEEEEET DUNKED ON!” Just ten Sans was hurled face front into the crisp and cool ground as a massive snowball hit him and pinned him down. A muffled Sans spoke underneath the large ball. “ … WHAT?!”

Sans shifted is head up and shook off the little remaining bits of snow from his skull, “ i said… that was so col… also, yep, ice-give in too.” He snickered a bit, making the butch fish girl groan from his horrendous pun. Much like his smaller brother who groaned out louder, while the goat monster giggled to himself.
The children laughed and talked as they shoved the monumental snowball off of their friend’s back, before the skeleton brother's scientific father walked out from the house and made his way over. He wasn’t in is casual lab attire, or his normal coat with a soft gray sweater hiding underneath it. And for that matter, he didn’t even have his regular scarf that dangled about whenever he made movement. He was dressed in a sleek leather black coat that seemed to go down to his ankles, concealing his lower torso and legs. The children looked up to the royal scientist who calmly knelt down to their level. “ Children, I must ask for you to take Papyrus to the inn to rest, and for you both to leave. I have to train with Sans for the moment, so please understand.”

Undyne seemed to lightly roll her single eye while the other was still bandaged up from the accident and surgery. “ Why can't he just train with me and Asgore?” She loosely said, a bit hurt in her over-zealous pride. Mostly because all she did remember was that Sans managed to beat her… Even if that meant passing out from a critical blow. Mostly she was just a bit jealous at how strong the skeleton had gotten in such a short amount of time.

“ Because, we have a special training program, and before you ask, no you cannot join. Second it is not because you are a girl, it is because it’s a family bond and code. You wouldn’t want Sans to disrespect his families honor, would you? Or your own for that matter,” Undyne’s pointer finger stood up in the air as her mouth gaped open, about to say things, but immediately closed up once Gaster spoke up. Though Undyne was stubborn, she did respect honor and family. She gently huffed nodding, taking Papyru’s mittened up hand and sighed.

“ Fffffffffiiiiiine.” She exaggerated.

Asriel meanwhile was hugging Sans tightly. Asriel didn’t train too much, and if he did it was normally magic and not movement. He also didn’t spar, instead he used training dummies… But even then he always felt bad for them ad would even fix them up afterwards once he rested. He only ever saw Undne train with his father an even then it could get fairly brutal, even if the king didn’t even hit Undyne. Sans smiled calmly to his baby brother an friend, patting him on the head, “ tch, don’t worry. it’ll be fine. i’ll catch up with you guys later, okay?”

“ O-Okay…” Asriel mumbled out, along with what seemed like a nervous whimper from his brother who said the same thing in a similar fashion. An just a simple nod from the fish. Gaster took Sans’ bonny hand and walked to their shed, Sans looking back waving to the group nervously smiling, opening to let them know it was going to be okay.

Undyne stomped her boots trough the softened ground as she held onto Papyrus’ hand which hid in an orange red mitten. Asriel walked along with them as is warm furry paw held onto the toddler’s other mittened and. Asiel managed to notice the younger skeleton looked concerned… Unsteady… Scared even. “ Uhm… Hey Undyne just a moment.” He said in a soothing voice, trying to seem collective so Papyrus wouldn't freak out

“ Huh? What gives now?” She asked, seeing the toddler stop with the goat monster. She watched Asriel kneel down to the toddler, who she saw looked fearful and sad. A few blinks and she was taken aback. Se hardly ever saw her small friend grow upset, let alone frightened. She frowned slightly an knelt beside the nervous toddler, her gilled fins lowering down. She wasn't good at being motherly, only protective and tough. She was glad that the sensitive prince was along with her, “ Whoa, hey, hey. What's wrong Paps?”

Papryrus sounded as if he was going to burst into tears at any given moment, “ I-I’M SCARED.”

“ Of what? The inn? Are Nice’s sisters picking on you two again?”

“ N-NO. NO… I’M WORRIED ABOUT SANS… WHENEVER HE TR-TRAINS WITH DAD, HE ALWAYS SEEMS SO DRAINED OUT. AND SLEEPY. HE WON’T EVER PLAY WIT ME. HE JUST LAYS THERE. AND WHENEVER WE WATCH A MOVIE, HE ALWAYS FALLS ASLEEP. HE WON’T EVEN READ ME A STORY IF IT’S AT NIGHT.”

While Asriel calmed and soothed the toddler down with gentle words and hugs, Undyne pondered to herself. With a victorious smile she looked over to the younger monster. “ Hey! I got an idea! How about me and Azzy go check on him?!” Papyrus remained quiet for a moment before nodding lightly.

“ B-BUT I DON’T WANT YOU BOTH GETTING IN TROUBLE!”

Asriel gave a small sly smile, which was rare seeing as it came from an equally innocent spirit as Papyrus. “ I wouldn’t get in trouble as much… I AM TE PRINCE after all!” He proudly put his paws to is hips and heroically posed, full of self pride for once.

“ Hey yeah! Nobody can say no to the prince! Well except for his parents… And those bullies-but those guys don’t listen to anyone!” She smiled brightly to the younger prince and gave him a high-five which let Asriel cringe, clutching his is paw once Undyne and Papyrus went inside the building.

Asriel made his way back to the skeleton’s house. The two had agreed that Undyne would hang with Papyrus for a while before hiding finally going out and waiting behind the home’s small stairs that led up to the front door. The prince walked slowly to the shed where he could hear a very muffled and hard to hear scuffle. He made out yelling, thumping, and feel a treat lingering in the air. It wasn't angry yelling... It was more informative in a way. He was just glad he had such good ears. Otherwise he’d have her nothing like a common monster. Along with his mother teaching him magical properties and-wait… As he approached the door, he saw the small knob click ad jiggle a bit. He quickly searched for a hiding place as the handle jiggled around more and more before it finally opened.

Gaster stepped out and sighed, closing the door behind him. E stopped and looked about, seeing small foot prints in the snowy ground. They seemed to vanish, so he just shrugged and noted it as a flying monster must have taken off nearby. Along the way the stairs heading up the house, a small shuffle was heard. With his paranoia getting the better of him he quickly glanced where the noise came from, only to see a rather large pile of snow leaning onto the shed’s side wall which faced the home. The lump of snow seemed to have a small pile sticking out from the side, making him shake his head. “ Just a snow poff…” With that he went into is home, leaving the snow poff to itself.

The snow poff’s small clump that stuck out wriggled. Asriel rose up on all fours from behind the snowy shield that blocked the doctor’s vision and soon stood up. He then hopped over to the shed’s door, cracking it open enough for him to see it be completely barren of any furniture or tools. All that was in there was a rouged up and tired looking Sans on his knees panting weakly. The skeleton looked like he was going to collapse from exhaustion, making Asriel’s soul tug in pain to see his friend like this. Asriel quickly ran in and scampered to his friend, dropping to his knees, sliding over on the wooden floor to his friend, putting his arms out, catching him just in time.

“ Oh m-my-my goodness! S-Sans! Sans are you okay?!” He sifted a bit so that Sans was leaning on him.

Sans’ eyes cracked open for a moment before falling back down. He gave a weak smile and spoke calmly, “ course i am… just… laying around, hehehe…” Just as Asriel was about to talk again and try his best to heal Sans up, the door creaked open from behind them. Asriel looked over to see Gaster had fetched a glass of water for his son, only to find the prince holding him up.

“ Oh… Oh my. I’m so sorry young prince, forgive me. But I must ask of you to leave.” Asriel’s mind was blank... Did Gaster do this to his own son? Was Sans really hurt?

“ h-he’ll be gone in a minute dad… just… give him a minute.” Sans gently pushed Asriel away who was currently a deer in headlights. Sans got up and smiled to his dad, upon receiving the glass of water from a pair of magical disembodied hands, surrounded by a whisking purple aura. Sans drank the water and went to pull his friend up to guide him out. Except… He heard the door close, making him look over to his father. “ uh… dad?” Once his vision gazed over, he could see that Gaster’s hands were pressed against the door and a small sliver of a smirk grew. His eyes flowed with purple energy as they contacted his son’s pupils. Sans knew Asriel might be in danger… More or less. Gaster was in one of his ‘moods’ again. Sans only ever saw them when training. It wasn’t too bad… His father would just get carried away is all. But he had never taken Sans lower than half of his HP. Afterwards he would apologize deeply and constantly. But now with is friend here, he didn’t know how well this was going to lay out. “ d-dad… dad just calm down o-okay?” Sans held out a hand, stuttering bit. When in this type of mood, Gaster always seemed… Much more intimidating and actually frightening.

“ Huh? Wait, what’s going on?” Asriel seemed to finally come back to Earth. Which Sans was grateful for… But was still very worried. He really wished he could teleport with two people, but Gaster hadn’t taught him just yet.

A dark chuckle seeped out from the scientist, “ Ohoho well then… Maybe this will finally allow you to try and fight back against me Sans. All you ever do is block and dodge… Remember, humans aren’t merciful. If given the chance, they will strike you down. But now that we have a volunteer, maybe you will finally use those powers for something rather than using them to throw me off guard or as a distraction.”

“ d-dad! azzy didn’t volunteer! just-just calm down! y-you know we don’t have to fight humans e-even if one manages to fall down here-”

Gaster waggled a skeletal finger slowly, “ Ah, ah, ah Sans. It is YOUR duty as a Judge to protect the future king. NO MATTER WHAT. Now pretend if you will… That I am a HUMAN… Defend the king.”

And with that, Gaster summoned dozens of sharp-ended tipped bones, launching them to Sans and Asriel. Sans quickly tackled Asriel down to the wooden floor, letting the first dozen fly by above them. More came at such a remarkable speed that Asriel couldn’t even say a or let out a word. Sans quickly flung is arm up, making thick and sturdy bones appear in front of them, shielding Gaster’s attack. The attack stopped once the shield of bones caved in and Sans grabbed hold of Asriel, standing up and putting himself before him, readying for another onslaught of bones.

Sans clutched is hands tightly, extending his arms out to block anything from Gaster. Asriel was too much in shock, confusion and panic, that all he did was hold onto Sans’ back shaking and tearing up. “ D A D! S T O P I T!” Sans called out angrily, his left eye socket flashing a warning signal of a fiery blue. He didn’t want to attack… He told himself he was better than humans. He wouldn’t attack. Gaster sighed and summoned a horde of normal bones hovering and surrounding the two. The tips weren’t sharpened but could still leave a bruise.

“ So be it…” Gaster flicked his wrist, making the bones be hurled at the two children. Sans summoned is own massive amount of bones to shield them off, but some of Gaster’s would slip by or would shatter some of the protective ones. Each one that managed to squeeze by Sans’ defense promptly struck him and Asriel, then vanishing away once they had hit against them. Just until all that was left were broken fragments of the shielded bones and dust from the ever cracking bones. Sans stood there gasping and panting from using so much magic along with being weakened from the hits. He still stood his ground while Asriel scrunched up behind him, clinging to the sapphire sweater. Asriel’s paws grabbed hold of the fabric, his small claws digging into it, while he tucked his head into a small ball of himself. His knees curled up to cover his face. In fact if it wasn’t for him clinging to his protector, he’d have been laying in a defensive ball on the floor.

All that could be heard from the two were Sans’ heavy panting and the whimpers of the prince. Sans felt a smile grow on his face, as if to say, ‘ told ya.' However that was short lived as Gaster’s thin frown was still upon his face. He looked disappointed in his son. He sighed, shaking his head lightly “ Oh Sans… You’re soul is too good for this world. As is yours my prince… It is time you both learned the meaning of this cruel, dark, an festering world we call home… It is kill. Or be killed.” With a fluid motion of the wrist, Asriel was picked up off from the ground, the unseeable force constricting his entire body, making him let go of his friend.

“ A-AHHH S-SANS!” Sans turned around to find his friend floating above him, wrapped in a mist of purple. Before the shocked skeleton could react the prince as flung to a wall which was furthest away from Gaster. He let out a small scream of pain once his back collided to the wall. The magical aura pining him up there. Sans ran over to his friend in need, trying to get a good grip on him to make to the force lower him. But even with the air of his blue aura he conjured up just dissolved into the purple magic.

“ A Z Z Y!” Sans screamed out. As soon as he was close enough to grab hold of the prince with his own skeletal hands… He heard a wiring sound. Turning around his eyes were met with those of one of Gaster’s many and horrifying ally, The Gaster Blaster… Asriel watched in horror along with Sans, slowly thinking to himself he was going to die here and now. The blaster glowed brightly and shot out a large single beam of light straight at the two… As dust from the shed and blast had cleared away, Sans stood there. In front of him hovered a large gaster baster which was now cracked, with the jawbone dangling to the side.

Gaster looked surprised, “ You… You used it as a shield… That’s. Brilliant… Now let’s see if you can keep it up!” Gaster exclaimed eagerly to test his son to the edge. Sans panted harshly, turning around to retrieve Asriel, only to collapse from over-exerting himself. The crack and fractured blaster broke apart and shattered onto the shed’s flooring as its owner dropped.

Gaster sighed lightly, “ Such lazy bones. Well I suppose if you're not going to attack. You’ll just see what happens when you let down to a human. Remember my boy… They are merciless, relentless, bloodthirsty creatures. Here’s an example..” He said as he walked on over to examine the quiet crying prince. He summoned a single sharpened bone, while his other magic lifted the exhausted Sans up for him to get a better look. The sharpened bone hovered in front of the frightened goat monster who began to hyperventilate as he saw his own soul be pulled out to be seen. Sans’ eyes snapped open as he looked at Asriel’s soul… It was vibrant and colorful, but mellowed soft. It looked like that of the smallest and delicate rainbow… So that's what a boss monster's soul looked like.. No wonder Asriel was royalty. Sans had the urge to reach out and hold the beautiful soul that was just stunning to look at. Seeing it almost made him calm own in a way. The sharpened bone then floated above it and slowly sunk into the fragile looking soul. Asriel gritted his teeth, not wanting to scream out as the bone pierced his very being. Numbers slowly drained from his HP.

-1/280
-1/279
-1/278
-1/277
-1/276
-1/275
It kept lowering and lowering, making Sans struggle against the invisible force that bound him, keeping him in air.
-1/223
-1/222
-1/221
-1/220
-1/119

Sans snapped, his father just went below the halfway mark… Sans felt something bubble up and expose itself fully. It was there when Asriel or his brother were hurt or picked on, but now it felt much stronger. Sans snarled as his left eye was fully engulfed in the flame of blue, splitting with yellow. Before Gaster knew it, something whirred behind him, making him pull the bone out. As he turned round, his eyes met with that of two Gaster Blasters, “… Clever boy…”

The normally calm scientist groaned as he held a bag of clear and watery ice up to his skull as he sunk into the old green sofa, while his eldest son leaned on the couch’s other side, physically and mentally drained. Sans had a bruise here and there on his bones like a normal person would on their skin, stained with a purple blemish that spread around the stinging area. Gaster ached in pain from the side of his head and grumbled out, “ Bloody hell Undyne has one hell of a swing…”
“ you started it…” His son simply replied smiling to his father. He didn't hold it against his dad, he knew he got that way sometimes and was like a different person he couldn't control. But that didn't mean he couldn't call him out on it.

“ Oh hush.” Gaster winced as Sans was sassing him currently. What had happen was that Gaster managed to deflect the two large beams of magical energy, finally snapping back to focus of what he had been doing to his son and the prince. But before he could apologize, Undyne had gotten fed up with waiting and sneaked in from all of the commotion… Ending up to summon a spear and sharply smack the shit out of Gaster’s skull once with the blunt end of the weapon. Before the scientist could even explain, she grabbed hold of Asriel and booked it like she had just stolen a television.“ You do realize the only reason I get like that is beca-“ Just then the doorbell was rung, which made the worried scientist nearly fall from his seat. He looked over to his son and begged with a look. “ S-Sans? Sans? Sans don’t you dare-don’t you dare open that door!” Gaster squeaked out in fear.

Sans approached the door slowly and raised himself with the aid of his levitating magic. Peeking out the small windowed hole, he sighed in relief and went back to be on the floor. “ it’s just zack.” Gaster relaxed along with Sans as the door opened up to reveal the tall and lanky teenage cat monster. “ sup zack?”

“ Uhm uh… Heh… Just wanted to uhm say… I am so sorry but she bribed me with goldfish!” Sans tilted his head watching the normally suave and collective cat monster breakdown into a fit of sweats. The reason why was because a furious queen ran out from behind a tree, shoving Zack off from the porch and into the snow. “ MIAU!” He yelled out before he fell flat on his face. Toriel moved Sans aside with one gentle but forcible push.

As she made her way in, Undyne and Asriel followed in after her and into the humble house. The larger goat monster stomped into the room and shouted out boastfully, “ WING-DINGS!”

“ EEEEEEEEEE!” Gaster cried out like a small little girl.

" OH NO YOU DON’T!” Toriel screamed out before jumping and tackling the thin skeleton who was close to teleporting away. She restrained him and put him in a headlock, surprising both Sans and Asriel. Undyne however cheered the angered queen on, pumping her soft scaled fist into the air. “ WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU DOING TO MY CHILD!”

Gaster choked out as is limber fingers snagged onto Toriel’s sleeves, squirming underneath her grip. “ Mom! Stop! I forgive him! I know he’s sorry! Really!” Asriel called out, letting everyone shut their mouth to look at the teary eyed prince. “ He’s really sorry. H-He didn’t mean it…”

“ … Is this true?” Toriel asked, glaring dangerously to the skeleton who nodded slowly. She sighed and let him go, letting him gasp out a bit.

“ I-I am dreadfully sorry my good lady and y-young prince.”

Toriel snarled, baring her sharpened teeth that hid behind her normal smile, “ And WHHHHY did you hurt my baby?”

“ Mom it’s okay… H-He was just… He was training Sans to become a Judge.” Asriel had managed to figure the puzzle out, from all that he heard and witnessed.

Toriel fell silent along with Undyne. Her attention was peeked now as she looked to the lone scientist, “ W-Wait… Is this true?”

Gaster sighed, nodding, “ Yes my queen… Sans chose to become your son’s protector. We have been working very hard and sometimes we both get carried away. I-I… Used the young prince as… A target so Sans wouldn't mess up like he normally does."

Sans quietly mumbled something bout how he himself didn’t go overboard. Undyne’s eye paced to and back from everyone, “ Say what?”

Toriel sighed and stood up, “ That is fine… But please go easy on Sans. None of these children know how humans behave. And they are not all evil as you think they are. You have just had bad experiences. BUT! I would like an apology and a promise to not use my child as a training dummy, understood?!” She snapped back to Gaster who leaned as far away from the mother as possible.

“ Ye-Yes my queen! Again I-I am so sorry!”

“ Don’t apologize to me… Apologize to my child.”

“ Erm-Right. S-Sorry Lady Tori,”

“ Don’t you Tori me, Wing-Dings…”

Gaster gulped and nodded before looking over to Asriel, seeming broken and the verge of tears himself, “ Young Prince I am so deeply so-“ H was quickly cut off by the young monster running over to him and embracing him in a hug, which made Gaster freeze in position.

Asriel patted the skeleton’s back and held onto him, “ I already forgive you Mister Gaster.” Toriel smiled at the sweet moment while Undyne scooted over to the younger skeleton who watched, entranced.

“ … Damn, I thought she was gonna’ beat the shit outta’ him.”

“ ehh… maybe next time. But next time ya might wanna' check out what happens before telling azzy’s mom.” Unyne glared and stuck her tongue out at him, only for Sans too the same right back at her. Eventfully Toriel grabbed hold of Undyne’s finned hand and led her and Asriel out.

“ We will discuss this later on the phone Wing-Dings.” Toriel said before making her leave, slamming the door in the process. Sans walked over to his father’s side, who was currently laying on his back on the floor like he would do sometimes and then sleep there.

“ … so uhm… you’re not like fired or banished right?”

“ No… Thankfully not.”

“ … should I go put on a movie?”

“ That would be nice, yes… pick one of yours… Oh and Sans?” The younger of the two looked over, “ You’re a good kid… Also never make a woman angry. Hell hast no fury like an angry woman…”
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His father’s words echoed in his seemingly empty skull, bouncing around in his mind, making his marrow feel cold and his soul tense. And now here he was… Walking down past his old guard station. The one where he first met the openly kind-hearted and optimistic twelve year old. He walked along side with them nervously, but still wearing that large plastered grin across his face to conceal his feelings. He was very worried about this plan… It had only been a few weeks since the barrier was destroyed and Fisk’s new family setting up a large home, with Sans included. Though they had bribed their dunkle into returning to Mount Everett for whatever reason, Sans still felt a fraction of dread.

Frisk had told him they HAD to come back for something… But it sounded more like they had to find and bring back someone to their happy and new life. Seeing as no one else would tag along and Toriel would forbid the kid going alone, worrying about the previous events in The Underground. So Sans was the one to aid them. And Sans knew better than to anger a woman or upset a girl… If Frisk was one anyways… If not, then it’d be best not to disappoint a boy. Eventually Frisk stopped at the purple shaded doors that led into The Ruins. They turned around to their friend and smiled. “ Sans. Stay here.”

“ whoa, wait, why? Tori will chew my head off and force me to pick up my socks.”

“ We don’t hafta' tell her…” risk looked down, pushing the snow against their boot, shyly.

“ frisk…”

“ If you don’t tell, I won’t…”

“ frisk…” He cocked an invisible brow to the child who looked up to him, upset.

“ Sans please. If you go with me. You’ll upset him.”

“ pth, upset who? the bricks?”He chuckled before his eyes widened, “ oh crap that one rock monster is still here isn’t he? aww man, or it’s that ant sized froggit. Yeah, they don’t like my jokes.” Frisk giggled into their hands, not daring to tell Sans who it really was. “ well… okay fine. but you come back here in ten minutes or I’m coming in after you.”

“ Got it Sans.” Frisk smiled brightly to him, turning round and vanishing into the ongoing corridor.

“ and just so you know, i will be keeping a close eye on the clock kiddo!” Sans called out before sitting down at his usual spot back when he was trapped along the other monsters. He quietly knocked on the large symbol embroided doors, “ ahh, still got the hollow sound.” He soon found himself bored as no one would answer him so he let his tired eyes close down.

Frisk had finally managed to make it to the very first room that started it all… That started their adventure. That started their longing for their sugarcoated goat mother. That started their resets to finally free that last monster who dwelled here. They quietly walked down the black and darkened hallway to a single small room with light pouring in from above a hole, making the golden flowers below bloom and glisten.

As they grew closer to the patch of grass and flowers, one single flower stood out from the rest. It drooped down as if it wasn’t being taken care of in ages. But once close enough for the boot to click against the tiled flooring, the flower moved, showing a worn out face. The flower looked over to Frisk and glared, “ Back so soon? Hehehe… I didn't know you wanted to die that badly. Or maybe you were hoping HE was here… Hehehe, don’t you know there’s no such things as a ‘happy ending’… Or did you come back here to gloat and mock me?!”

Frisk shook their head, walking closer to the patch of floral life. Flowey snapped out at them, snarling and drooling like a feral beast, his eye locking onto them. Vines slid out from under the dirt around him, weaving around to show off their skin piercing thorns. “ FUCK OFF! I’LL KILL YOU WERE YOU STAND!” Flowey screamed out. Frisk shook their head sadly before walking closer to him.

The vines wipe around furiously in the air, but none of them even dare touch a hair on Frisk. Flowey’s steam pulled back, his maddening grin and ravenous eyes growing more and more wild, “I-I SAID GO AWAY! I-I’LL HURT YOU! I’LL FUCKING DO IT!” Flowey tried to roar out, but Frisk could tell he was more worried and frightened than he led onto be.

“ No you won’t.” Frisk said before sitting next to the sentient flower who made the vines slink back into the Earth below.

Flowey drooped back down again, his petals hiding and concealing his pained face, “ … Frisk… Why are you here…?” The child smiled gently and took off their backpack. Flowey was so busy trying to scare them off that he hadn’t noticed it. In a silent moment, a rubber ball of a rainbow color bumped against him. “ Wh-What is this…T-Take it away!” is leaf curled up slightly before smacking it back the way it rolled. Only for it to roll back to him. “ I said TAKE IT AWAY! JUST STOP IT!” Flowey turned around, slapping the ball with a thin vine. Frisk caught it and smiled to him, rolling it back to him. Flowey’s snarls grew quiet as he nudged the ball away with his head. Again it was rolled back to him. Flowey stared at it and eventually rested his forehead against it, “ … Don’t you have anything better to do…?”

“ Yeah, But I can’t do it without you.” Flowey heard a quiet rustle as Frisk fussed with the backpack. He looked over to see them pulling out a pot with the words ‘best friends’ painted on. Next to it lay a small trowel, Fowey eyed both of the tools before looking back to the child.

“ … Frisk… You know you can’t help me, right? I can’t be fixed. I can’t be up there…”

“ But we can try… Together. As a team. We can help each other Asriel.”

“ I’m not Asriel!” Flowey tearfully yelled out.

“ Yes you are. See, your crying just like him.”

Flowey shook his head, trying to deny the logic, but Frisk was right… He was the late prince of monsters… He sniffled a bit, “ Frisk… P-Please… Ju-Just leave me alone. I was always meant to be alone. Just leave me. I’ve already been left behind tree times already-hehe… I’m use to it.”

“ You don’t deserve that… You’ve been through so much. I want you to have a second chance.”

“ D-Don’t you get it?! THERE ARE NO SECOND CHANCES! Honestly I’m just waiting for you to grow bored an reset-“

“ Flowey, don’t you remember?” Frisk asked, pulling out from seemingly nowhere, a half cracked piece of the RESET button before sending it back to wherever it belonged.

Flowey sighed deeply and quivered, “ Frisk. If we’re really friends, you’ll never return. Now just please…Please just go home… Be free. Be happy. B-Be… Be with your family.” Flowey had just said ‘please’ three times… This was unexpected, but the child stayed determined.

“ Well... If we can't be friends, then we can be family, can’t we? And can’t be with my family, knowing one of them is stuck down here. You’re part of my family. And family doesn’t get left behind. Or forgotten.”

Flowey looked at them, a mix of hope and a mix of dumbfoundedness, “ Frisk. All I’ll do is hurt them-“

“ Not if I'm with you… Please Flowey. Give me a chance… You could be my little brother. I could care for you, and help you… I'll protect you.” Frisk started crying along with the flower with a heart wrenching look on their face that could put the gold flower to shame.

“ … Hehehe… You sound just like Chara…” Flowey smiled, remembering the better times of his past. “ You really are an idiot Frisk…”

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Frisk thought about the time they convinced the stubborn golden flower to actually go above to the surface with them as Toriel held their hand. They eventually tore away from her grasp and skated over to the potted plant and skeleton who sat there along a bench. Frisk carefully stepped into the cold ground below and picked up the flower pot, bringing it over and hugging onto it. Sans watched the child hop back onto the frozen lake and skate off holding the pot firmly, even if Flowey was insulting them as well as spitting out threats of wanting to be put back down. Their new mother skated over to the baffled skeleton and sighed lightly, her breath showing in the cold cool air, “ They are quite a strange but sweet child aren’t they?”

“ y-yeah… they sure are. Tori, you’ve got one hell of a kiddo there.” He smiled faintly to her while she continued to watch the child skate about and hold out the pot for Flowey to enjoy… only to get more yelling as a reward. Thankfully not too much longer, the mismatched family made their way to the lodge that had been built by some fuzzy monster folk to rest before going back to their own home. The lodge was considerably massive to old guests and tourists, but was also planted firmly near a few cottages of smaller houses of the monsters that lived around.

While Alphys, Undyne, and Asgore rested inside for some cocoa, Toriel was busy chatting with the drake family as they met up again. This left the two boney brothers with Frisk and Flowey, much to their delight and bit of dismay. Frisk tugged onto Papyrus’ long slender and vibrant colored red scarf, making the skeleton gain attention, “ EH? MY, MY, WHAT IS IT FRISK?!” He asked out loudly and joyfully. He was never one to not be excited, so any response was normally in yelling distance, but never in a harsh manner. He knelt down so Frisk could put their small hand over where Papyrus would have an ear if he were human and whispered to him. “ OHHH! BROTHER!”

Sans lazily looked behind his shoulder giving him is trademark grin, “ yeah paps?”

“ FRISK WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF DOGGO HAS ANY SHOVELS. THEY WISH TO PLAY IN THE SNOW LIKE THEY WERE AT THE BEACH!”

“ sure, lemme’ ask.” He snickered to himself, receiving a confused look from Frisk and an annoyed glare from his younger brother. Frisk didn’t know how, but Sans managed to whistle out, making the pink clad husky bound over and pant with is tail waging hyperllly. “ whoa, calm down there poochy. Got any shovels for the kiddo to play with the snow?”

Doggo cleared his throat and shook himself to get out of his canine instinct to give a glare, “ Sans. How many times have I told you not to call me that… Anyways yeah, got some small ones out over in the shed. Come on, I’ll show ya.” Doggo turned round as he moved his arm, signaling them to follow.

The two brothers followed him with no problem, as did Frisk. But… Soon enough Frisk felt a sudden shift in the air, mainly the atmosphere coming off from the flower. Flowey had stopped his constant bitching as soon as the dog spoke his last sentence. The flower curled up, hiding themselves in the scarf Frisk had put around him. As they got near the newly built shed, Flowey had sunk himself into the soil of the pot with just his head poking out, covered by his gold petals. And even then, the petals were surrounded by the cloth of the scarf. Frisk had stopped to look at the flower who normally didn’t hide quit like this. As Papyrus chatted with the husky and helped him open the shed, moving some things away, Sans decided to stay back. One, because he wouldn’t leave the kid alone with that flower, and two, he was too lazy to move anything around. However Frisk’s concern caught his appeal, making him walk over to them ad look at the hiding flower.

To him… Flowey was always angry, rude, and aggressive. The flower had sowed hatred for most things, prideful in committing hardships on the rest, and even boredom when nothing horrible was happening to bring him amusement. He saw the flower break down several times which was always interesting but not new, but never had he seen him curl up in fear. Not even when threatened with a gaster blaster or receiving punishment from Toriel. “ uhm… so… know why he’s hiding and cowering like that?” Frisk shrugged their shoulders, being equally as confused. Sans looked at the shed then back to Flowey who didn’t say a peep. “ wow… he’s acting as if he’s just seen some blood-shed.” Frisk’s eyes traced themselves to Sans who was just smiling and chuckling from his pun. Frisk couldn't be angry at their dunkle, but couldn’t find themselves laughing, so they just shook their head and smiled. “ aww, come on, you’ve got to be shedding me, it wasn’t that bad.”

Frisk cracked a small toothy smile, trying to keep any laughter in while Flowey popped up out from his hiding spot. “ C-Can w-we just shut the fuck up and-and get away from here…” Flowey for once wasn’t yelling or sounded angry. He more of sounded frightened like a child who was around adults who were discussing something unsavory like a shot.

“ ah, figures why sheds scare you. all that weed killer and lawnmowers. must be pretty spooky huh?” Flowey didn’t even reply which made the skeleton and child feel more uncomfortable. It was odd how Flowey’s yelling and bitching was normal, but never when he was quiet… It was almost eerie in a way.

Later the two brothers sat at the lodge’s porch, sipping their own cocoa, chatting about who knows what while keeping an eye on Frisk who was building something. Sans would look over time from time to catch a glimpse of Frisk building what seemed to be a snowman while the irritated flower’s vines built up a mound of snow next to them. He pondered how and why Flowey would join in on whatever Frisk did, considering he constantly bickered about every little thing. It wasn’t until too long that Sans snapped back into reality, overhearing the motherly monster say, “ They remind me of my children…”

Sans quickly turned his skull over to Torel. He saw her eyes, reminiscing on the past wile Papyrus ad excused himself to go get something. No doubt, trying to ask if there was spaghetti, seeing how the couple ad former king were doing, or fetching something for Frisk, Sans, or Toriel without them even asking. Sans nervously sipped his cup, trying to avoid the clatter against his teeth, “ Which one?”

“ Both... Frisk looks so much like my adopted child but is as sweet as my son. And Flowey… Something about him… Reminds me of my adopted child with a mix of my son as well… It’s so strange…” She sighed before leaning back in her chair to think to herself. “ If only I could remember the older days better… All I can recall is when we brought in the fallen child. I can't remember if dear Asriel had any other friends or not.”

“ heh… i-I don’t know, why he wouldn’t? i-I mean he was the uhm… prince right? look tori… uhm, i’m not sure how to say this, but… how could you not remember?”
“ Ohh Sans… After all that had happen, I blocked away all of those memories so that they would never come back to me. In doing so, I almost forgot my children in the processes. So many years went by that even Undyne and Alphys didn’t recognize me, nor I to them.”

Sans held the mug to his teeth again mumbling quietly to himself, “ i wish I could do that…”

“ Hmm? I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that”

Sans’ pupils quickly shifted around in a small fit of fear before moving the cup away, “ i uh said.. i wish you wouldn’t do that. hehehe, hiding our memories only makes it tougher on us.” He chuckled nervously before leaning into his chair as to hide away.

“ Ohoho Sans… Thank you.”

“ wha-f-for what?” Sans held the cup tightly in his grip, bushing the slightest of a blue tint on his cheek bones.

“ For listening to an old lady ramble.” She leaned over giving him a small peck on the forehead while her paw patted his free skeletal hand. “ For helping Frisk, and making me feel secure.” She smiled sweetly to him. It was more of a friendly nod than an ‘I love you’, but either way it made Sans squeak then tuck in his head into his sweater, his hood flopping over him. Toriel did this to many friend like family members. It was always just a peck with a thank you… Except Asgore. Papyrus would always say, ‘WOWIE.’, while Undyne would just rub the back of her neck and look away, slightly kicking her boot saying it was nothing. Mettaton would just giggle and wave his fabulous metal hand while Alphys looked like she would keel over. Frisk was just grateful and Sans would only go into hiding, internally screaming to himself. That only left Flowey… And she would never go near him.

Toril snickered at Sans who was in ‘sweater town’ as Frisk liked to it. When Sans got embarrassed and flustered which never happen too terribly often, Toriel found it amusing and adorable, much to Sans’ reference. However a thought crossed Toriel afterwards which made the situation even more uncomforting for the poor skeleton. “ Hm, you know what… You’ve told me that Aphys knew you as a child… Same for Unyne. Is it possible that you knew my son?” She curiously asked, making Sans choke on his cocoa. He quickly put the mug onto the small wooden cut out table and coughed, gasping for air as the goat monster patted his back.

Meanwhile, the flower watched the two from a distance and made a scowl on his face, “ Eugh… Look at those two… DISGUSTING…”

Frisk poked their head out from behind the pile of snow Flowey had gathered and perched himself on. “ Your only saying that ‘cuz it’s your mom.”

“ SHE’S YOUR MOM TOO YOU IDIOT!”

“ I don’t know, I think its kinda cute.” There came the flirty Frisk the monsters came to know after the first thirteen tries. Frisk smiled cheekily to the flower whose face had grown to be more upset.

“ Mehmehmehmehme!” Flowey mimicked their sentence in a stubborn little kid voice to antagonize them with.

“ I think your just jealous… Maybe you have a crush on him.”

The flower gasped and looked at sheer horror at his… friend/sibling/acquaintance/word not found? “ HOW DARE YOU ASSUME THAT! I HATE HIS NON-EXTANT GUTS!"

" You don't have to like somebody to have a crush on them. It could be like an obsession. You know, kinda like a creepy serial killer or stalker in a way, mister Serial Murderer."

Flower glared at the smirking child, " Don't you fucking sass me. And you need to stop watching that Identity channel with Undyne. While you're at it, stop watching anime with Alphys! It's poisoning your mind!"

Frisk puffed up their cheek slightly angered, but more of just annoyed, " Then I'll stop watching horror movies with you."

" BUT THEIR THE ONLY THINGS THAT ARE ENTERTAINING! Look, I just want him away from her! And away from you, you-you… YOU FLIRT!” Flowey shook in pure rage, only to get a smirk from Frisk.

“ Maybe that’s why you dream about him? Maybe I should tell him.”

“ Don’t you fucking dare you little shit! I will fucking end you!” Flowey spat out, whispering in a deeply hushed breath of demonic fury. His vines slithering out from the soul, curling up and lashing around like a pissed cat.

“ I’m a do it.” Frisk teasingly pushed near his button, but they knew Flowey wouldn’t actually harm them.

“ Don’t!”

“ Gonna’ do it.”

“ DON’T!”

“ HEY DUNKL-MRFM!” As Frisk called but, Flowey’s vines swiftly latched to Frisk’s mouth. Not horribly hard like to squeeze a grape, but clamped on enough for them not t say anything. Flowey grinned gleefully, his stem swerving around like he was putting on a tiny victory dance. To make matters worse he stuck out his tongue at the child who groaned in annoyance. They simply waited before pointing, making the pride filled flower stop and lean over, “ Aww, what’s that? Flowey got your tongue? Ehehe, sure do~!” He giggled to himself as Frisk rolled their eyes… Or seem to have rolled them anyways and tugged on a vine, only to point again. Flowey’s cheerfulness grew dull and into a furrowed brow, “ What?!”

He let the vines go and turned around to where Frisk pointed. Standing there was the humble lazy skeleton who was still in hiding mode… Only not blushing anymore, but looking nervous. “ Ah, the trash bag has graced us with his presence… The fuck you want?”

“ so happy to see you too weed. Anyways, I came over to see how you two are doing.”

“ Oh! That’s new! The mighty Judge checking in on me?!”

“ not even in your dreams sunshine.”

Flowey gave him a non impressed glare, clearly not trying his best. “ so what cha’ make there kidd-O H…” Sans’ eyes went wide as his pupils left him. Right behind the pile mound of Flowey’s shotty craftsmanship was a snowman that looked an awful lot like Frisk. Except their eyes were replaced with large red berries or seeds that had fallen from a tree nearby, while containing a large uncanny smile splayed out from a finger in the snow in one fluid swoop. Sans brought his hands together ad brought them both up to his bare teeth. The fingers cure around until his thumbs were all that were left, along with his pointer fingers. He took in a good deep breath before he pointed to the Snow-Chara, “ kiddo… love ya and all, but... W H Y did you make that…?”

Frisk smiled calmly to Sans, walking to his side and pulling him along to where both the Snow-Chara and Flowey’s mound could be seen. They quickly dug into their trusty pocket, pulling out their cell phone. They clicked a few things and gave it t Sans to hold. As the skeleton was now questioning why he had been given their phone, he could see it was on record as he saw the screen and the situation being played out before him in first person.

Flowey soon spoke up, " I am the Snow Guardian! Guardian of the Snow!"

All of the sudden Fisk slammed themselves onto the icy cold mound and spread out their fingers onto the snow, “ Snow Giants quiver before him!”

Flowey then turned to the Snow-Chara dramatically, his tiny head popping up slightly, FUCK OFF!” After that played through Frisk and Flowey both laughed out, leaving Sans more confused. Frisk walked over to grab the phone back and messed with some buttons before handing it over to a small slim vine strand for Fowey to see.
Sans looked to and back from them both and shook his skull, “ you need to get off the internet kiddo.” He chuckled to himself, turning around, taking is leave. However he could hear them fairly well with his short distance. Flowey had said the same except the snow was now changed to The Underground. And snow giants were clearly called Chara. This made the skeleton stop dead in his tracks, looking over to catch Flowey’s line and catching their act while the Snow-Chara broke apart once vines sprouted out of the snowman. Flowey high-fived the young child with a vine, actually thanking them for something. Sans stood there puzzled. Did Frisk know Chara like he did in the past? For some reason fighting them as Frisk was one of the only things he remembered after the resets, much like how seeing Flowey was normally bad news. And how did the flower know? Did he too fight the determined killer? As soon as Sans thought, came a snowball all too soon crashing into his skull with a gentle powdery splash of ice. He looked over to who had targeted him and spotted the masculine fish lady laughing.

Eventually Sans took action and before he knew it, the entire family was back outside chucking snowballs at one another making the last few hours zoom on by happily.

Chapter Text

“ ooh! ooh! there’s one azzy!” Asriel quickly dropped to the ground, the small tufts of grass concealing him rather slightly. Sure he stuck out like a sore thumb in the mossy green texture, but that hadn't kept him from trying to be remotely stealthy in the long run.

“ Target sighted…” e whispered out to his skeletal friend who perched himself on a large and old broken down violet pillar that had long ago given way. Sans held a pair of binoculars, watching the young prince shuffle closer in the grass, eventually wiggling is rump and tail as a cat would in preparing an attack. Te goat monster then leap out from his very poor place of a hiding spot and swung down a small butterfly net to the grass that lay before him. He quickly withdrew himself from being in the grass and flopped onto his butt to see what h had caught in the net. Inside was a large and slender slug who wriggled around slowly, slime leaking out from the small holes of the net. “ Got it!”

Sans felt a smile grow on is skull, jumping down from his position ad jogging over to the caught prize. “ aw sweet! so… you gonna’ eat it or what?” Sans joked around, bumping is elbow to Asriel’s shoulder.

“ Haha, I wish! It’s really slimy too! Slugs are a close second and then comes grubs, but no can do. Mom knows which ones are sentient and which ones aren’t. It’d be like eating your fellow monster.”

“ aww man, ewwwhehe!” Sans laughed out, shutting his eyes and waving his hands down from the thought. “ can't you just ask them?”

“ Mmm, no, some are just too shy… And some aren’t to bright.” Asriel smirked slightly as he carefully reached in receiving the slug. Just then a deep hardy voice spoke out.

“ HEY! I DON’T MAE FUN OF YOU GUYS!” Both Sans and Asriel backed away startled. The slug who was currently being held up firmly by the tail of Asriel’s paw slinked it’s head upwards to them. “ Now put me down! I got a ride from a sweet lil’ girl and her spiders who will pick me and the boys up to go see the gaaames!”

“ O-Oh! M-My apologizes sir!” Asriel bashfully watched the older yet smaller monster talk to him.

“ But hey if you wanna’ eat someone, you can eat Mikey over there. He’s always leavin’ stuff in my traaash!”

“ Uhm… S-Sorry sir but I don't really uhm do that…”

Sans leaned over, smiling to the annoyed slug, “ we’re minors.”

“ The hell you goin’ on about Smiley?” The slug turned his attention to the skeleton.

“ we dig up stuff around here… oh but we’re also too young to be hit men.” Asriel softly brought his free paw to his head, holding in any laughter. All while the slug quirked an eye stalk.

“ Don’t be a smart ass to me kid.”

“ what if i told you, your handsome?” Sans’ grin grew as he could see Asriel holding back.

“ No need for a kiss ass too!” At that the poor prince burst out laughing, making the slug groan, his eye stalks moving in a circle. “ So what’d ya need?! I can’t be late!”
Once Asriel cooled off from his giggle fit he smiled to the grumpy slug, “ We just wanted to get a few pictures s all. My mom wouldn’t believe how big you are sir!”

“ Hmmm… You ain’t calling me fat right?”

“ No sir!”

“ Impressing a lady… Heh, ehh sure why not. Just make it snappy" And with that Asriel went off to the pillar Sans had sat on, fetching a camera from the side then handing it to his bony friend. The prince gave a wide fang toothed smile as he held up the large slug monster as the catch of the day.

Sans couldn't help but chuckle, " work it guys, work it." The goat glared lightly, but in an joking fashion since he couldn't help but smile, trying his best not to laugh from the stupid comment. Soon, Asriel started taking pictures. The furry prince loved taking photos or recording videos so that he could always smile back on the times of the past, sharing them with friends and family. Each picture was different and special in his soul and mind. Especially since the slightly older monster kept up the funny business with pretending the snail was a giant booger. Making the slug look much bigger than it was by putting it close to the camera and having Sans look further away as he held it up, screaming like it was some type of larger monster. And finally one of Sans covering the lower part of his skull with his sweatered arm, shifting his eyes side to side before unveiling the slug underneath his piriform aperture (That big hole thing where your nose use to be) mimicking the slug as a large mustache. After the pictures of making both of the children giggle, a slight skittering sound was heard from one of the halls nearby.

When they both looked up, the two were met with a horde of fuzzy black spiders weaving and bobbing around on the floor. " huh, look at that... ya know i thought the monster web was made out of code and numbers, but apparently it walks around on eight hundred pairs of legs." Just then all of the spiders stopped and stared up to him. Asriel being the timid monster he was slowly backed away to properly hide behind the skeleton. There were so many spiders that it looked as if a small patch of the purple tiled flooring had been sucked out from existence, leaving a black void. As a minute passed, Sans was starting to feel some tension, his normal grin lowering down. " uhm... can we help you?" The spiders just sat there staring up at him, making him gradually more agitated and protective for his friend's sake. Another moment passed before Sans' focus slowly made its way to look at the ceiling, cautiously he looked up to see if the spiders were watching something else other than him and Asriel.

" holy crap!" He shouted, turning around and tackling the goat down away from their original position. Asriel bleated out and stumbled back onto the tile with his friend, catching a glimpse of a figure dropping down to where they were. The figure stood up and turned around just now noticing the two on the ground. The monster was dainty, thing, and had a purple skin tone, making them blend into the background easily. As their black hair was in long pigtails, a large bow across their chest, and a somewhat puffy pink dress, their eyes met the others. The new monster's eyes could easily watch both of the children as for that was one of the more unique things about them. The monster had five sleek black shining eyes which stared at the two like razor sharp daggers. The other thing that made the new monster to be easily pointed out from a crowd was their six arms, the upper clasping the hands together, the middle pair folded, and the lower tier of arms were placed on their hips.

With another uneasy minute passing by, the violet skinned monster giggled in a cute harmless manner, showing her tiny fangs. " Ahuhuhu! Oh my dearies! I'm so sorry! I was just wrapping up some things before I took my friends to the snail races~!" Again she let out another innocent giggle, pointing up to the ceiling above, where there seemed to be a large crack with webbing surrounding the outskirts and eventually inside. " I hope they didn't frighten you too much, they were only waiting for little ol' me is all~!"

Both boy sighed in relief and stood up, dusting their clothes off from any dirt that may have been swept onto. Sans eyes the crack in the ceiling, wondering how neither of the two even noticed it when walking down the hallway. " hehehe... wrapped, i get it." He smiled brightly only to meet the new monster's confused look.
" HEY! There's my ride!" Blurted out the large slug which Sans completely forgot about as he held it in his hands. Sans reached out for the spider like monster to take and put it into a basket. They then put the basket down, letting the spiders scurry into it snuggly, each making a cheerful squeaking noise. Not before long, the boys noticed other various bugs made their way into the basket, happily clamoring together. It was an odd sight to see none the less.

" so..." The skeleton broke the rather odd feeling in the air, " i'm sans, and this is asriel. say hi azzy."

" H-Hi a-azzy." Another confused and puzzled look came away from the spider monster.

" he's really shy around new monsters."

" Ah. It is nice to meet you my dearies~! I am Muffet!" She curtsied with her lavish pink dress, bowing her head slightly. She then looked back up, her eyes widened, " Wait! Sans? Asriel? OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS! Your Sans! A-And your-OH MY! Grillby has told me many things about you! And aren't you just the cutest little thing~!" She winked to the skeleton who just held up his smile. From how Sans was positioned, Asriel could tell he was internally screaming due to being called cute from a girl... or the fact that she was a spider. " AND YOU!" She pointed to the shy prince who flinched upon reaction, " Your the prince! Ahuhuhu, what an honor to meet you both! I'd love to stick around and chat, but I really must be on my way, toodles~!" She scooped up her basket and jumped into the crack above them, vanishing without a trace.

The two blinked and stayed still for a while from the odd meeting of Muffet who just came out of nowhere. " well... that was interestingly terrifying... you okay azzy?" Asriel's reply was only him falling over from the awkward and scary meeting. " yeah my thoughts exactly..."

Much later the two decided to rest nearby Snowdin right after helping the local Gyftrot, freeing him from the various knick-knacks the forest teens had thrown abut on the poor thing. Sans took Asriel to a small alcove that led to a small hallway full of echo flowers leading to a spacious small room where the two sat down. They started reviewing over what they had done for the day. “ snail hunting?”

“ Check.”

“ making a snowman look over the forest as the forest’s guardian?”

“ Check, though I’m sure the teens will break him...”

“ participating in that snow golf undyne and alphys made?"

“ Check. I still wonder how they even go that to work.”

“ pth, ‘they’? it was probably just alphys trying to make some type of sport activity she and undye could enjoy.”

“ Makes sense. Uhm, let’s see… Help Mister Gyftrot?"

“ cheakarino.”

“ Well, that seems about it then! Tanks for helping me out.”

“ heh, i‘m just surprised your mom let you come get me after what happen the other day ago.” Sans leaned back against the cool blue wall of the cave, adjusting himself before noticing Asriel hadn’t replied, “ erm… right?”

The white furry monster laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his scuff, avoiding eye contact, “ Nnnnot exactly… I was told to do this stuff with Undyne after she was done training… But she seemed AWFULLY busy and my mom MIGHT still be a bit upset with your dad and I MIGHT have twisted some words around…” He felt is cheeks burning u from guilt. He slowly looked to his friend, thinking that he’d be doing that creepy eye thing. But despite that Sans was just looking at him, is white pupils looking genuine and not boring into him.

The skeleton grinned widely and threw is arms to where he would have a stomach, laughing up a storm, “ hohohoooly crap dude! asriel dreemurr, you’ve gotten to be one baaad prince! ahahahaha!”

Asriel’s cheeks blushed slightly from the goat mimicking part, but couldn’t help but joining the contagious laughter, “ Wh-What?! I thought you’d be mad!”
“ w-why for?! you’ve just told me, that even though your mom is still upset over my dad, that y-you still wanted to see me! i thought after all that, you’d be to scared or too upset to even talk to me!” Sans soon whipped a stray tear from laughing o much. He honestly felt very happy to know that the timid prince had actually one trough all of this just to be with him. It made the skeleton feel special in a way.

The laughter died down as soon as Asriel clutched onto Sans sniffling and burying his head into the sweater. “ I just want to e with you again! I was s-so worried that I’d never see you again!”

Sans’ grin turned to a comforting smile, this kid really cared about him, almost to the degree of his own brother. He could easily figure that Asriel wasn’t sassy and would obey the rules when given. So seeing as how he broke them, meant that he was really determined to be with the skeleton. Sans wrapped his arms around his friend who was feeling conflict now that the truth was out. He used the goat monster and comforted him like he would wit Papyrus, “ shh, dude. it’s okay, it’s okay. your mom’s beef is with my dad, not me, okay?” Asriel pulled his head back, nodding tearfully to his friend. “ hehehe, you can’t get rid of me that easily, no matter how lost you feel, got it?”

“ G-Got it-“

“ SO THAT’S WHERE YOU TWO ARE!” Came a booming voice from tee d of the lit up corridor. Undyne ran own the way and panted lightly, “ I’ve been looking all over the damn place or you guys! Tori and Gaster are really upset! They thought you two ran away or something stupid like that! Hell they even put aside their differences and teamed up to find you guys!”

“ A-Are we in trouble…?” Asriel whimpered out.

“ Tch, why for? I caught word that Tori thinks this is her fault and shouldn't separate you from your friends, and after you guys explain to them what I’ve just heard, you’ll be golden!”

“ thanks undyne, you're a good witness.”

“ Hell yeah I am! Now let's get going!”
------------------------------------------------------

“ now let’s get going little guy.” The skeleton looked over to a small white stubby legged dog who was rummaging around in the room next to him. Sans watched the pup drag out a small bag from a pile of various junk that were covered in paw prints o dirt and snow. The dog dragged it out with its feet before handing it over to Sans, letting go and panting happily. Sans gave a small smile and knelt down to properly equip it onto the back of the dog. Once he had done that he stood up and viewed over the cool blue walls of the dog’s home and the one spacious room that led to it. Memories clouded is mind as he looked over to the glowing echo flowers. He sighed ad pet the small white canine, “ sure am happy I found you all those years ago… thought I’d go nuts without having someone to help me with papyrus.” The dog only yapped a bit and waggled its tail in response to the tired monster.

Sans led the small white ball of fur out of the small cave and out into the landscape which constantly was seated in a layer of snow. As Sans trudged forward, to make his way to the dump, attempting to scavenge anything useful for his project, the white clump of life followed along, trailing behind him. It hopped around merrily without a care in the world, making the monster slightly envious that the dog had it so well. It wasn’t long until the annoying pup stopped and sniffed about in the air, gaining a distinct unearthly smell. It yapped at Sans, eventually making the skeleton stop and urn back to see the dog pawing at a lump of snow. The dog bounced around the lump, pawing very now and ten, yapping, and winning to get Sans’ attention.

“ what cha’ got there boy?” Sans asked, making his way over, kneeing to the lump. He gently pushed the snow away and soon felt something stiff against is bones. More and more snow was swept away carefully to finally reveal a frozen looking flower. Sans squinted in confusion, “ how'd a flower get here…?” He asked himself, only to fall back as he noticed the flower moved. The gold flower quivered an moved its stem up to get a look at the monster before drooping back to how it was. The skeleton could sense this flower was in his nightmares and stood p to leave t or death. However the small dog bounced to him and barked wildly, almost angrily which was new to Sans. Te skeleton bit his lower jaw since he had no lips, looking back to the flower and sighed, “ you owe me.” He glared lightly to the dog who was whining out and squiggling on the ground on its side.

A few days had gone by before the ever constant darkness faded away as his eyes opened up. He was now in a cozy and warm home that looked very familiar. The plant groaned as his stem ached, he could've sworn he was in Snowdin’s forest biding his time to freeze to death, only to reset again. He didn’t want to bother anyone this run and eventually got bored. He wanted a nice quiet and peaceful death this time around, avoided throwing himself into lava or drowning himself like other times when he wanted to go out without too much trouble. Flowey weakly looked about to final find himself in a small clay pot with glued on macaroni around it. Instantly his made came up to, Papyrus. There were only a few times in previous resets that he settled in with the brothers. Most of them had the tall younger brother gluing some uncooked pasta onto his pot. Flowey didn’t settle with them all to much… Or did he with his parents… To many memories poured into his mind when that happen, making him long for the past, growing angrier and more desperate.

“ hey look who's up. morning sunflower, it’s past three.” A calm lazy voice made it’s way to Flowey. The flower looked over to Sans walking out from the kitchen with a bottle of ketchup. He gave him the casual plastered permanent smile and winked.

“ H-Howdy…” Flowey didn't want to waste time asking why the bag of bones saved him from the permafrost outside. It was either that or his brother found him instead, but he didn’t feel up to asking. These things just tended to happen to him. “ I’m… Flowey… Flowey the flower…” He drooped down, petals dangling around his face to hide is tired look. He hated his alias, but it was better than his true name. Even then, sometimes he didn’t even feel like he really was Asriel.
“ and here I thought flowers were suppose to be all happy and stuff like in movies. anyways, names sans. sans the skeleton.”

Staying with the skeletons wasn’t always that bad with Papyrus constantly getting irked by the never ending puns and general laziness of his older brother. Flowey could always find amusement in it. He just wised he could laugh at the jokes like he use to, but now they meant nothing to him and were just another thing to conceal Sans’ emotions. While Papyrus was friendly and kind to Flowey, asking him to join in any inane activities, Sans would normally just coexist with he plant, hardly giving attention. But when he did, he would always either irritate him or ask things, knowing well enough Flowey had something to do with the resets and ever constant nightmares.

One night however… was different. It almost made Flowey feel like he finally had a home and those who could even call family. Sans had popped in movies he found over the years and watched a horror marathon with the flower. Papyrus had actually made edible food and with asking Flowey over the weeks, had found out how to make snail pie. Flowey gave empty thanks since he could never really mean it or feel truly happy. He felt like he almost felt joy but always just out of is reach. Sans had even grown accustomed wit the flower living with them, nearly making Flowey feel sorry for the hell he put him through. But things always gave way…

That night Flowey stayed in Papyrus’ room, and grew bored. He was treated so kindly today which kept him up. So with a long slender vine sifting out of his pot, he randomly picked one of the skeletons books, bringing it up on the table. He flipped through pages reading tale after tale until he came to one that puzzled him. He glanced at the clock and soon poked Papyrus, making him turn in is sleep before waking up and yawning. Papyrus rubbed an eye socket and looked about in is silk light pink pajamas and cap, “ EH? FLOWERY? WHAT IS IT?” Flowy’s vines handed him the opened pages of the book, tapping the page over a over.

“ What is with this story? I don’t understand it.” It wasn’t as much as he didn’t understand it, but more as he couldn’t.

Papyrus took hold of the book and sat up, with Flowey looking over his shoulder. He smiled gently and pointed out, “ THAT IS THE UGLY DRAKELING. HE’S SAD BECAUSE HE IS ALONE AND NOBODY WANTS HIM. BUT SOON HIS FAMILY HEARS HIM CRYING FOR HELP AND THEY FIND HIM. THEN THE UGLY DRAKELING IS HAPPY BECAUSE HE KNOWS WHERE HE BELONGS.”

“ O-Oh… Okay, erm… Thanks.”

“ NO PROBLEM FLOWEY. GOODNIGHT." He smiled cheerfully, patting the flower before going back to sleep. Once the slim skeleton was back into his dreamland the flower sighed and lowered himself with the aid of his vines onto a small skateboard the brothers had gotten him. With the book, the vines pushed him along and out the door to the banister that looked out over the small home. The vines helped him squeeze trough the mahogany bars and tightened their grip, carefully lowering him down onto yet another set of wheels. After that, he made his way to the lump green couch and rested there.

“ can’t sleep?” Flowey swerved is stem to see Sans coming out form the kitchen with a glass of milk. Flowey hid the book behind his pot and only nodded to the other monster who sat down on the old couch. Sans let out a heavy sigh and brought up something e ad in his other hand. “ heh… neither can i… i know you’ve been trying to sneak into my room to see if I’ve got anything worthwhile to mess with, but the only thing is under my bed.”

“ Why are you telling me this?”

“ because after the time you’ve spent with us, I can begin to trust you a bit.” He leaned over to wave a small piece of paper in front of the flower. Flowey took hold of it, making sure to be delicate and turned it over to view a somewhat credible drawing of what had to be Sans and papyrus when they were much younger. In the middle was a drawing of someone only Flowey could remember along with the brothers. A doodle of Gaster. “ that’s us before, it’s all paps could remember about our dad. our mom died in the war, so we never got to meet her. dad… dad fell into the core… what happen to yours?” Flowey’s attention quickly snapped up to Sans, shocked that he’d even ask. Flowey just gave him a blank stare before looking down. “ i hear you cry at night… do you dream about them like i do?” The gold flower only gave Sans the drawing back as some vines could wrap around one another in a fidget. “ i know that's why you break things, and push papyrus around sometimes. our families small now and we only have each other, but we try our best to keep smiling forward… but if you want, you could be part of it. you could be our little baby bones, and we’d take care of each other.”

The skeleton smiled to the lowly flower, only to get an ignored response. The vines pushed along the set of wheels to the window and slither up to open it. Flowey wasn’t paying to much mind to open them up as he kept avoiding eye contact. But he felt his vines move, looking u to see Sans opening the window up and carefully picking up the pot, setting it on the window sill, knowing all too well that the flower either wanted to leave or think to itself. “ but… if you want to leave, you can.” The skeleton walked back to the couch looking over the faded colored in picture, “ i’ll remember you though. i remember everyone that leafs.” he chuckled out sadly, knowing the flower had left. Flowey however was outside, but clung to the wide of the house before actually romping into the snow. He quickly rooted himself into the ground and dug right under to avoid the cold that nipped at him.

He managed to finally pop up where that annoying white dog would stay when it wasn’t with the brothers or loitering somewhere else. Flowey looked at the echo flowers nearby, reflecting on the time where Sans first showed him the small hidden cave in the first place and how their parents thought they got lost or ran away. Flowey then opened up the book that he had dragged out from Papyrus’ room to the page of The Ugly Drakeling. He finally knew and could better understand the story. He couldn’t understand feeling happy or the concept of it anymore, but being alone in the world, he could relate to. He stroked the page of the lonely drake crying out for help, “ L-Lost… Eehehehe…” Flowey shook as he quietly laughed at his own demise. “ Lo-Lost ehehe… Ehehehehehahahaha! I'M LOST!" He laughed out manically, soon with the laughter turning into desperate cries for no one to hear as tears ran down, “ I’m lost…”
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“ Marco!..... Marco!...... MARCO!” Eventually the skeleton woke up from all the hollering ,slowly rising up from the couch to rub at his eye socket. He mumbled quietly, cursing himself for staying home to watch over Frisk and Flowey while the others were out preparing a movie marathon. Sure this meant that he could sleep, but ten he’d have to worry about that flower…He sat up from his warm seat and stretched, yawning out. And too soon came the young magenta and blue striped child who normally didn’t talk out much practically yelling. “ MARCO?!”

“ hey, hey, what’s with the screeching kiddo? you finally woke me up, which i will give congrats to on that.” He slowly clapped, smiling to the child who seemed to look distressed. “ ehh, what’s with the look?”

“ Me and Flowey were playing Marco Pollo and now it’s like hide and seek. I can't find him.”

“ did you check the compost?” Frisk gave a curious look. “ ah right, pretty sure he’s not dead yet.”

Frisk went into a glare when their dunkle could finally see their eyes for once. “ i’m kidding, i'm kidding! jeez kid chill out, we’ll find him. i mean, he’s a potted plant, how far can he go?"

There sat the ‘Best friends’ pot, tilted onto its side with some dirt spread about and scattered all about. “ okay… i take that back.” Frisk sighed and looked for clues with their dunkle, upon finding more bits of dirt leading to the window. Frisk tugged at his sleeve and pointed grimly, “ you find hi- S W E E T L O R D!” The two rushed to the window, looking about as best they could. Their home had two floors, and with the top floor having some roofing to where one could sit on. And upon examining the roofing, dirt marks were trailed to another window and finally off the side. “ ah shit he got out! and he stole from… which room is tha-he stole something from my bro and took off like a tree!”

Sans tended to stay calm, but it was always a cover. So now that there would be no more full resets, he could slowly come out of being the lazy non-emotional shell. Though he normally only did this around risk since the kid had helped him and his brother so much. And in turn, Frisk let loose their emotions out to Sans. The two dashed downstairs and darted outside to hopefully find where the flower dug into. Three possibilities popped up if Flowey was ever to leave home without anyone with him. One, he could be back in the underground. Two, he could be causing town mayhem and misery. Or three, he ran off only to grow bored and tired to finally off himself. With that in mind Frisk searched frantically for their friend, while Sans would rather not have the kid upset or Toriel angry.

Thankfully Sans let out a sigh of relief, “ oh thank god-found him!” He called out, Frisk running right over to see Fowey in the backyard near the two gardens, one of flowers, and the other filled with crops. He sat right there in front of the garden and right before a stone bench that looked over small fencing to view the small town below their hill, with Mount Everett out in the distance, as well as the lake. Frisk ran over to the flower’s side dropping down to their knees, clearly worried about him. He flinched once they poked him since he didn’t move or acknowledge them. His mind was concentrated on a book sprawled out before him. With the touch a vine slammed the book up while it’s owner hissed out to Frisk.

“ WHAT?!”

“ kiddo was looking for you buttercup.”

“ Stay out of this trash bag! AND DON’ CALL ME BUTTERCUP! I Hate those things…”

"no idea flowers could be racist-“

“ SHUT UP! Anyways I’m busy, so go screw off! The two of y-“ Flowey was stunned suddenly as Frisk wrapped their arms around him as best they could.
They let out a small whine, “ you really worried frisk. they acted like they'd never get to see you again or something.” Flowey closed his mouth and sighed, not really knowing how to deal with this. Again, Frisk was the only who truly cared about the cruel flower.

“ Frisk… I’m not going to leave you… I-I… I promise… You know that right?” Frisk let go and nodded sadly before smiling in a concerned manner. Sans raised a non-existent brow, this peeking his curiosity. Since when did Flowey behave this way?

“ heh… a promise from you? not to be rude, but I’ve seen more promising things from i can’t believe it’s butter.”

Flowey growled out and glared, “ WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW ABOUT PROMISES?! ME AND FISK MADE A PINKY PROMISE! SO BUTT OUT!” Frisk patted the flower trying to calm him down. They hated when Flowey got riled up about certain things, this being one of them. Looking back on it, it took them a long time to get him to promise things.

“ how could you, when you don’t have a pinky?” Grinned Sans.

“ It’s the wording and promise that matters! Not like you would know you dirty liar!” This actually shocked the skeleton. He knew Flowey knew more than he let on, but W did he know that in particular. ”And I’m not having another be broken again-I’M GOING TO THE HOUSE!” He yelled out and dug himself into the dirt to pop up back at the house’s porch, seething with rage.

“ … what’s he mean not again?” Frisk looked to their dunkle, wanting to answer but instead shook their head and shrugged.

Once the rest of the family got home, the smell of fire magic popping food, popped corn wafted through the home, filing the air with the aroma. Each family member had picked out a movie, aside from Sans and Flowey. Sans didn’t really choose and would just lazily grab a video and popped it in. While Flowey’s were strictly horror based only, which wasn’t really approved with Toriel’s standards. As the family gathered around, sitting in chairs, the couch, or even on the floor they voted who would go first. Thankfully Alphys had thought of a way to do it fairly amongst them all. That was picking out straws from a jar. Whoever got the marked one that had been colored with a marker, won. It was as simple as that. And wouldn’t you know, Papyrus got picked. After he yelled out with glee as he took out the dvd box and smirked, “ I CAN’T BELIEVE WE FOUND THIS AT THE STORE! THIS USE TO BE A FAVORITE OF MINE TO WATCH WITH SANS! SO MUCH THAT WE EVEN KNOW ALL THE SONGS FROM IT!”

“ Oh my, that sounds quite wonderful.” Asgore commented as Frisk sat in his large lap happily holding a bucket of popcorn. They insisted Flowy to be held rather than the snack, but he only griped at them by the offer.

Alphys examined the cover and back while putting it in. She sat there still waiting for her and Undyne’s popcorn which was being made by Toriel in the kitchen. Undyne groaned slightly, “ This better have SOME action in it…”

“ you mean action as in action? or action as in action~?” Asked the ever grinning skeleton.

“ Wha-NO! NOT THAT SANS-GAWD!” He smirked happily as the fish went into her flustered mode, along with Alphys hiding her reddened face behind her scaly yellow claws. Asgore, Napstablook, and Flowey both sat there, trying not to think about it, remaining quiet, while Papyrus and Frisk were just baffled.

Mettaton grinned as much as the older skeleton and waved his hand, “ Ohhh! Sans! You scoundrel, you!”

“ Whose being dirty in there?!” Yelled Toriel from behind them, leaning on the counter table which was more of an island in the kitchen, overlooking the living room like a bar.

“ SANS DID IT THIS TIME DARLING!”

“ did not!”

Toriel huffed, “ MUST I FETCH THE SOAP?!”

Sans quickly went into panic mode, " n-no tori! my teeth are clean!”

“ Better be!” Called out the goat mother who went back to cooking. Sans sighed in relief as Frisk and Flowey held their laughter form thinking about the last time Toriel caught wind of dirty talk from someone. Toriel wasn’t one to have dirty discussions near their child. She was fine with Papyrus, still curious as how he could be oblivious most of the times, especially with the flirty metal star around him. Undyne and Alphys tended to keep it among themselves, but Undyne would crack a joke very once and a while. While Naspstablook and the mighty king kept quiet and just ignored it. The worst had to be Mettaton, second Undyne, and then Sans. Sure the smaller skeleton was mostly just a pun master, but he would slip into childish behavior. Surprisingly Flowey never touched the subject. Sure he swore quite a lot, but he never went into dirty jokes. He found them to be revolting but would laugh if the joke involved Sans for some reason. Possibly it was to get back at the skeleton for always irritating the flower. No one knew, not even Sans himself.

“ anyways…. what’s the movie ya found paps?” Sans asked quickly to move topics.

“ SERIOUSLY SANS YOU CAN’T REMEMBER?!”

“ mmmmm, lemme’ check my watch.” Sans lifted his sweater’s sleeve up to view his wrist with nothing on it. “ nope.” He smiled to his brother who just gave him a look.

“ DON’T YOU SASS ME…” Frisk and Asgore couldn’t help but snicker from the two brothers ever constant bickering. Thankfully it was always a teasing bicker than an actual argument.” ANYWAYS, IT’S THE TALE ABOUT THAT TINY MOUSE MONSTER WHO GETS SEPARATED FROM HIS FAMILY AND TRAVELS THROUGH A BUNCH OF DANGEROUS THINGS, AND MEETS UP WITH A FRIENDLY CAT AND-“ Undyne quickly covered his mouth.

“Jeez spoilers much!”

“ oh yeah that one.” Sans nodded in acknowledgement, as his pupils gave way to look at something else that wasn't the TV or the box his brother held up.

“ S-So you’ve seen it a lot ri-right?” Asked a jittery Flowey. It was shocking to hear the aggressive flower stutter and trip over his words like that.
“ well yeah…have you?”

“ NO! I-I HAVEN'T BUT I ALREADY KNOW IT'S GONNA BE A SHIT MOVIE ANYWAYS! I hate mice, can’t stand them! Can you take me to Frisk’s room?! I also hate musicals! I don’t wanna' watch it!” Sans looked to Frisk who merely shrugged. His interest was again peeked by the sentient flower. And so Sans went to put Flowey on the table nearby Frisk’s bed before heading back downstairs as the movie started.

Eventually the film ended with Papyrus bursting into happy tears while Mettaton reassured him. Napstablook and Undyne both held back tears as Asgore and Toriel hid away to regain their composure. It had a good nice ending but it did effect the two rather harshly. This meant break time to refill on snacks or to calm down and whatnot. Only Alphys and Frisk thought of it as sweet, while Sans pretended to be asleep, smiling as his eyes were closed. Frisk went off to go to the restroom, thinking it was best for Flowey not to watch the movie… Although… How would he have known about it? Papyrus said he and Sans use to watch it all the time in the underground, none the less than from a VCR and a VHS, but how did the flower know? Did that mean Asriel knew? They would have asked their new parents, but they never wanted to bring up the touchy subject. All while everyone else said they never knew him or couldn’t remember due to being a toddler at the time made Frisk curious about Asriel's past.

Frisk knew Flowey was Asriel, they had seen it, and Flowey didn’t deny it in the end… So they couldn’t have ended like that odd glitching creature they stumbled upon a few times. From all the times Frisk had gone through peacefully, they still couldn't put together what that thing was. They suspected it might be related to the two brothers due to it having a skull of a crackled bitter skeleton. Of course they would never ask the brothers, again getting in a touchy subject…. They often thought if the siblings knew about that thing while no one else did. Especially Sans since he could remember the resets. If there was anyone besides Flowey that knew about that thing, it'd be their loving Dunkle. Things didn’t add up. Once the lone human was done they walked out only to meet Sans standing there at the doorway when the door swung open. Frisk instinctively fell back from the sudden startle. Sans chuckled to himself, helping them up, “ hehehe, sorry kiddo. but i know you're going to want to take your ’brother’ down to watch the movies and well… i’d like to know if he’s going to sprout out some more things accidentally. he’s a sneaky one, i’ll give him that.”

Frisk shook their head smiling to their dunkle. They were glad that someone was interested in Flowey’s odd mood swings lately. From the dreams to the whole shed debacle… It was new and scary for Frisk. The child only wanted to know the reasons to help Flowey, while Sans… Probably had his own reasons. As the two approached the room, Frisk stopped, putting an arm out making the slightly taller skeleton bump into it. Frisk crouched down and stealthy walked closer, putting a hand to their ear. Sans followed behind carefully, not sure if Frisk did hear something or if they were playing. However the closer they got, a sound was picked up.
It was… Singing… Since we did Flowey sing? Sans tilted is head, asking himself the question. They both stooped to the door’ edge, trying their best to peek into the small gap of the ever so slightly opened door. The voice didn’t match Flowey’s though… It wasn’t his screeching demonic voice either when he meant to be creepy. It sounded more gentle like a child singing for a chorus. And once Sans heard the lyrics be twisted up as Flowey's own version. He could have sworn his soul stopped it’s swirling magic around itself.

“ Oh somewhere, out there, beneath the pale moonlight. If only they knew me, and could love me tonight. Somewhere, out there, I am singing a prayer. That will see one another, in that big somewhere out there. And even though I know how very far apart we are, it helps to think we might have wished on the same bright star. And when the night rolls in and I start to sing a lonesome lullaby. It helps me know we’re sleeping underneath the same big sky. Somewhere out there, if love can see us through, then we’ll be together, somewhere out there, were dreams come true… Oh somewher-” He continued on like a broken record. How long had the golden flower been doing this? That song was from the movie…

Frisk turned around to see how Sans was only to not see him. He had teleported away, making the child sigh a bit. How did Flowey know that song? Frisk thought to themselves… Along with Sans who went outside to grasp his jaw and silently cry. All he could think of was someone he shoved out of his life long ago.

Chapter Text

“ GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!´ Cried out the fluffy young prince and his slightly older friend as the two watched the two hands collide and wrap around each other. There sat the two on a log while Doggo and Undyne sat across from another on two stumps, having their arms reaching out with their elbows resting on a smooth cold stone of The Waterfalls. Doggo’s furry thumb wriggled about on its side while Undyne’s smooth scaly thumb bobbed and weaved about. Undyne's thumb lashed out to the other trying to get a tight grip on it, only for it to slide away in the nick of time. The quick thumb soon wrapped around its opponent and forcefully pinned it downward to the hands. Undyne yelled out once Doggo was winner, “ HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!” She was completely baffled since their friends eye sight was poor.

Doggo smiled and chuckled as he corrected his sunglasses, “ Gotta’ predict the enemy. You just keep coming and coming. But your pretty strong, if you got me once that'd be it!”

“ Damn straight it would be!” Undyne snapped her fingers in agreement. Undyne might have been hot-headed but she knew when she saw a worthy adversary. Asriel and Sans both happily cheered for Doggo before stopping to look at the salty fish. Both grinned and rushed up behind her, lifting her up into the air. Asriel might not have been good at physical games, but it didn’t mean he was weak. “ ARGH! PUT ME DOWN YOU NINNIES!” ailed Undyne before Doggo ran over to join them, making Undyne bounce slightly cheering her for no damn reason.

The friendly feeling got the toughened fish, making her blush slightly, this catching Sans’ attention, “ hehehe, she’s blushing!”

“ I AM NOT!” She yelled out throwing her hands to her face to cover it as Alphys would. The three boy continued an laughed. They never laughed at her, and she knew this considering she had a big toothy grin under her now hidden and blushing face.

“ So?! I think I’ve seen Sans make the princess blush!” Called out a voice that wasn’t part of their group, making the boy look about, accidentally dropping Undyne onto the wet ground with a loud audible thud.

" ACK! Owww shit…” Asriel quickly knelt down and held out his paws, slowly healing Undyne. He was getting better with his magic, but still not too well. He often wondered if he really was weak or wasn’t learning it correctly since Undyne and Sans could use their magic with no problems.

Doggo sniffed the air and soon the husky pawed at his own nose, “ Eugh! Mace body spray!” He dropped down to rub his snout on a puddle to block out the smell. Sans groaned knowing it was that time again… The time when the forest bullies had nothing better else to do and went to The Waterfalls to hassle that poor bulbous water monster, Onion-San. However it seemed they got their attention along the way.

Frostdrake, Baron, Faunly, and Glyde had shown up, grinning mishviously to the other group. Undyne was the first to react as she jumped up in the middle of being healed,” The hell do you assholes want? Don’t you know the game for stuck up jerks is near Snowdin?!” Referring to the irritating mini snow golf game she and Alphys had made. The two did get to see how bad or good anyone was with a camera on a rock nearby, thus giving them the deserved reward from Alphy’s electronics. The two had caught the teens trying to play it and failing miserably. The only one who managed to be good at it… was The Leader.

“ Oh it is? Oh, sorry to bother you.” Baron politely said, turning around to slither off to the icy fields. Glyde swung his tail around him to turn him back the way he was originally.

“ Man, turn your bitch ass around, we ain’t goin’ golfin’.” Lye shook his head, redirecting the buff seahorse.

Frostdrake sighed and rolled his eyes from his friend or crony… goon? Anyways the point bieng that the fowl adjusted his sunglasses, “ So Faunly, what were you saying?”

The cow looking monster smirked devilishly and rubbed his hoofed hands together, making the ugly sweater move it’s colors about, “ Words have it that our man Sans can make princess Ariel blush~. Like holding hands and what not!”

The other three gasped and burst out into a fit of laughter and the ever obnoxious, ‘OHHHHHHHH!’. Frostdrake even pulled down his sunglasses for his eyes to actually view the group. Unyne and Sans stood their ground glaring at htem while Doggo hung his arm around Asriel’s shoulder, supporting him to not listen. Which honestly… Was fairly difficult for the sensitive prince. “ AW MAN! I can’t believe it! Sans COME ON! You can do better than that! Hell, get with Unyne! She's a girl!”

“ EW!” Undyne shouted out from the back.

“ Or someone worthwhile! And since when did you butter up dudes?!”

“ depends… since when did you leave the nest and made your parents upset to even hatch you?” Sans grumbled slightly. Being a very young teenager made him have confused feelings time to time, but whenever it came to being in a relationship, he tended to avoid it, not wanting to feel more confused. Sure he put in a low blow, but he much rather not get into that confusing topic… And now his subconscious was thinking about him and Asriel. “ great now that’s gonna' be stuck in my mind…” He muttered to himself quietly, no one else hearing him. Thankfully he could easily toss the thought out later like he did with most things that bugged him. And another thankfulness was that of Frostdrake puffing up to seem twice as big as he actually was.

“ WAT DID YOU SAY ABUT MY MAMA?!”

“ Sans…” Doggo whined, but the skeleton could be stubborn as Undyne at special given times, like now.

“ ohoho, so you’re a mama’s boy huh? guess that’s some good tidbit for your friends who like making rumors, huh?”

“ S-SO?! YOU DON’T E-EVEN HAVE A MOM! ALL YOU GOT I-IS YOUR BUSY DAD A-AN YOUR STUPID BROTHER!” Sans’ pupils vanished into darkness. Monsters could make fun of him, his friends to a degree, his father to a certain to degree, but… When one presses the brother button, that’s when shit would hit the fan. Doggo whined to himself, Undyne taking note of this. The fish pulled Sans aside by a grip of his shoulder.

“ Sans, don’t…” San’s eyes were still darkened socket of nothingness with a faint blue glow appearing from his left. Undyne looked directly at him in a serious and concerned manner. Undyne couldn’t tell but Sans was looking at her… He was staring at the bandaged up eye that he almost made her loose. He didn’t want that to happen again… Remembering all that he went through by accidentally hurting his friend, he sighed as his pupils came into view again. “ Don’t worry. I got a plan.” The skeleton tried to speak up, but just couldn't find it in himself to, so instead he just nodded sadly. “ GROUP HUDDLE!” She called out for the boys to come over. " Okay guys, when a force meets an immovable object without crashing into it? I'll tell ya! There’s only five choices. Choice one, you go around it, except, our object is more like on a bridge. Choice two, you give up. Choice three, we jump over it. Choice four, you pick it up. Or Choice five, you beat the shit outta’ it!”

“ … We give up?” Asriel asked, tilting his ea, making Undyne groan.

“ N-No… Anyone else know what we do?”

“ we pick them up and dunk them into the water?” Sans asked casually, smiling at the thought.

“ … No."

“ We jump over them and run off?”

“ NO DOGGO! We’re not running with your tail beneath your legs! We're gonna’ beat the shit outta’ them!”

“ you specifically told me not to..” San glared for a moment.

“ There are other ways~!” Undyne turned around grinning, “ Aright ladies! This place is my turf! So if you wanna’ get past us, we’re gonna’ do this my way! ARM WRESTLE!”

The other group groaned and grumbled among themselves before Frostdrake cooled down his feathers, sleeking them back, “ Okay… We accept! BUT! … We get to choose who we go against.”

Undyne bit her lip and looked to her group. The husky and skeleton nodded, eagerly determined to show up against the others while Asriel looked worried. Sans caught glimpse of the shy goat and moved over to whisper to him. As Sans pulled away, Asriel got a courageous look in his eyes, something Sans had said, struck fire into his normally nervous look. Undyne grinned, turning her head to the others, “ Bring it!”

The frosted foul pushed his floating friend ahead where Glyde hovered over to the rock Undyne had originally been sitting and stretched out his long muscled tail. He pointed to the fish, Undyne sat on the opposing rock and firmly placed her elbow onto the smooth rock like table once again, grasping the tail. Glyde snickered and gave a grin that was even larger than Sans’. “ I’m gonna’ wipe that shit-eating grin of your entire body.” Unynde hissed out, making the floating monster laugh out.

“ Bring it on, girly~!” Faunly pranced on over and looked at both of the angered fish.

“ … GO!” He called out, both fish like monsters putting their all into shoving the other t the side. Glyde was gaining a steady momentum, slowly lower Undyne’s arm the opposite way. Everyone cheered for their side, but it just wasn’t enough for Undyne. With the fish girl still not budging to be done quite yet, Sans pulled out his phone, calling up some special.

Sans walked over t his friend and smiled, “ hey undyne…”

“ NOT NOW SANS!”

“ sorry… someone just wanted to say good luck.” He chucked under his breath as Undyne started to break out into a sweat.

Just then Undyne heard a voice come from the phone that made her muscles lock up to where Glyde couldn’t move her. “ G-G-Go U-Un-Undyne!” Alphys yelled out shyly from the hone. Undyne grinned manically, Sans sensing a power surged through her body. She was determined to show the flying fish what for. Glyde’s constant smirk lowered down as Undyne took control, her and lowering his tail down the other side.

“ NNNNNNNNGAAAAAAAH!” Undyne screamed out with one more once of tapped in strength, she flung Glyde's tail down hard, making the rest of his body slam down into the watery ground, snapping his sunglasses in half. “ YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA!” Undyne cheered out, standing upon the rock seat an stamping her boot onto the rock like table. “ WHOSE GIRLY NOW?!” She hopped off and hollered as Sans handed her the phone to chat to the nerd.

“ so… whose next?” Sans winked. Frostdrake snarled an shoved Faunly over to the rocks as Glyde wormed his way back. Faunly gulped and pointed nervously to Doggo. “ doggo, you're up.”

“ Oh, thanks. I couldn’t tell since all I can see is fear.” The husky grinned to his skeleton friend. The husky walked over taking a seat as did the cow looking monster did who was shivering badly. Doggo cracked is furry knuckles and placed down his elbow. Is smirk went down so the other monster couldn't tell what Doggo was planning since the round sunglasses concealed his eyes. The smaller monster grabbed hold of the dog’s paw and gulped. Sans casually walked over and cleared his throat.

“ ... go!” In an instant as soon as the sign was shouted out, Faunly’s arm was already down. The cow in the ugly sweater blinked not even realizing what just happened.

“ I… WHA-But…. HOW?!”

“ Sorry you took too long.” Doggo answered, getting up and heading to his friends.

Faunly walked over to his side humiliated, Frostdrake rubbed his beak, fully annoyed. He slapped Baron’s back who slithered over onto the smaller rock and gave a prideful smirk, “ Yo! Sans my man! Let’s do thiiiiiis thang!” Sans just rolled his snow white pupils as Undyne handed the hung up phone. He tucked it into his sweater’s pocket and sat on the other rock. Once the two grabbed the others hand, Baron inspected his opponent's arm and laughed, “ YO! YOU GOT NO MUSCLES! TIME TO SHOW YOU SOME REAL HORSE POWER!”

“ hmm… your right, the only ones who’ve got muscles is Undyne.” He snickered as his fellow friend just flipped him off, making him laugh more. Again the small faun walked over once the two seemed ready.

“ … GO!” Baron’s biceps budged out, veins clearly shown as he tried moving Sans’ arm. Sans yawned and rested his cheek bone on is other hand, watching the massive teen not being able to budge the skeleton’s bones.

It took a full 3 minutes before Sans got bored of watching the seahorse not letting up. With a lazy smile, his left eye sparkled for a instant and quickly flipped Baron over and to the ground. “ well would you look at that… I’ve got a skele-ton of muscle after all. consider yourself wrangled there, bronco.” Baron dragged himself over to his group holding his arm acting like it was broken.

Doggo adjusted his sunglasses, " YEEEEEEEEEAH!"

“ Okay that’s it… YOU! ME! NOW!” He pointed at Asriel, making Undyne and Sans widened their eyes.

“ … Let me guess, you two forgot Asriel would have to join right?” Doggo asked, noticing the stiff silence.

“ Ahhhh fffff-shit”

“ uh-oh… we didn't think this through too well…” Sans nervously said while Asriel walked past him. “ a-azzy! you don’t have to do this!”

The shy prince looked over his shoulder with a sigh, “ If I don’t stand up for myself, they won’t leave me alone… And besides I can’t always count on you guys to protect me r-right?”

Sans thought about the incident with his father at the shed and frowned, “ azzy. y-you were just there at the wrong time, y-you don’t have to prove yourself-“
“ Sans, I’m going to be king someday… I need t-t protect my fellow monsters.” Once the two sat down Sans’ normal permanent smile turned right down with worry and doubt in crawling up his mind and back.

Frostdrake chuckled darkly to the younger monster, “ Wanna’ see something cool?”

Asriel timidly looked up to the monster bird, “ De-Depends…”

“ Oh don’t worry, you’ll see it and feel it after this. It’s going to be me, snapping your arm in two like a toothpick. Or you could run home and cry. I’ll give you chance.”

Asriel held back his anger and smiled, “ Okay… BUT FIRST! Do YOU wanna’ see something cool?!”

“ … I know you're playing me… And I do.” Frostdrake grinned eerily. Asriel took in a calm breath and concentrated. Soon his palm was covered in an orange glow. “ That’s it?” Asriel nodded.

Faunly examined the glow and poked it, shrugging to his more in command friend, “ It’s like just a tiny bit warm dude.”

" Whatever helps heal your broken bones or sleep at night..." Frostdrake rolled his eye and took hold of the paw. Just then his entire wing caught fire, soon his entire body caught in a light of harmless flame that freaked him out. He squawked ad ran to the river, jumping into it. Asriel smiled as his friends looked in shock. “ That glow just makes me feel better... I wasn’t expecting him to have actually showered in Mace Body Spray. It’s a highly flammable substance.”

All three were a gasped, watching the other teens fish Frostdrake out of the river. Sans blinked a bit,”… how did you know that?”

“ Easy, I use it when mom trains me with magic… And uhm dad had an accident wit it one time. It’s not good for monsters who can summon fire. So uhm… I guess no one told you Undyne, but you have another option getting past something. You could always just cut the rope of the bridge then use magic to get across.” He shyly told them.

Undyne was still a bit dumbfounded before she broke out of her stance and walked over to Asriel, grabbing him and picking him up over her head, “ I LOVE THIS KID!” Unfortunately the angered teens came back over, Frostdrake flinging himself to Undyne with his talons at the ready. As soon as Undyne saw the incoming attack, something smacked into the large bird, sending him back and out of breath. Everyone looked up to see the blue and green tinted monster be struck with a dull end of a large hammer. And that hammer was in the hands of Undyne’s very own hero, Gerson.

Gerson glared at the miscreants and forcefully slammed the heavy end of the hammer into the dirt, making the ground crack, “ YOU DARN WHIPPERSNAPPERS! YOU LOT BROKE MY POTS AND DIDN’T PAY OR HELP CLEAN IT UP! I TOLD YOU BLASTED KIDS NOT TO PLAY HERE UNLESS YOU PAY OR HELP! AND NOW YOU GOT THE GULL TO NOT ONLY COME BACK, BUT EVEN DARE HARM THE FUTURE KING?!” The teens fearfully fled, tripping and bumbling into one another until they were long gone. Gerson huffed and turned to the group, smiling gently to them. “ I knew you youngin’s were playing over here wahahaha! So I came by with some snacks. Didn’t know those pesky kiddos were here.” And with that, after many thank as well as some answered questions from the old warrior and group of friends, they all decided to have lunch.
----------------------------------------------

The blue sweater clad skeleton had found himself waking up at the table where his pet rock sat. He yawned out, looking to the clock, seeing it was still the early morning and that his proud younger brother was out on patrol. He scratched at the back of his neck’s bones, his eyes lazily shifting to his pet rock that had sprinkles around it. His eyes grew sad as he stared at the chunk of Earth. Picking up the rock, held it firmly and close to examine it, only to see it be a smooth stone that was easy for one’s finger to run down any side. The skeleton frowned, memories flowing his mind. Memories that he left behind so long ago… Memories that he made broken… Memories of despair and anguish. He smiled suddenly, chuckling to himself as he felt tears drop down his cheek bones and splat into a small, small puddle of salt water on the table. “ hehehe… no matter how much i try to forget them, you always remind me of them.” He sniffled before putting down the rock back in place, the whipped his skull with the soft sweater he always had on for years.

He rested his head back down onto his folded arms that perched themselves on the table. He stared at rock hollowly, seeming out of life to just give up on the world. The only true reason he stayed around wasn’t because he was the king’s judge… The real reason was to be with his brother as the two had never been apart, and yet Papyrus was always there for him. Sans found that it was his sole purpose and duty to be there for his younger energetic brother. Papyrus was the only thing he had to live for… The last thing that he could protect since he had failed at protecting and guarding his old childhood friend and father. He began to close his eyes to drift back into his ever going dreams of wishes he focused so hard on. And if not, he would be greeted by his nightmares o the past and the constant resets that gnawed at his core. However… He heard the slightest of tapping against the first floor’s door window.

With a slow opening eye, his white stained pupil glanced to his side to see something green tapping constantly behind the glass. The knocks were light, but ever going, making the skeleton groan silently before getting up and opening the front door. As soon as he did, his facade of a smile spread across his face, looking down to see a golden lower stick out of the snow down the porch's stairs. “ hey buttercup, what's up? well, ya know, besides the cave’s ceiling that is.” He chuckled under his breath as he stared up to the sparkling gems above embedded into the cavernous underground.

“ Ha, ha, ha… Very funny, let’s all give a round of applause to the comedian” Flowey dryly said as his vines slowly clapped, making Sans do a bow to an unseen crowd. “ Okay, okay. You've’ got your jollies, now listen! Before we meet up, I bought you a burger at Grillby’s.” The flower’s vines scooped up a small bag, handing it to the skeleton, making the monster suspicious and skeptical.

“ this is sudden… what’s the catch?”

“ Cause I don’t want to hear your stomach bitching at me!”

Sans shrugged, “ heh… actually thought for a moment you wanted to spend some time with me, seeing as your so lonely.”

“ I’M NOT LONELY! I-I HAVE PLENTY OF FRIENDS!”

“ tch, not by the way you stuttered there.” Flowey scowled harshly up to the calm skeleton, turning around to burrow under the snow and dirt below. “ hey, hey, wait!” The flower sighed bitterly before looking back to expect something amusing. “ look… we do this three times a week… but we never talk that much before we begin. how about, i invite you inside this once… i’ve got gummy worms.”

“ … Sour?” Flowey asked begrudgingly but peeked with curiosity. The skeleton nodded to him, “ … Fine.” It didn’t take too terribly long for Sans to and Flowey to find a clay pot, putting some soil into it from under some snow outside. After that the skeleton put the flowered pot onto the table where he had been sleeping, placing the bag nearby. He walked off to fetch the candy and some ketchup for himself and the ruthless flower, letting Flowey sit there alone with the pet rock. Flowey just waited angrily until his wandering gaze of the house met with the rock. As soon as Sans came back with a bag of the candy, he tossed it to the flower and pulled up a chair. Sans took out the burger from the bag and wrapper to bite into it, watching his ‘guest’, who at the moment stared at the rock, entranced almost…

“ you like it?” Flowey’s attention snapped back to the skeleton, now noticing the unopened bag of candy. As thin vines sprouted out from the soil to open the bag, Flowey glared at him coldly.

“ No! It’s just a shitty rock!” H said before shoving the candied worms in his mouth like a stubborn child.
“ hey, don’t dis my rock man. a friend gave it to me…” Flowey’s only reply was a angry grumble as he chewed his sugary magical food. “ anyways… why do you do ‘it’? i mean… you make other monsters go through it don’t you? are you like a sadist or something? why don’t we switch it around, maybe your secretly a masochist.”

Flowey sighed, taking a break from his snack to answer the skeleton who was now taking the time to eat his own food, “ I do it because it’s fun… I guess, or maybe it’s because I’m bored-I don't know. I’ve tried with other monsters but… Their too cowardly and weak. I break them to easily… You’re the only one whose fun to play with anymore…” He looked back at the rock and then away to avoid any eye contact.

“ you know… it's not fun, and it’s not a game. you can do other things, maybe actually be friends with people instead or-“

" I’ve tried that… Why do you think I keep resetting? I’ve been friends with everyone before, all over The Underground… But I just… Can’t.”

“ can’t feel any satisfaction, huh?” The flower gave a heavy sigh and nodded almost sadly in a way. “ maybe… maybe we could try being friends. just this once? it could work until i figure out something better…”

The gold flower shook for a moment before realizing he had finished is bag. His vines stretched out and wrapped around the door’s golden handle, pulling the pot to crash on the floor. Flowey then quickly pulled himself and his flailing roots to the door, opening it and flinging himself out to the snow. “ MEET ME IN AN HOUR OR ELSE! SAME PLACE!” He shouted out, burrowing into the Earth below, leaving the skeleton alone to wander through his mind.

Right on time, the skeleton brushed aside the reeds, strolling into the waterfall like garden that had been overgrown and fully of thriving life, along with many crab-apples growing from the two trees he had helped plant years ago. When he saw the two trees spread above the statue, always made his soul sting with memories. With a deep breath he walked upon the threshold to a nice small clearing. With his eyes roaming around the untouched place, a shrill voice popped out at him, “ Your on time! GOOD~!” His pupils shifted downwards to see Flowey, with his innocent cutesy facade on, as Sans quickly put on his own masked smile.
This was it… Three times a week the two would meet here, and the skeleton would have to go trough with his part of the deal…

It happened about a month and a half ago, Papyrus was making friends with Fowey who was telling him about a exciting game for the two to play. Thankfully Sans was nearby, noticing the cruel flower, always remembering if he saw it, it meant horrible things were to come way. The older brother unfortunately had to smack his sibling with a bone, making him pass out before the taller skeleton could agree to the flower’s terms. In order to protect his brother from a horrible fate, he volunteered to take Papyrus’ place. The flower eagerly agreed to the deal, telling him where and when to meet, three times a week to settle his game of blood-lust. Other than that, the flower promised not to harm Papyrus in any way, meaning mentally and emotionally as long as Sans would come to join his sick game. The game… was always the worst… The two would chat a bit before Sans had to go through with it… He was just glad that every time they played their part, Flowey wouldn’t kill him, and would fetch healing substances for the worn out skeleton. Because they both knew if Flowey went back on his word… he wouldn't have control on Sans anymore, which meant power for Flowey, as well as his own toy.

The skeleton shook a bit, not fully prepared since he had been thinking about a harsh past he tried to forget earlier. All while Flowey smiled brightly, “ You know the rules~. Sweater off unless you want me to tear it accidentally~. Same with the shirt!” Flowey giggled sweetly in a sickening way. Sans hardly parted with his blue sweater and nodded to the devilish plant. He took it off and placing it over the the statue, covering up its head, feeling like if his old friend was still here, to not see the upcoming display. With a sigh Sans removed his plain white shirt to allow the flower to get to his ribs easier. And it'd also be best not for Papyrus to complain why all his shirts were torn up. “ Hands up~.” Sans’ grin had vanished into a faltered frown as he lifted his arms u above his skull.

He closed his eyes, waiting for the flower to make his move. Vines spiraled up and through the gaps of his arms, twisting around his wrists, tying them together. All while more vines wrapped around his legs until they stopped below his hip bones. “ Just relax~.” Fowey purred, shifting the vines that held onto the skeleton to lower Sans down and slide him over to a large smoothed stone to rest his back against.

Flowey’s stem stretched over Sans as he unleashed his demonic grin hiding under the innocent cheerful smile, teeth sharp and pointed with hollow looking eyes with white pinpoints in them. Slender vines ran up Sans’ ribs to the tip, before pressing against them, snapping them here and there.
-10/600
-10/590
-10/580

Sans gritted his teeth intently, doing his damnedest not to scream. Unfortunately that's ALWAYS what Flowey wanted in the end. The vines tied around his wrists let go of one another, but still gripped onto to each arm tightly. Flowey hummed softly as one arm was twisted around painfully until a loud audible snap ran out over the flower’s hums.
-30/570

With the crack of his arm Sans couldn’t keep it in anymore and yelled out in pain. The arm was still intact but, one part of the bone was clearly snapped. The skeleton shuddered as he kept his eyes tightly shut, making the flower grin sinisterly. Vines shifted up the undamaged arms’ hand and wrapped around three fingers. Flowey began humming soothingly again as the fingers were bent backwards, snapping them in half one by one.
-10/540
-10/530
-10/520

Again San screamed out in agonizing pain, but it just wasn’t enough for Flowey. Flowey continued to hum as the vines kept around Sans. Sans breathed harshly waiting or is next event of torture, only to notice nothing came. He dare not open his eyes… But he suddenly felt cold… He was confused before he felt something scathing dig into his very being.
-50/510

Sans’ eyes shot wide open as he cried out, only to meet a nightmarish look before him. Flowey had taken the blue shimmering soul out and currently had his sharp piercing teeth on it. Flowey quickly let go as soon as he saw Sans’ eyes. He smiled evilly as Sans soon found his vision to be blocked off by vines slithering into his eye sockets. Sans bucked around and gasped out as the vines invade his skull. Sans absolutely HATED when someone messed with his eyes. As he wriggled around, Flowey calmed him down to a halt by grazing his razor sharp teeth over the monster's soul.
-50/460

Sans stopped his struggling as screams rang out around the lovely garden around them. Flowey took time to fiddle with the most vital part of a monster, sinking his fangs down into the soul slowly and steadily, letting the health drain down at a pain staking pace until Sans’ HP reached the 330. Flowey removed himself from acting like a leech to view Sans’ sobbing from the pain that throbbed through his body and soul. Flowey leaned closer to watch the skeleton have tears pouring out past the vines inside his eyes that squirmed about trying to find his hidden pupils. The sniveling the monster did under him, made the flower not feel bad per say…But… Something that he had felt when he first cried for help only to be crying to nobody.

Flowey shook off the memory and eyed Sans’ teeth. It always irked him how he could talk just fine without opening his mouth, yet he could do so when he ate or wanted to. Maybe…Maybe he could feel if he tried it like the people in the movies… With a sinister idea in mind, he nipped at the sore soul.
-20/330

Sans gasped out, letting Flowey follow up through his plan. A few vines slinked into his mouth before he could close it up, biting the vines without knowing until he felt them squirming around. Flowey yelped and winced, shaking the pain away. The vines forcefully opened his mouth, making the skeleton to try and bite back down again in panic. “ S-Stop that! I just want to see your tongue-And don’t bullshit me, I know you have one!” As a reply the skeleton shook his skull as best he could, only to have more vines invade his mouth making him gag out. With Sans currently choking on the vines, he went through with the order and conjured up his blue glowing tongue. All the vines slipped out but two that stayed at his lower jaw as a precaution. Sans coughed and gasped a bit form nothing being traveling down his mouth now.

“ th-the fuck, sunflower?!” He tried glaring, but with all the vines blocking his view, just made him sound angry instead of looking it.
“ SHUT UP I WANNA’ TRY SOMETHING!” The flower leaned in, remembering actors from movies doing this… And he had only done this once before… So Flowey was a bit nervous, but he had to remind himself HE WAS IN CONTROL. With a quick breath Flowey pressed up against San's jaws, kissing him, making the skeleton stop his constant small struggles that were worth nothing. Surprised, Sans froze up while the gold petaled flower slipped his tongue into the others' mouth, touching the conjured up tongue for a moment before pulling away hastefully. While Sans was still in pause mode, Flowey blinked blankly, looking to is vines. Flowey felt… Nothing… He frowned, disappointed in himself for doing something so stupid. It was useless, nothing to feel! He didn’t understand the whole fascination with it and quietly bit his lower lip as punishment.

As he looked back up at Sans, he saw the skeleton had a light blue blush across his cheekbones. Sans looked bothered… But not in the painful way, but another degrading way, which peeked Flowey’s interest. The flower's devious grin spread across his face, finding a new look from the monster who seemed irked. “ Hehehe… Why are your cheeks glowing~?”

Sans immediately snapped at him, amusing Flowey even more, “ N-N O T H I N G!” Sans seemed pissed, and Flowey didn’t even have to harm him or the brother for once! Flowey giggled, making the other bare his teeth defensively. Flowey laughed out, making the blush spread. The flower snickered before leaning back to his toy and kissing him again. Sans started to struggle again, but Flowey didn’t care, he was having too much fun humiliating the skeleton. Flowey’s tongue swirled around San’s like itself was a vine, making the poor monster whimper underneath him. He couldn’t concentrate well enough to make the bright blue tongue disappear, his thoughts were starting to grow cloudy.

With Sans being too depressed, and busy with his brother, he never took it upon himself to date anyone. And now that the resets kept happening, he could kiss that thought goodbye... Speaking of kisses, his mind kept pushing the FUCK NO button, but is soul felt otherwise… Conflicting emotions ran trough him before he just gave up and let it happen.. It was better than being ripped apart mostly. Even if it was just empty kisses, his soul whirred with energy. Flowey finally pulled back to gain some breath while Sans gasped for some as well. Flowey watched Sans’ expressions, never before seeing these new faces. He just watched the skeleton tangled in his vines before he looked back to the soul, wondering to himself. Sans felt the vine like tongue run up and around against his soul, feeling like warm wet sandpaper. With a sudden gasp, he quivered under the flower. Sans was finally at his breaking point," a-ahn, s-stop it!” He pleaded. He had only let one other monster besides his brother and father to ever hold his soul. For Papyrus it was to calm him down when he was said, Sans letting him know that'd he'd always be there for him. For his father, well that was always to make sure the soul was okay from the determination pills. The other time was... Just an experiment he noted. But it was not going to be disrespected by a damn weed. “ i said sto-oop it.” Sans grew more irritated. Flowey hummed to himself, blocking out Sans’ protests. But then… Sans put some pieces together… He knew that melody of that song! He only knew two monsters who ever sang it…

“ i told you to stop asriel!” In an instant all the vines withdrew themselves, letting the skeleton hit the back of his skull against the rock. Sans hissed in pain and sat up against the rock to have something to keep him steady. His eyes met with the demonic flower now huddled with slow weaving vines around itself, looking shocked.” hehehe… so… it really is you?” Sans chuckled bitterly, watching the plant curl up defensively.

“ H–How-“ Flowey spoke out in a much different vice, only to be cut off by his old friend.

“ figured it out after a while from us talking… the way you looked at my pet rock.. but what mostly tipped it off was your humming… heh… funny how we change and yet everything stays, isn’t it? So… you really can’t feel can you…?” He asked sadly seeing the flower grit it’s teeth together, looking all around to avoid the old worn out friend's gaze. Flowey gulped and quickly summoned up the reset button.

Sans painfully reached out, wincing as he forgot his broken bones, “ W A I T!” The flower looked over to him fearfully now that he knew his secret. “ wait… before you reset… can i… can i have some closure? please azzy… can’t i hear you one last time…i-i just want to hold my friend again…don’t leave me yet…” Tears welled up and dropped down, sliding against his cheek's bones to water the grass underneath him.

Asriel thought as he watched his friend cry out for him… Remembering how he had done the same for the skeleton long ago. Asriel recalled how lonely he felt and never had any closure with his fried before his own death. “ … Only… Only if you tell me a story.”

Sans smiled tearfully, “ of course azzy… any in particular?” He asked as Asriel dug down to pop up next to him, his stem stretching out so he could rest in his friend’s lap.

“ … I-I like The Adventure With Fluffy Bunny…” He curled up trying to feel love only to curl up to feel nothing.

“ of course azzy… but first can i please… just hear it one last time…?”

Asriel let out a pained sigh, feeling the tears drop onto him like dew drops. It had been a long while since he sang to someone, but his mother's lullaby still remained deep inside of him. " Oh let’s go in the garden. You’ll find something waiting. Right there where you left it, lying upside-down. Oh when you finally find it. You’ll see how it’s faded, the underside is lighter when you turn it around. Everything stays, right where you left it, everything stays but it still changes. Ever so slightly, daily and nightly, in little ways where everything stays…”

Sans sighed softly, painfully moving his hand to pet the bright gold petals. With a mild smile of content he readied himself, closing his eyes in a state of peace “a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call. the snake prince brought the fluffy bunny back to the castle. over time, the snake prince and the fluffy bunny became like siblings. the king and queen snake treated the fluffy bunny as their own, showing that the snakes had become omnivores. the snakes underground were full of hope to change over new leaves. then... one day..."
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The entire family was out an about at a newly made monster and human building for kids. The two managers of the colorful pizzeria were monster and human. The two had met up ever since the human’s boyfriend was kicked out for being manipulative and slightly abuse to the young lady. Thankfully she had met with a monster who treated her like a goddess, and with all the gold he had stashed for years finally came into quite a pretty penny. But the main thing was that the monster knew of Undyne, Alphys, Sans, and Toriel quite well back in the day since they had babysat his youngest brother.

As the family members come through glowing bright doors that showed off their handiwork, each of the family members and other families looked around at the pizzeria. The place was quite large for a restaurant. The walls an ceiling were painted that of the blue sky above wit sparkling stars and planets, the whole place being a lively space themed pizzeria. “ Oh my…” Asgore gasped as he viewed the carefully detailed painting of space surrounding him in beauty.
“ MIAOU~!” Called out a familiar voice to some of the family members. A slick brown tinted feline like monster walked over to them, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he sported an astronaut looking T-Shirt with baggy silvery pants. “ Glad you could pop on in my amigos~.” With a quick wink, he grinned happily yet calmly much like Sans did.

“ hey zack, looking good my fine feline.” Chuckled out Sans, receiving a bro-fist from the older monster.

“ Right back at cha’ Sans my man. Undertaker-Dyne nice to see you. Alfalfa, good to see you as well!”

Undyne gave a soft yet hardy punch to the cat making him wince for a quick moment. She then grabbed hold of Alphys, lifting the nerd over her head, ”WE’RE FINALLY TOGETHER!” She screamed out happily while her shorter and rounder girlfriend squeaked out, throwing her claws over her scales to hide her blush and herself from everyone.

Zack chuckled to himself, “ Man finally! Glyde owes me 50 gold now! Anyways, Mister D! Miss T! How we doing?!”

“ I am doing quite well Zachery, thank you for asking.” Toriel nodded to the old pizza delivery monster, where as Asgore stood away from her, holding Frisk in his arms.

Zack quirked a brow before leaning away, sensing some hostility, “ O-Oh… Erm I uhh see… AHERM! Anyways uhh… PAPY! Good to see you man! I remember when you were just the size to my shin man!”

The tall skeleton smiled brightly as he held the stubborn potted plant, “ AHH YES I HAVE GROWN VERY WELL! IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE YOU AGAIN! HOW ARE YOUR BROTHERS?”

“ Heh… Their doing well. It was pretty hard raising them without my Uncle around, I'll admit… Can’t believe he just up and ran out on us like that…” Zack folded his arms as his triangular ears folded back.

“ YOU HAD AN UNCLE?!”

“ Well yeah man, don’t you remember? He used to work with Alphys and Sans-“

“ I-I don’t really r-recall a family member of yours working w-with me…”

Zack blankly stared at the two, bewildered before nervously turning around and waving his arm, “ H-Hey SUGAR! Come meet some reeeeally old friends from down underground!” As soon as he hollered out, a blonde woman wearing the same shirt but with striped pants skipped on over. “ This is my fiancée, Sally Sugars.”

“ It’s so nice to meet those who knew Zachery back in the day!” She giggled, joyfully shaking some of the monster’s hand in a bubbly perspective. “ If you want we can chat, while your kid and… Uhm... Flower child go play games! I’ll even take your orders~!” She bounced about happily, making Toriel and Mettaton smile at how sweet this human was.

“ Oho, why thank you!” Toriel nodded, looking over to catch Asgore had already went to a large table with Frisk and Flowey, taking him from Papyrus carefully.

Asgore sat down at the table, gently putting down their adoptive step child down with the pot being held by Frisk. He smiled softly to Frisk, fussing their brown chocolate colored hair under his enormous yet delicate paw. Frisk smiled brightly with joy to their step-father while the flower seemed to just look about at all the sights and sounds. Frisk then took off with Flowey, only to pause and come back to the worn out king who sat alone at the table. The way Asgore stayed quiet to himself, with a small smile and spaced out eyes, tugged at Frisk’s heart. The old king never got to spend much time with Frisk even if they lived in the same house. Toriel hadn’t let up her deep grudge with him.

Frisk had even noticed Flowey become upset when he saw Toriel be a bit mean spirited to his father. But just seeing the former king like this reminded Frisk of the way they last saw Asriel… Sad yet happy, all alone to think to themselves. Since Flowey was too busy looking around, Frisk approached the royal monster, tugging at their pink shirt, “ Hmm? O-Oh howdy Frisk, go on. Go play.” He chuckled cheerfully. But Frisk shook their head. “ Oh? And why not?”

“ Cause they’ve got nothing better to do, so get your fat ass up and join them, I’ll watch the table.”

“ O-Oh… But Flowey-“

“ I SAID MOVE IT OLD MAN!” Frisk swatted the back of Flowey’s head in a ‘behave!’ manner before settling the pot onto the table and grabbing Asgore’s paw with both hands, pulling him… Or rather trying, only for him to stand up and follow Frisk as the young child led them away with a large smile.

“ THAT WAS SWEET OF YOU FLOWERY! WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY SOMETHING AS WELL?!” Papyrus asked as he made his way over to the silent grumpy flower.
“ I’m watching t stupid table so no..”

“ I WILL!” Undyne shouted out, stamping her boots to the floor and practically tackling the tall thin skeleton over as Flowey shot his invite down.
“ NYEH!” Papyrus cried out as the fish dragged him away. The lone flower grumbled a bit, being irritated until Alphys sat next to him. Alphys didn’t talk to the flower and kept eye on the animatronics on stage.

“ … They're not going to fucking eat you. You DO know that right?"

Alphys turned her yellow had to view the flower before looking back at the robotic alien creature singing their weird humble tunes, “ O-Of course. I just wonder what facial recognition they have. I might be able to spruce them up a bit a-and-“

“ SAVE ME YOUR NERD SPEAK! URGH!I HATE THIS PLACE!”

“ We-Well uhm… Y-You could go play s-s-something…”

“ I’d have to have someone walk me around, and even then like I’d let any of your idiots hold me! Where the fuck are the others! I rather not be stuck here talking or listening to your stuttering chatter.”

Alphys was a bit angry, but she was too frightened to set off the ticking time bomb of a flower. And deep down, she knew she couldn’t really blame him… It was her fault he was here, so she had to face the consequences. “ Tori and Mettaton are chatting with Sally and Zack. Napstablook stayed home, and Sans… erm, where is he?”

" sup alphys? blue skink got your tongue?” In an instant Alphys nearly fell off from her chair, clawing onto the table to not fall, this in turn making the flower cackle to see the chubby girl flip out like a cat.

“ S-S-SA-SANS!”

“ that’s my name, don’t wear it out. though i will admit, that reaction was sans-sational. don't think i don't see you eyeing the mechanical circuitry to see what they use, so go ahead and look.”

“ Sans!” She squealed out, letting the old friend and lab partner chuckle out. “ I can’t I-I’m watching the table and-“

“ bam!” own plopped a wooden rd with a suction cup at the bottom with a flag on top displaying out the number four.

“ B-But we can’t leave Fl-“

“ tori and metta are on their way over, it’ll be fine.” A calm smile spread across his skull, reassuring their chubby lizard friend. However before he could actually leave behind the two along with the table, he was being spied on by the sentient flower.

Flowy glanced over his stem and seemed a bit discouraged, “ Yeah, you heard him, it’s okay… I’m use to being alone…” The flowers eyes slide down to stare at the blank emptiness of a small reflection he saw of himself from the clean and smooth table surface.

The skeleton paused, turning right back around with a raised invisible brow, “ are…are you trying to actually guilt trip us?”

“ NO! I’m just stating t-the truth is all.” Flowey held a snarled look to bare sharp teeth, but something seemed to look quite otherwise than anger.

The lizard hesitated to even talk before she inhaled sharply, “ Sans? … Uhm uh c-could I ask a favor of you?” The yellow colored lizard monster nervously fiddled with her claws.

“ sure, I’m all ears… well if I had any-“

“ Sidebar!” The nerdy girl quickly wrapped her arm around the skeleton’s shoulder blades, turning their back on Flowey who watched them, getting aggravated to be left out. Alphys quietly whispered to her friend, jittering almost to a violent degree,” S-S-Sans, can… C-Can you go take Flowey to-to some games or something?”

Sans watched her skeptically, “ and why would I do that? if he’s going to be a little piss baby, just let him wait for frisk-”

“ They went to spend time with Asgore a-and as we all know, he needs it. He’s been down ever since he met up with Toriel. A-And… I think if Flowey were to actually spend time with one of use besides them, i-it might help-“

Sans raised a skeletal hand up to the nervous wreck of a lizard, “ okay i get it, but why M E? can’t you go spend time with the broken heart flower instead?
Alphys bit her lip with he large buckteeth, her claws starting to sweat while the scientist fidgeted about in one spot, " S-San! Please, you know he terrifies me to not end! besides that your the only other monster I know who can tolerate him!” That wasn’t the only reason.. But that would have to come at another time all together.

“ okay fair enough, but you know he hates me right?”

“ … I’ll buy you five bottles of ketchup.”

Sans’ eye vanished into the blackness of sockets, “ …” Alphys’ muscles stiffened up at the sight before his glowing right pupils popped up as he chuckled with a giddy smile, “ hehehe, god I love that trick. Anyways I was going for three, but that’s even better.”

“ SAAAANS!” The fellow monster cried out looking terrified, “ YOU KNOW I HATE WHEN YOU DO THAT!”

“ hehehe, sorry alph, i couldn’t resist.” The skeleton let out a laugh at his old friend’s expense and walked on over to the table picking up the clay pot.

“ WOAH! WOAH! HEY!” Flowly flailed his two tiny leaves wildly, looking more upset than usual.

“ oh would you calm down, i’m just going to see if you want to play anything. or you can sit here… alone like you normally say.”

Flowey bared his razor teeth, growling at up to the calm monster, “ N-NO! I-I… I don’t want to be alone…” The flower’s teeth seemed to fade away, his normally rage induced eyes growing softer. His tone was filled with hate but then suddenly lowered to a spoiled child. So Sans carried him off to find the maniacal plant something to do. He had to try and keep in note for the future to calm the hyper aggressive flower, was to tell him would he rather be alone? Sans couldn’t really understand why the flower never wanted to be alone in the first place. He was always so rude and snapped out to everyone, pushing them away. Yet at the same time, Frisk was mostly around with them. Honestly the damn plant wouldn’t even react to anything when the kid was in school, he just sat there by the window waiting like a sad puppy. Sans just found it to be… odd.

After asking Sugar and Zack what this game was with a table with ice magic on it was suppose to be, the two quickly figured the mechanics of the simple game. It was dubbed, ‘Ice Hockey.’ Then again ice hockey the monsters ever knew was normal hockey back in The Underground. So it was weird to see a long table made to be played with your hands in order to play it. The skeleton would much rather join in a simple game than letting Flowey anywhere near a whack-a-mole or any other game with the slightest of violence. Once that happen, Flowey would overreact and take it to a disturbing level of mayhem.

Unfortunately for Flowey who played his side using a vine was getting frustrated at his opponent who lazily blocked all his shots, passing the puck quickly to make the flower stressed. The two had been at this for a small while, neither ad managed to score. Sans was clearly too good at the game, and Flowey flailed all about to keep up and not dare loose once. And eventually the flower got tired as his eyes traced the puck slowly going to him, to block it and keep the squirrely thing there so he could catch a break.

His beady eyes went up to Sans, only to see the monster lean is arm on the table's wooden frame, laying his head down and closing the lazy look of his yes. And still, e wore that ever present grin. Flowey’s eyes narrowed angrily, seeing the skeleton was even pretending to be asleep on him. With a small grumble, the vine’s holding puck smacked into the normal one, actually making it be slapped up into the air and past Sans’ head.

Sans quickly opened his eyes, sensing the puck ad just whizzed by his skull by only a few inches. The game under them recognized that the puck was missing and rumbled slightly before sending out another puck onto the icy table. Flowey watched, fascinated to see the table react so quickly. His bored look was soon one and replaced with a ghastly smile of malice, his eyes targeting the new puck. “ Ooooh~.” The new puck flung past Sans again, this time making the skeleton stand up in a straight manner, watching another puck pop out from the side.

Flowey giggled in a twisted way, smacking the puck at Sans. The skeleton dodged it, along with the next, and the next. That was until one puck flew by and managed to travel across the building, smacking right into Papyrus’ skull. “ NYEAH! SON OF A NUTCRACKER!” Sans quickly turned around to see Undyne kneeling next to the younger skeleton who was now rubbing a sore spot on his skull. Flowey laughed out manically, as if this was the best ting he’d ever seen. He laughed so much that his ting vine had to wipe away a tear before he noticed a glare from his opponent. Suddenly Flowey started to swing out puck after puck, not even looking were they went now. Finally he stopped to notice there hadn't been any clattering noises and looked up to see the former judge hold them up with his blue flamed looking magic. Upon instinct Flowey summoned up his ‘friendliness pellets’. They didn’t glow or look sharp enough like they use too anymore, this being something Flowey changed. He would only summon these dull types to fling at people without actually taking off a chunk of health. It was the only thing that entertained him enough to hit someone without getting into too much trouble.

Flowey’s stem straightened itself then bent forward, grinning a twisted smile to the skeleton, anticipating him. Sans just stood on the other side of the magic enchanted ice with empty hollow eyes and his never ending smile. Before either of the two could let loose a puck or pellet, something quickly zoomed over in a blurry mix of colors. There stood Frisk on the icy surface of the game table, holding out their arms side to side with their hands up at each of their friends. “ Guys!” The quiet child spoke up, snapping Sans out of his anger and Flowey out of his desire to fight. “ Please…” Frisk turned their head side to side, frowning in disappointment to each dueling monsters. Sans’ pupils were back again, his right glowing eye slowly looked down as the pucks were all placed back onto the table. Flowey gave Frisk a harsh look but finally backed down from the child’s determination.

Thankfully the two had cooled down, Sans chatting with Toriel and Mettaton back at the table after everyone waited for their food. It’d take a while due to the large number of family members were attending. All while Frisk went off with Flowey and Asgore, sometimes letting the ex-king chat with the fish and young skeleton in order to play in the large tubing area with Flowey. In the tubing Flowey had to detach himself from is pot of sanctuary and wrap around Frisks arm to enjoy the colored crawlspaces.

As the food was almost done to be given to the hungry customers, the lot of them were able to look about a the prize counter, run by Zack’s middle brother, Japheth. Who was generally more grumpy than Burgs, making Burgs just seem sad an annoyed instead, which was justifiable due to working under Mettaton. But even he had found some happiness when heading to the surface and being roommates with Nice.

Undyne gasped out as she saw what appeared to be a strange eggplant shaped pink platypus with paws. “ I have no idea what that is, but I want it!”
“ Then go get more tickets ad stop failing from depth perception…” Grumbled the cat behind the counter, earning some words from the fish before she was pulled away by Papyrus and Alphys. “ Friggen’ customers… Eh?” s attention was drawn to Frisk who stood by the counter holding their potted friend. “ The hell you want brat?"

“ Hey we just want to look at your shitty prizes, but apparently you don’t want any business.” Frisk sighed and slapped a hand over the flower’s mouth, carrying him way. It was so bad right now the cat figured… Until the group came back shortly after eating an winning more games. He took up the tickets and handed out the prizes, rubbing his temples from dealing with people all day. Well until Frisk managed to somehow get in the back area next to him with Sans who irritated the cat with his puns. The mangy cat’s ear twitched before looking over and nearly flinging himself into the air with a puffed up tail.

“ AHH! HOW DID YOU GET BACK HERE?!”

“ hehehe, oh sorry… kid’s pretty determined.”

“ Ge-Get! No children back here even if my brothers know you or your family! I will put a damn picture for you not to be over here if you don’t get out right no-“ e was soon cut off by the child giving him a small hug, then giving him a plate of pizza.”

“ … Your brother said it's was your favorite kind, I'm sorry if my family made you angry.” They said, looking ashamed. Even if this cat was grumpier than is younger brother, the way Frisk apologized to him made his soul sting.

The cat looked over to Sans who merely just shrugged, the lanky monster sighed and knelt down hugging the passionate child, apologizing. After making him feel a tad better and knowing not all kids were obnoxious an thanked the cat greatly when receiving gifts, Frisk was given a music box that they declined, only for the monster to insist in them keeping it. The way Frisk could make people smile always fascinated Flowey… Why did it look so simple? Frisk always did these things without even looking for a reward of some kind. The flower deeply wondered if he was like that in the past… Helping out others for no reason other than to be kind and friendly. Well, he did remember it, he just couldn’t remember the feeling. And that's what gnawed at him the most.

So when the family had gotten their prizes they headed back to the table to snack on any remaining food and watch a movie the building had set up. It being about a bad guy slowly turning into a good one after seemingly killing off his hero counterpart, making him bored with no one to fight anymore. Flowey could sympathize a bit… Or well, just related to the feeling. Truth be told if the pun spewing skeleton wasn’t there, he would have gone insane more than he had.

As the film ran on, Udyne nearly screamed in excitement as her nerdy chubby girlfriend gave her that weird plush. Undyne had really wanted it, but exchanged her tickets for some type of anime figure for her girl, making Alphys nearly squeal out. Next was Papyrus who joyfully held up a new robotic looking action figure to put with the others at home. Asgore was given a huge cat, bear looking creature from Frisk from the many earned tickets with him, Sans, and even Flowey’s help. The old king cherished it greatly as he hugged it. The king however ad gotten Frisk a small purple ball like plushie with a tiny snout, feet, and puffy tail with no arms to be seen. Frisk snuggled it, upon tapping Flowey to show him. Of course he could care less. That was until Frisk reminded him to do something special, which squeezed out his determination if it could.

Flowey groaned dramatically, a vine slithering to the skeleton watching the movie with enjoyment. He turned around to view the child and flower looking up to him. “ sup kiddo?” Frisk shook their head, pointing to the flower, making Sans’ charismatic attitude lower down, “ yeah…?” Flowey nervously shifted his beady eyes before handing him a small smooth marbled looking rock, “ … you’re giving me a seed?”

The flower made an anguished confused stare while the child behind him giggled. “ No you idiot! I’m giving you a shiny rock I bought with left over tickets!”

“ heh, you know I’ve got a rock at home right? i think it might be jealous if i brought in this fella’.”

“ I was thinking more along the lines of your rock not being alone or a pet rock for your pet rock…”

Sans' normally lazy eyelids opened up a bit, “ that’s… oddly nice of you… what’s the catch?”

“ There is no catch! I just wanted… to… apologize or some shit, but if you don’t want the fucking thing then give it back!” Frisk threw their palm to their forehead. SO CLOSE! So close to not coming off as a rude little shit Flowey…

“ no, no, i’ll take it. i just hope you know, this will rock my pet rocks world.” He chuckled, turning around to watch the movie, holding the small pebble.

“ Happy?” Flowey glanced to Frisk, being rather annoyed by the whole ordeal Frisk nodded, pulling out the music box and sliding it over to Flowey. The flower questioned it at first before a vine tapped it. The box started playing out a comforting lullaby he hadn't heard in ages… The last time he heard it was the night his dear sibling died… Then found it in the hands of The Waterfalls’ statue. When he listened to his old music box play at the statue memories rang out. That had made the flower bitterly tear up the umbrella someone had placed there, drowning out the old worn box. Now suddenly… This new box sang out the old tune… The skeleton covered his face with his hoodie when no one looked, slowly making his pupils fade away, being glad that Frisk hadn’t caught him in the act. Memories bubbled up in the back depths of his mind…

Chapter Text

The wooden music box that was glazed over with a shining gold color played out in the room while Asriel, Sans, Undyne, and Doggo sat nearby in a circle. The young toddler skeleton tracked around the group happily patting each of their backs, “ DRAKE, DRAKE, DRAKE, DRAKE, DRAKE, DRAKE, DRAKE, DRAKE-“ He constantly went on as his little legs carried him around and around.

Sans sat near Asriel snickering, watching Undyne slowly loose her patience of the never ending pats. At first she seemed happy, ten bored, and now had gone into irritation. She’d never dare snap at her young friend, but he was starting to set off her anger which was always hard to maintain. She slowly gritted her teeth, closing her one eye to simmer down, he knuckles turning a light blue from her webbed fingers clutching so hard. Finally came the moment everyone had given up on as Papyrus patted the royal guard in training of dog’s back, “ PLANE!” Shouted the diminutive sized skeleton, catching Doggo off guard as he nearly tumbled forward in shock at the sudden scream. Papyrus laughed out giddily as the cane bearing husky scrambled to even stand up, letting the toddler get a long head start. Once finally up, Doggo ran after Papyrus through several rooms, scampering, stumbling, and tripping into many things along the way to get one touch to the toddler.

Sans pushed up his sleeve and stared at his wrist. “ … The heck are you doing?” Undyne asked, her eye focusing now that Papyrus and finally chosen someone to chase him around.

“ the time till paps gets back her, which will be in about… 30 seconds.”

Asriel leaned over to watch the… watch he had been expecting only to see Sans’ wrist connect with his skeletal hand with a marker making a crude watch on it, “ Uhm… Sans, you don’t have a watch.”

The fun going skeleton grinned over, “ it's just a little slow.”

“ THEN WHAT ARE YOU CHECKING?!”

“ when paps comes back ya dingus.”

“B UT YOU DON’T HAVE FLIPPIN’ WAT-“ Just then t clamoring of the two running monsters closed in, Papyrus jumping, landing on is belly and face before his arms and legs flailed about, scooting him into the spot the husky sat at.

“ annnd thirty.”

“ Whoa! That was amazing! How’ you do that?!” Asriel asked, his eyes practically sparkling in astonishment.

“ simple when you understand the perception of time.” Meanwhile, Doggo grumbled before poking the monsters back with the red tip of his cane.

Undyne squinted her eye to Sans while the prince tried to understand what babble Sans had just told him. “ … You’ve been hanging around your dad too much dude. Your starting to sound like a friggen’ nerd-“

“ PLANE!” Doggo cried out before chopping onto his waking can and high-tailing it out of the room, running along on all fours.

“ NGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Undyne screeched out her battle cry, soon getting up and charging right after the canine.

Asriel skeptically watched as the two other children ran off, “ She does know that this is just a game right?”

“ yeah, undyne doesn’t fool around typically, except when it involves alphys.”

Papyrus waved his arm, bouncing up and down from sitting on the floor, “ WERE IS ALPHYS ANYWAYS?!”

“ she’s working with dad on something.”

“ AWW… SO THAT’S WHY UNDYNE SEEMS SAD.” The small skeleton pushed his tiny mittens to his jaw, looking concerned.

Asriel tilted his head almost speechless at first before raising his arm over his shoulder, his thumb pointing behind,” That’s her, ‘sad’?”

“ ehh, think of it more like a salty water fish.” Crashing gave way nearby as the husky tumbled into Papyrus and Asriel, making them both lop over. “ over once to your right dude.” Doggo quickly scurried to Undyne's spot right as she caught up. Asriel and Papyrus got back in place and giggled from Undyne's reactions to failing at touching the seemingly blind dog. She snapped her fingers after her tangent was over and started to circle around with a wild look in her eye. She looked much more intimidating without those bandages covering her healing eye, being replaced by a black eye patch her uncle had found when scouring around the surface back in his day.

She gently poke each monster until she hesitantly stopped, making the group confused. “ you lose track there matey?” Sans smiled up to her, looking over his shoulder, only to be booped in between the eyes by Undyne’s small claw.

“ Plane.” She quickly ran off, making Sans get up, fumbling over his pants and oversized sweater. He took off sprinting to catch up with Undyne.

“ hey wait up, no fair! hax! shenanigans!" He yelled out, leaving behind is long scarf to which Asriel instinctively picked up to chew on, not being able to control this one action.

Papyrus blinked, not minding or questioning the older child chewing on his brother’s scarf and instead had a puzzled look upon his face. “ SHE-SENANINIGANS… NO WAIT, SHENANALAGNS. NO! SHENANEEGANS?!” The two older boys stifled with laughter as they watched the small toddler try and pronounce the incredibly big word for him. Asirel always tended to think Papyrus hobby was amusing. Trying to solve out puzzles even if it took him a while to finally figure it out. But he never stopped, and when he got the solution, boy was he just ecstatic! It was pretty damn adorable.

Doggo panted a bit, finely getting his breath back, “ So did I miss anything?

N-Not really, but apparently Undyne seems a bit upset since Alphys isn’t here?”

“ Ah yeah, that sounds about right.”

“ Then why don’t we go ask her to play then?” Asriel suggested, his lips perking up to a smile.

The small toddler fusses with his long red scarf, “ SHE’S WORKING WITH DAD AT THE HOUSE. IT MIGHT UPSET HIM IF WE ASKED.”

“ Tch, please Paps, your dad is an understanding monster, I’m sure it’d work if we asked him.” Doggo encouraged the young toddler. The prince however had his legs sit up to where e could hug onto his jeaned knees tightly, resting his head on them to where they covered up worried frown. Sure Gaster was understanding… But sometimes he wasn't really himself, Asriel knew this deep down from the other week ago. He was starting to agree with Burgs that Gaster was indeed scary, but kept that truth to himself.

Just then the fish girl jumped over, hitting the wooden flooring and slide over to the vacant open spot. Once there, she got up, pumping her fists in the air, reviling a reddish skid mark going down an arm, “ YEAH!” The skeleton ran over and put his hands n his knees, watching Undyne do a victory dance in place.

“ dang it! i almost got you!”

“ But ya didn’t~!”

“ i manta catch you near the stairs but you kinda slipped away.” Undyne’s victorious poses died down, her face growing into her normal pissed off look.

“ Just had to ruin it, huh?”

“ sorry to make your victory so b-reef”

“ JUST GO ALREADY!” Undyne screamed out, sitting down with a pouting face. Sans never hurt anyone's feelings, he just couldn't stop the puns or the life of him. So Sans started tapping each of his friends and brother, circling around and around until his skeletal finger pushed Asriel’s back softly.

“plane.” He chuckled out and took off running with Asriel lagging behind since his brain just now recognized the thought that just happened. The prince sprinted off not far behind the skeleton. He chased the other monster through several rooms, almost snatching Sans multiple times due to knowing his way around his own home. Sans was on the prince's turf, meaning he had to dip, dive, duck, and dodge out of all directions. Sans headed back to the circle of friends, his soul full of adrenaline. Even with Asriel gaining on his trail, he increased his running motion to leap to the blank empty space.

However he tripped over himself once he heard Undyne scream out in frustration. The slightly taller skeleton tumbled over himself and smacked right into the floor. Asriel ran over to his side and instead of tagging him, knelt down to help, “ OH MY GOSH! ARE YOU OKAY?! S-SAME FOR YOU TOO UNDYNE!” Asriel asked, full of concern, making him forget about their game completely.

Sans got up and clutched his forehead, squinting to Undyne in a fit of sudden pain, “ i-i’m fine-hey undyne what the heck?!”

“ SHIT! Sorry guys! It’s just I got a text from Alphys, saying she won’t be able to hang out with us for the next couple of weeks! NGYAAAH!” Undyne clutched her cell phone tightly, almost breaking in two.

“ undyne chill! we can talk to my dad, simple as that.”

“ Y-You think so?” Asriel asked in caution. His friend smiled as he held onto the goat’s paw.

“ course. c’mon undyne let’s go get your girlfriend.”

“ SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!” Shouted the already peeved fish who had scarlet gills across her face.

Alphys typed in a few things from codes, numbers, words, and any other scientific jargon she knew into her laptop she had brought to the skeleton’s abode. She constantly looked to a unorganized stack f papers before her eyes returned to the screen. As she sat in the main room, she thought she had heard a thump, but kept to her work. If her back hadn’t have faced away from the large window she would have seen a snowball splatter into the glass. Yet another clump of snow was tossed to the window. Then another… And another. Muffled voices were cut out from the immense concentration. She still kept her focus on her documenting until a large thud was heard, snapping her out of thought and falling off the side of her chair. Outside the home, what had been thrown this time was a small white dog that landed down into a chunk of snow like the snowballs beforehand. It popped it’s head out and panted happily, oblivious to what just happen. It then yipped once and hopped out from the pile it crashed into, wagging it’s short tail and walking off along its way.

“ you know when i said interruption, i didn’t mean an inter-ruff-tion, right?” Questioned Sans.

Unyne shrugged, “ Hey, not my fault it was scaring Papyrus and I needed to throw something. It was much better than a snow poff or a ball. Besides, look at ‘em! He’s walking it off!”

Doggo and Asriel seemed rather distraught that Undyne had thrown the annoying pup at the window, but Undyne had some fair points as it was unharmed. Sans held up his baby brother who was scared by the small dog and was now clutching onto Sans tightly. The front door creaked open as the meek lizard walked out shyly in her winter set up, “ G-G-Guys, wh-what are you d-d-doing here?!”

“ we came to talk to my dad so you won’t be so busy.”

“ WHAT?! O–Oh! N-No! Nonononono-“

Sans only walked by her, walking into his home, followed by the rest, making Alphys sigh and close the door. “ my house alph, my rules-

" ISN'T IT ACTUALLY DADS HOUSE?

" well, it doesn’t say i’m not allowed here, as well as you paps.”

Aphys ran her small claws down her cheeks, “ You don’t understand! We’re in the middle of break through!”

“ What could be more important than being with us?!” Undyne asked in a rather upset tone. It seemed like a mixture of anger and sadness.
Just then a slam was heard from around the back of the festive looking home. Gaster in his lab coat came over in from the front door and folded is arms, taping his shoe impatiently. “ Why are you all here? Sans, I told you, we would be very busy today! Go on! Get, get, out with you all now!” Asriel scooped up the toddler and hurried outside while Doggo followed him onto to run into the wall.

“ ACK! FFFFF-I’m okay!” The husky adjusted his now tilted sunglasses back to normal and ran out.

“ I’m not leaving!” Undyne stubbornly made clear as her one eye stared at the equal glare of the scientist.

Outside Asriel had put the toddler down, resting his paw to Doggo to see how hurt he was. Papyrus looked around before speaking up, “ WAIT WHERE’S UNDYNE AND SANS?” Before either could answer the bundled up toddler, the front door opened back up, Undyne quite literally being tossed out from the house and into a pile of snow. “ OH… NEVER-MIND I FOUND UNDYNE!”

Back inside the two skeleton glared lightly to each other, Gaster knew Sans wouldn't leave until he talked with him. All while Alphys nervously and uncomfortably watched the two, shifting her eyes from one to the other. “ i know you guys are busy dad, but alphys is still a teenager-"

“ T-Technically a minor, making me still a kid.”

“ as i said a teenager. she can’t be cooped up with formulas everyday! that's like you training me every day, she needs breaks!”

“ Urgh, do you not think I know that? If she is to become the royal scientist that I’m teaching her to become, she won’t be able to take after me like you as a judge Sans. We are in the middle of a new discovery that could benefit us all! So please, just leave it to us.”

“ … depends on what it is.”

“ A device that can bend time and space apart, letting someone to travel into the past in a portal, passing through a void and ending up back years ago. As well as a high functioning machine that will help the core work more properly than being unstable and fragmented”

“ … so a time machine?”

“ No, just a device that can restart a position in time, shifting the capabilities that we are limited to.”

“ still sounds like time travel to me… so that’s what you two have been doing?”

“ We-W-Well we–we also have to maintain the pressure and measurements of the c-core’s activity to spread power throughout the entire underground, building a stable source of the magnetic and magical energy. A-An-And with that being said, both projects need time spent on them and-“

“ i’m in.”

The both of the other monsters quickly turned to the young skeleton. “ What?” The two asked in unison.

“ i said i’m in… that way alphys can enjoy herself and you’d have another pair of hands and mind to help you around. sides you know i wanted to help our before, but deemed it 'too dangerous'.”

" No, I said it was because Papyrus being alone was too dangerous." But afterwards, Gaster put a finger to his jaw, thinking about the possibilities, Alphys stood there aghast, “ You-bu-BUT YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE NUMBERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE QUANTUM PHYSICS!”

“ yeah i do. i just didn’t start off with dad like you cause he couldn’t leave paps at the inn all the time.”

“ That is such a lie!” Alphys fumed head to toe at her friend, snatching a pen to scribble onto some paper. She then shoved it to Sans’ skull, “ Can you find the equation?!” She was a tad jealous, since out of the group she was referred as the smart one. Sans took the paper and looked over it as Alphys rambled about. Only for her to fall short as Sans gave her the paper. She took it and read her obnoxiously large problem and the solution over and over again.

Gaster leaned over to examine the paper, “ … That’s correct Sans.”

“ I-Wha… BUT HOW? I-I COULD NEVER EVEN FIGURE THIS ONE OUT!”

Sans smiled suddenly, “ dad taught me. paps might have gotten mom’s looks but I got dad’s big brain."

“ It’s not that big.” Gaster frowned slightly. As he stood up he sighed, “ Well… You do tend to help me when Papyrus and Alphys aren’t around so… Very well. If all of us and my employees are to work together on this, Alphys and you would indeed have more time other than focusing on the blueprints and core. You will be my assistant much like Alphys, I hope you are prepared.”

“ hehehe, sure am.” And with that Sans started to help around with research and other science jargon, letting Alphys get out a bit more. Now that he helped alongside them, the time was cut by 3/4th, letting himself have enough time to train at points but also to be alongside his friends.
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The wind swept up some of the flakes of ice, spurring them into the air as a lone monster made their way to the canoe like boat, driven by the mysterious Riverperson. The skeleton carried a small zipped up duffle bag with him upon boarding the ride. He flipped a gold coin to the rower who caught it in their palm, their sleek and slick robe going over the skin for no one to see. With a simple sweep of their overgrown sleeve, the coin was put into a pocket before they tapped the boat. The boat hovered above the water suddenly, then sprouted stumpy wooden legs, with the top hilt morphing into a dog’s face. The Riverperson whistled, directing the wooden canine where to go. It yipped once before running along the water’s surface happily, letting it’s tongue loose to flap in the wind. The Riverperson watched Sans from their hood, covering their face just like their sleeve had, “ You know you don’t need to pay right? I don't need tolls.”

The skeleton shrugged, his usual smile gone as he kept a hold on the zipped up red duffle bag. The Riverperson slowly tilted their head to an uncomfortable looking angel, “ My… You’re normally not like this Sans… Is something distraught?”

“ just haven't been feeling well is all. just don’t tell anyone okay?”

“ You have my word Young Judge.” Sans seemed to look away regrettably when his title was called out. It didn’t take long for the speeding boat to finally make way to its destination, letting Sans depart onto the orange tinted soil, heat flowing out from nearby. “ Please, do take care.” The skeleton gave a slight nod before he left the boat behind.

The skeleton stopped at a large building fully made of metal, sighing he rang the buzzer. On the other side of the thick door, clattering and crashing were heard as small yelps of shock rang out from behind the door. “ AH! HOT! HOT! HOT!” Sans’ smile grew from the frown, always finding his old lab friend’s clumsiness amusing. She and very few monsters such as Grillby and The Riverperson were the only ones Sans could let them know how down he really was. Everyone else including his own brother got his constant grinning facade. The only other monster in the whole Underground that tended to get a mix was that lady behind The Ruin’s doors. He could have sworn he knew her… but after so many resets and time passing by, he forgot who she was, as she did to him. IF she knew him that was… He couldn’t figure it out if she had or not.

While in the state of mind of thinking about the lady in The Ruins, the heavy clunky metal door whooshed up, letting the skeleton snap out of thought and gaze at Alphys who was panting. “ where’s your coat? you know i’m not undyne right?”

“ O-Oh hush! You sc-sc-scare me and I spilt hot coffee all over me!”

“ can’t you just shed it off?”

“ Oh my god Sans-really? Y-Your going to start right now?”

“ eh, that’s okay, I peel your pain.” He snickered as the lizard gave an irritated look, her claw closing in on a red button.

“ … I’m leaving you out here-“

“ alphys wait! come on, you know i can’t help it! besides i uhh… have something… B I G to discuss.” Alphys’ curiosity ignited as Sans gestured to the duffle bag. She poked her head out, looking left to right, up and down before pulling her old friend inside and shutting the door. She waddled to a beanbag, sitting on it, pausing her laptop from her anime to listen to what Sans had. Sans followed her and casually sat on a squishy blue cube like thing, setting down the bag onto the table.
“ So… Did your brother br-b-break his bag o-or something? Y-You kn-know how bad I am at sewing-”

“ nnnnnot exactly. it's more of, he found something and while he’s out on patrol, i’d like some questions answered since i've got no idea.”

“ Sans, if neither of you know what you found, then how do you expect me to know right off the bat?”

“ cause you’re the only person besides myself who could theorize what this could possibly be. you're the smartest person i know besides myself.” He looked at her, his smile going down. Aphys knew this was genuine since his grin had moved down, his pupils growing soft.

“ O-Oh… O-Oh Sans… Tha-T-That’s so sweet. B-But I-I just mess up everything. I'm not s-so sure if I should help-“

“ alphys, you’re the only other monster I can depend on, so please help me out here.”

The lizard sighed deeply, “ Alright Sans.”

“ but first, i need you to get me something.”

It was dark… Darker, yet darker… He shuddered a bit, curling up until a small stream f light came into his sight, casting the darkness away from his small domain. Just then a zipping sound announced itself, the light growing larger until… He adjust is eyes from the bright light now outside his domain, a bony hand patted the surface of whatever his small sanctuary was placed on. “ come on lil’ guy. it’s okay.” A calm voice told him, making him back away into the corner from memories. The voice almost sounded like it use to when he was sad, scared, or lonely. Tears ran down his cheeks as he whimpered out. He knew he was just going to fool him again like last time. He was just going to get dunked again, he knew it. He spent this entire run trying to drown himself in The Waterfalls, finally falling into the water like he had many years ago. However this time he wanted to let go just to come back to his empty life. He had washed into Snowdin, the cold slowly seeping into him so he could finally sleep peacefully… But a hand had aided him-Wait a and was grabbing him now!

The skeleton pulled out a bruised and battered golden flower that shook violently and squirmed about. “ whoa, easy buddy, easy. we don’t need you breaking a twig on us.” Sans calmly said as he gently put the terrified amalgamation of a flower above some soil, where roots instinctively dug into. The flower then noticed he was in a cutesy looking big eyed monster designed to be a mug. The cup had a white round body, perfect to be a cup, while its face scrunched up against its body, letting a small dangling red orb wiggle around on a small spring from the cup.

“ Oh…. My God… S-S-Sa-Sa-Sans…” Alphys backed away, making her lean back, her eyes widened behind the clear glasses.

“ calm down alph, i know it’s a moving plant, but it talks too. but it’s got to be a monster right? though i’ve never seen one like this-“

“ Sans… Uhm uh hrm hrmmm… h-h-ho-how do I even explain this.” Aphys gulped as she scratched tea k of her neck, watching the golden flower try to shrink into the cup, trying to hide away from the other two.

“ … explain W H A T?”

“ Uhhh-Flowers need water! C-Come on and help me get some water!” Alphys nervously nudged her head to simulate going up the next floor to talk.
“ … okay, you stay here, got it?” Sans pointed to the flower, only for it to hide under its petals and shake. He sighed, feeling ad for the thing, even if something told him this thing was obviously bad and had something to do with the resets.

Alphys sat on the tiled floor next to her beloved bookshelf of history, scientific studies, and manga. Sans soon sat across from her, waiting for anything. After she somehow managed to calm herself from a panic attack-aka taking some relaxing herbal pills she gave a worried look to the skeleton. “ Sans… That flower is dangerous. It is not to be trusted or taken for granted-”

“ I noticed.”

“ Now I know you can be stubborn but don’t fall for it-wait what?”

“ alph, i know it’s bad news.”

“ Wha? But how? D-Did you see it do anything?”

“ let’s just say i’ve got my ways. now, you know what it is?”

“ I-I… Yes… Sans, that flower w-was an early experiment to try and see if someone without a human and, or monster soul could pass through the barrier.”

“ holy shit, you created life?”

“ In a way… I had drained the fallen human's soul, gathering all of its determination to see if I could do something… Anything-“

“ wait, you drained determination from… from…”

“ From Asriel’s sibling yes…” She curled up, her thick tail wrapping around her legs. “ Please don’t be mad-pl-please… Asgore didn’t want it to be around. He was afraid someone might snatch it, or he might do something regrettable-“

“ alphys…” Sans’ set his hand on her shoulder and smiled lightly. “ it’s okay… it’s… it’s all in the past, we can’t dwell on it forever. we just have to keep smiling forward. it makes sense… you were only doing what you were told and big ol’ king fluffy only did what he thought was right at the time. i think azzy would have agreed with his pops.” Alphys sniffled a bit, taking her glasses off to rub her eyes. “ it’s in the past… i just want to know about the flower, we can discuss that later, okay?"

“ O-O-Okay… A-Anyways, out of all the flowers I gathered from Asgore’s garden since Echo Flowers are too difficult to dig up, that one wiggled around. The determination brought it to sentient life… But once it fully woke up, it… it killed my three lab assistants. Ju-Just like that, then it escaped.”

“ yeesh… well anyways I brought it back and so far, it’s scared of literally everything, so it’s pretty docile now. but if you made it, maybe you can take it back-or better yet, i'll be here with you so we can talk things out with it.”
“ So-S-Sounds fair enough… What have I’ve got to lose?”

The flower guzzled down a large plastic cup o water, the two monsters sitting at the table, watching it. Alphys seeming more fascinated from a wild experiment going into a calm and more docile state. “ So… Y-You s-said it ca-can talk?”

“ I’m a 'he', tank you very much.” Grumbled the flower.

“ Oh-Oh! I-I’m s-so sorry-“

“ Flowey… Flowey the flower.” Flower sighed. Maybe if he was back with the egghead, she could do some type of science bullshit and let him have a soul again. It was a big maybe, but it was worth a shot.

“ O-Oh okay. We-Well I'm-“

“ Alphys the royal scientist and Sans the Judge, I know.”

Sans looked slightly irritated as only Alphys, Asgore, and The Riverperson knew his secret title, “ up to date, aren’t cha’?"

“ Not really… I just know things. Lots of things. Like how you use to be friends with someone and then shut them out of your petty life. Then they met the fallen child and everything went alllll the way downhill.”

Sans’ eyes were gone as that memory was torn open like a new wound. Alphys gulped, clacking her claws together, “ Erm… Fl-Flowey… Th-That was a bit blunt a-and rude-“

“ Don’t preach to me, I know what all you’ve done, but why say it, when I can just let the guilt swallow you up instead?” Alhpys recoiled herself and looked down ashamed.

“ okay what the hell buttercup? you were scared just a while ago, now you’ve turned into a prick-ly weed.”
Flowey sighed, looking up t the skeleton, “ Because I originally thought you were going to kill me. And well… I can't really say I’m sorry. I just can’t. I can’t be kind, I’ve lost the ability to love.”

“ wait, lost it? Alphys, did this thing use to love before?”

“ N-Not unless you mean gaining LOVE…”

Flowey rolled his beady eyes before morphing his face, staring at the two with his natural voice, “ Howdy.”

Both lab monster stared shocked, “ AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

After the initial freak out, they let him continue. “ When I died, I turned to dust. Most of my dust must have embedded itself into this flower. Chara’s determination made me desire to live, and viola I'm here~! Except… I’m empty. I’m only living by pure determination. Plants are living things, but they have no soul or sentience. Thus, I have no soul. You don't need a soul in order to exist in the world… I can’t feel satisfaction, happiness, pleasure, guilt, or love. All of that are emotions coming from love. And with no soul, means no love. Just because I don’t have a soul, doesn’t mean I can’t feel sadness, pain, fear, hate, or pride though. Nobody needs love in order to feel any off that. Pride is just embellishing one selves, so why would you need a good feeling for that?”

“ oh jeez, this is quite a bit to chew azzy… surely… there’s got to be a way to help you, right alph? …. alph?” Sans sadly asked. He had missed his old friend, grew up without him, and here he was… Only he was much more different; a violent, aggressive ball of sorrow and hate. He couldn’t really call him his friend again… But deep down inside, it was still Asriel.

The lizard bit her lip and began t explain, “ I-I’m sorry but… We can’t do anything… Even if we give him one of the souls Asgore has, it wouldn’t be enough. Chara’s determination… I discovered wa-was immense. No matter how many souls we give him, their determination won’t be enough to equal Chara’s. If we give him a human soul, he WOULD retain his normal body… But without the equal determination, he would still feel like he does now, and might grow more aggressive if we let him, considering his body would have matured… To equal Chara’s determination, i-it would have to be wi-with any amount of souls plus an addition of very monsters soul just to get there! O-Or… Or… Or a soul with as such determination as Chara’s… but that could take centuries…”

“ … i-i hate to be that guy… but… couldn’t we… put him down as mercy? let him finally rest peacefully?” Sans asked, watching Flowey who spoke up.

“ S-Sans… I’ve died many times… Chara’s determination is so great that it won’t let me go… Besides tat… I’m too scared… I really am a weak crybaby huh…?” Flowey for another time felt hopeless, lost, and being let down yet again just like he had so many times before.

Alphys quickly interpreted, “ W-W-Wait! How could you have died many times?! That’s impossible-“

Flowey had told too much... A glowing icon floated next to the flower’s leaf. The Reset button. Sans took action to snatch he lower only to be too late as the world reset, with Sans’ frantic voice echoing, “ A S R I E L!” Suddenly the echo stopped and all was quiet as Flowey opened his eyes to see his fellow lowers surround him in the garden.
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A small dainty knock arrived at the thickened metal door, making it echo the knocks back. With a flustered huff of noise the hand pushed the button aside from the door which lead into a smaller building nearby the large house where their makeshift family lived. On the other side of the door, clattering and crashing was heard as small yelps of shock rang out from behind the door. “ AH! COLD! COLD! COLD!” They hid a giggle quietly to themselves as the metallic door slide into the side revealing the pudgy lizard not wearing her casual lab coat. “ Fr-F-Frisk! You scared me! I even dropped my soda with the ice from my new machine!” The child gave a small shy smile to the monster who laughed at herself. Alpyhs had defiantly gotten better, enjoying many things, feeling like she could make a change, and even being able to laugh at herself. “ I know, I k-know, you're sorry. It’s fine, is there something you need or is… Is Toriel taking us to the karaoke bar again.” She asked as her eyes widened as if she was having Vietnam flashbacks, “ Because if so… I’m not sure the owner will let Undyne in there after throwing Napstablook’s angry cousin who visited 'cuz he messed up his words screaming at everyone.” The shook their head, smiling slightly as they remembered that time… Truly one of Unyne’s finer moments on The Surface with Sans taking pictures from his cell phone.

Once the yellow scaled nerd let Frisk in, she sat in a beanbag, while Frisk plopped right into another one, almost sinking in all of the way due to their size. Alphys giggled and pulled them out so they could adjust. “ So Frisk, what brings you to the lab? Is Sans planning on ‘borrowing’ my telescope again...” She asked bitterly as the telescope back at The Waterfalls he had taken without Alphys knowing it… Then leaving it there… Even after the move up…

Frisk again shook their head, making the lizard lean over from her original spot, intriguing her. “ … It’s about Flowey…” They looked down, rubbing their knuckles together in a worried manner.

“ D-Does he look sick? Is he getting the feeling t-to kill someone? I-Is he… Is he trying to run away or hurt himself?”

“ No.”

Alphys let out a huge sigh of relief, “ Oh thank God… Then what’s wrong?”

“ Is there… Really no way for him to have a soul?” Frisk asked quietly, tears bubbling up.

Alphy looked down in disappointment, “ … I’m so sorry Frisk…” She told the poor child what would happen if he were to obtain a normal human soul, and how he managed to finally feel when the entire underground was empty. Alphys was the only one Frisk had ever told about what happen and how the monsters were freed since they knew about her past with the flower from her old update logs from her hidden lab. Of course learning that Asriel and Flowey were one of the same, she became depressed. However with the full aid of the family, she finally made it over that hurdle.

Now back to the matter at hand, Frisk looked up in hope, “ Wait, you said if a soul’s determination were to be as determined as Chara’s then-“

“ Frisk it’s not as simple as that. We just got lucky that your determination was ranked with theirs and maybe even more. You can't just give up your soul, you’ve done too much for us. You would make everyone incredibly depressed. And before you ask, no you can’t give him half of your soul. Sure it will let him become normal again. But it’s not steady supply. Chara’s determination would eventually consume your soul up. Meaning you can’t just keep giving him some of your soul, even if your determination heals over time. It takes a long time for a soul to heal itself, no matter how determined you are.”

Frisks head dropped down, “ What abou-“

“ Frisk if there is anyone else in the world that has your and Chara’s type of determination, that person won’t just give it up. The determined of that kind are meant to not give up.”

Frisk shuddered a bit, recalling Chara wouldn’t let up until after their thirteenth run where they completely vanished from Frisks body. Frisk was still confused how that had happen. “ I wasn’t going to ask that… Is it possible to make something that could grow a soul if part of someone’s soul was put into it, like healing?”
“ No-I…Wait… You mean like creating an artificial container that has a small piece of soul in it to where it can mimic the soul it’s around, thus making it grow into a soul from gaining determination and thus making it a soul of its own?”

“ Sometin’ like that…”

Alphys pondered before she started scribbling furiously to a large blank blue paper. She backed up to gasp, “ If your theory is correct… I can make a container that can hold a little bit of a human soul. It couldn’t be placed beside that human's soul since it came from there and humans can’t interact with another human’s soul… But-But-But! If it was to be placed alongside a monster’s soul, the human soul could theoretically start to mimic the monster's soul. Though that monster would have to become determined some way… Yes… YES! THIS COULD WORK! FRISK! Fetch my cell phone! I need to call my lab buddies comprising of both human and monsters to go over this! THIS COULD BE IT!”

Chapter Text

Inside the den of the king’s cozy abode sat the normal group, either sitting on the enormous couch of t king and queen or on the floor as they watched the king of monsters himself preform before them all. The hardy king was in his casual wear instead of donning the crown having is magnificent violet cap to cloak his mighty form under. He tugged at the air to simulate he was pulling something while standing his ground, making the group o children ponder. Upon this visit, Undyne’s uncle was actually around, to chat with how the training was going. However Asgore was busy spending time with the group of small monsters, so he went to chat to Toriel before walking into the room himself with a sharp smile, watching the younger monsters play. No matter of what had happened in the war, the older fish would always did is leader and friend amusing. The first to speak of was Undyne, always being quite the loud mouth she was, “ ROPE!” The massive king shook his head, his beard brushing about when shaken. He then crouched down and pretended to pick up something even heavier than himself, struggling from its weight.

“ an anvil?!” Again another shake of his head. Asgore kept silent as he moved his enormous paws to his front, seemingly as if he was pressing up against something, sticking his lips out like a simple fish.

“ A WALL!” Squealed the tiny skeleton who was busy fussing with is overly long red scarf that bundled around his neck. The king’s paws were still smoothed out as he put them above himself and to the side, still feeling around an invisible wall.

“ A-A box!?” Asriel gasped, thinking he had gotten it, only for the king to continue, making the children confused.

“ O-Oh! Sc-S-Schrödinger's Cat!” Alphys smiled brightly until all the monsters in the room turned to her. Everyone but Sans looked puzzled.

“ WHAT’S A BOX HAVE TO DO WITH A CAT?!”

“ U-Uhm.. We-Well, uhm… A-A cat, a flask of poison, and a radioactive source are placed in a sealed box. If an internal monitor detects radioactivity, the flask is shattered, releasing the poison, which kills the cat. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat either alive or dead, not both alive and dead. This poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality collapses into one possibility or the other.”

Asriel gasped with a saddened expression, “ Why would you do that?!” Papyrus was too busy watching Alphy’s mouth move from trying to focus to see if he would understand… He however did not. Asgore just simply blinked, not fully understanding the small yellow lizard had just babbled

The gruff fish sporting a red tank top over his well toned and scarred up body tilted his head. His hand grazed through his stubble of red air while his messy ponytail swayed around much like his niece.“ … Okay so from what I just heard… If I KNEW anything you just said… I’d still be a virgin, right?” Sans looked at the darker toned fish, his casual smile vanishing as his eyes widened letting his pupils stare at him. Alphys’ jaw dropped a her face bloomed to a deep crimson while the younger fish threw a pillow at him, making him chuckle when he was hit.

“ Trogle! Not in front of the children! You know what Tori will do if Asriel repeats that word?!”

“ Wh-What word? Virgi-“ Asgore quickly reached out to cover his small son’s mouth.

“ Asriel, please o not say that!”

The gruff fish cracked up laughing as Asgore’s cheeks tinted a shade of pink from sheer embarrassment. “ Gore, mate… They gotta’ know sometime, and anyways, I doubt they know what a mime is.

Papyrus looked to the king and confused prince, “ Is mime a bad word?”

Asgore sighed and pulled his paw away, “ No little one, it is not.”

Undyne elbowed her skeletal friend and the pudgy girl, “ Pst! What’s a mime?” The two eggheads looked at one another before shrugging. “ Aw come on! You two are the know it alls! UNCLE TROGLE!”

“ It’s a human that wears a striped shirt, a white painted face with sissy rosy cheeks and black overalls. They often wear a stuuuuupid hat and don’t talk. All they do is do stupid shit like pretending to be in box or something.”

The children blinked before Undyne’s thought process triggered from the mental image, “ THAT’S STUPID!”

Asgore sighed and sat onto his own personal chair, “ Okay, okay, calm down now. Undyne, why don’t you go.” He smiled gently to the young aggressive fish who gave a toothy grin, hopping down from the couch.

She got onto all fours and began furiously snapping up at the air, growling here and there from the display. “ OOH! OOH! A LADYBUG!”

Again silence as they looked at the small toddler. Trogle now standing behind the couch to rest his finned arms, “ What kinda ladybugs you been seein’ kiddo?”

Sans rolled his eyes in a happy manner, his smile back to itself as he patted his brother’s back, “ paps… that was a migosp.”

“ STILL LOOKED LIKE AN ANGRY LADYBUG TO ME…” Papyrus quietly said, pouting as he didn’t get it right.

Asgore scratched his golden beard, “ Uhm. A shark monster?” Undyne shook her head, but not while chomping her sharp teeth down, shaking her head to pretend she had caught something in it.

Trogle squinted to the king, “ That’s racist-“

“ Oh hush!” Asgore quietly shushed the long time warrior.

“ A-An angry dog?” Squeaked Asriel, only to receive more growling.

Sans cracked his knuckles as his smile grew, Undyne stopping to glare at him, knowing e ad something planned up his sleeve, “ a jackal! jackal! it’s a jackal! you look like a jackal! jackal?! jackal! it’s a jackal! jackal!”

Undyne slammed her head against the floor from Sans’ consistent irritation just t piss her off. “ IT WASN’T RIGHT THE FIRST TIME YOU SAID IT, WHY THE HELL WOUD IT BE RIGHT THE NEXT TEN TIMES?! GAWD!”

Asgore ten put a fuzzy finger above his mouth to give a small glare to Undyne, “ Undyne! No swearing!”

Undyne pointed to her uncle, “ HOW COME HE CAN SWEAR?!”

“ Because he’s an adult…” Trogle nodded as he folded his arms while the king watched him, “ And he knows that he’s in trouble once Toriel gets word of it, that he cursed in front of you children.” With a devious smirk from Asgore, Trogle kept nodding until realization of what he just said kicked in, making him stop with his eyes wide open.

“ WHAT?! A-ASGORE HAVE MERCY!”

A chuckle was let out from the goatly king, knowing fully well that the great and mighty warrior that helped fight in the war was very intimidated by the queen’s motherly ways.

While two adults discussed the inevitable and upcoming ordeal Asriel’s attention went back to the younger fish monster, “ A piranha?”

Sans chuckled out, “ azzy, she’s already a fish.” The skeleton’s younger brother gave out a small groan form Sans being so difficult and not being able to really do anything about it. All of this making the already pissed off fish even ore flustered, her yellow eye giving a deathly look to Sans.

Alphys then spoke up, “ A-A-An alligator?”

“ Maybe a crocodile?” Asriel decide to team p with the other girl, shrugging. This made the flared up fish jump up giving them both her cheerfully scary toothy grin.

“ YOU GUYS GOT IT! … Though aren’t they the same thing?”

Alphys giggled quietly finding it cute that her equal scaled friend didn’t know the difference. “ A-Actually, alligators have a wider, U-shaped snout, while crocodile’s front ends are more pointed and V-shaped. When their snouts are shut,crocodiles look like they're flashing a toothy grin, as the fourth tooth on each side of the lower jaw sticks up over the upper lip.”

Trogle eyed the small nerd again looking stumped before pointing down to her, “ Gore… What’s with this kid?”

“ She is Gaster’s assistant.”

“ That explains a lot…” Alphys scrunched into a ball just a bit, her cheeks growing red from the attention of being called out for her brains.
Sans overheard his father’s name being called out, so he might as well make is presence known as well to avoid the toughened warrior to stop focusing from Alphy’s scientific terms. “ actually I was gonna’ join in and say, a caiman or rather a gharial.” Now the attention was place onto him letting his friend not be as flustered. Trogle just had his toothy mouth opened with an outrageous expression as his two finned hands gestured to the skeleton as he looked over to his king.

Asgore chuckled softly from his old friend’s reaction, “ That would be Gaster’s child. Alone with the little one.” The gruff fish just put his hands over his face, feeling like an idiot for not connecting those dots…

Undyne rubbed her temples as she walked back to the couch grumbling as she normally did. Once she scaled her way up the large couch she harmlessly but forcefully punched Sans’ arm. Sans just chuckled more as e rubbed he hit arm and hopped down to where Undyne stood. He stood there and smiled at the others with his hands eaten u by his pockets of the sapphire sweater. With that the monsters around him started to guess, resulting in not being correct. After several minutes, Undyne growled out, “ WE GIVE UP!”

“ aww, really? i thought, it’d been simple. i mean i’m all ready one.”

Papyrus for once knew the answer which made him a bit upset since he could see past his brother's bullshit, “ SANS… SANS NO.”

“ hehehe, sans yes.”

The other four participants locked onto the grumpy toddler who just gave a glare at his sibling, Asriel speaking up, “ Y-You know what it is?”

“ IT’S A SKELETON…” The bundled up toddler said, regretting it now as his older brother gave two thumbs up. “ THAT WAS HORRIBLE SANS!” The two girls grumbled while the goat monsters found it rather amusing, holding their laughter.

“ eh, could have been worse. could have been a fossil.” Sans merrily pushed his brother’s buttons as he got back up on the spacey couch.

Papyrus pushed against Sans to keep away, “ NO! NO! NO, YOU ARE NOT SITTING NEXT TO ME!”

Sans laughed out as Papyrus swatted at him before he scooted away, “ hey azzy, how about you go?” Asriel giggled from the younger skeleton and nodded eagerly, hopping off and going into the same place. There, the young goat stood straight and spread out his arms, tilting his head up to the overhead lamped fan.

“ A tree! RIGHT?!” Undyne practically screamed, almost jumping up, only to get a sake of the price’s head.

“ O-Oh! A-A ‘T’!” Alphys guess was shot down as well.

“ Oh my, praising the sun?” Asked the fatherly goat, letting Asriel shake his head and giggle at the mistake.

“ hehehe, a bridge?” Again, wrong answer. The monsters were puzzled until Papyrus focused on the older monster.

“ OH! A FLOWER!” Asriel's eyes shined as a smile grew under his snout. He pointed to the skeleton and nodded, making Papyrus squeal out in joy from figuring out the puzzle, his eyes sparkling.

“ Aright kiddies! How 'bout you guess who I am!” Shouted Trogle who then put his arms behind himself menacing, giving a threatening glare to the children. " It’s real easy! Though, he’s a lot skinnier than me.” The children were about to guess but slowly their faces changed to that of a grimace. Asgore’s paw raised up to cover his mouth from laughing as the older fish cocked his head. “ What? Aw, c’mon! You guys should know! Tall, dark, and brooding!”

“ Is that what I am now, Trogle?” Came a sour voice from behind, making the fish scream and fall over behind the couch. Gaster glared down at him before cracking a smile to the group for the children to laugh.

“ Ah, Gaster. Nice to see you, are you picking u your boys already?” Asked the gentle king.

“ Hmm? Oho, no, no. I came in for some tea, and to give Sans his medication is all.” The noble goat nodded as he got out from his chair to direct the scientist to the kitchen. Gaster looked over t his eldest son, giving him something the other couldn't catch before following Asgore.

“ Since when did you start taking medicine?!” Undyne blurted out.

“ since I began training, it’s just a protein is all. speaking which… yo, azzy is my drink still in your room?”

“I think so.” With that being said Sans hopped down and strolled off down a hallway.

As for the rest of the group, they watched as Trogle’s hands clutched onto the couches' top frame, pulling himself up. “ Holy hell I forgot that nerd could be a scary mother fucker!”

" ... WHAT'S A MOTHE-" Both teen girl quickly slapped their hands onto the toddler's mouth.

Inside the cozy room, Sans closed the door, putting one of Asriel’s small chairs underneath the door knob, just in case. His eyes glanced around the room, noticing some stuffed animals that were out, their small cute beady eyes staring at him. Sans’ regular smile vanished away as a worried look came upon his face. He quickly turned all f the toys around and opened up his bony and to look at the red sleek amber like pill. Some type of liquid stored in the pill as the skeleton gulped, hesitant to take it. Sans reached out for his can of soda he had left on the prince’s play table, the one where Sans had joined in for the tea party.
The skeleton eyed the pill, shaking a bit inhaling a deep breath and popping it in, swallowing it down with the soda. He quickly put the can back onto the table and stepped away from stumbling into anything. Within seconds, his soul churned around, his chest feeling like a flame had ignited within. Sans gasped out as an immense pain swelled throughout his body, making him collapse onto his buckling knees. He stood himself up with his hands on the floor, his finger clutching at the colorful rug under him. The young skeleton’s body shook violently, his eyes widened as a ghastly blue aura mixed with a mellowed out yellow sparked from his left eye.

He did his best to grit his teeth tightly to not yell out since he was at someone else home. He much rather not make anyone worried by screaming out in pain as the determination swirled into his soul. Te pain that usually made him scream out subsided, now bringing in the numbing feel,Sans lowering his grip until his body tumbled to the rug. Sans gasped out, shaking to inhale and exhale his breaths, the hand that was near being laid on clutching at the rug again. His other arm reached out, the skeletal hand grasping out for nothing to hold. All that was left were quiet whimpers from Sans as he felt the world around him spin as tears swelled up and a slight stream of drool pooled out from his mouth. The pill always made the poor monster want to-
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Cry out for help. That’s all the flower could do… " MOM?! DAD! CHARA?! ANYBODY! SOMEBODY?! PLEASE HELP ME!" The lone sentient flower struggled, twisting and turning his roots in the soft firm soil as his steam weaved around. Is small leaves following long his contorted stem weaved and bobbed around with its petals following each movement. Finally the flower stopped and panted heavily as it wore itself out. He couldn’t understand what was going on… Why was he here? How was he here?! The last thing he remembered was the unbearable pain that is body and soul endured as is knees crashed onto is father’s garden of flowers that lead to The Barrier…..

Still clutching his deceased sibling in is arms, he finally dropped to give up. Falling over with his sibling laying dead next to him he reached out to stroke their cheek one last time as he struggled to stay there or just a few moments. Memories had flooded back as he gasped out, tears flowing out from his eyes much like his wounds wit arrows in his back and cuts all over his body, torn through his purple robe. He quietly whimpered as he felt Cara’s soul start to leave his battered and broken one, “ C-C-Chara… I-I don’t… Li-Like this pl-pla…Plane anymore…Chara… Pl-please… Don-… Don't leave me alone. I-I’m so s-s-so-sorry… I’m ssss-so scared… I’m so… C-Cooold… Please… Don’t go… Yet…I-I lov-lo-love you…Don’t leave me… P-Pleaaase…” Eventually the monster's talking subsided, the world around him getting fuzzy and dark.

As his eyes closed, he heard muffled screams… They seemed familiar. Something stopped over to him and place it’s large yet gentle hands over him as he stared off into the distance that had originally being focusing on the dead body laying next to him. The screams ran out, only for one word to pass through to his crumbling mind and soul. “ ASRIEL!” It sounded like his parents….. Heh, it was funny how he felt something try and heal his deteriorating body while the other voice screamed for help for medical attention.

He felt the soothing warm and gentle touch of what he could only suspect was his mother pulling his upper body into her lap. He couldn't make out the words anymore and everything around was starting to get dark, darker, yet darker. He smiled, “ M-Mom… Da-Dad… I…Don’t…. Feel….. Anything………” He warned his pleading parents before is eyes grew tired as they finally closed.

All he could remember now was darkness after that… There was a heavenly glow of a bright light raining down upon him, Asriel felt his body again and got up to look around at absolute darkness enveloped around him. His attention was drawn to the stunning light, his small normal body back to here it was as he began to head to the calming lights before him. They were so beautiful… The young prince gulped and followed it, entranced by the might and warmth it flowed out from the cold and bitter darkness. Eventually he came closer and closer to it… In the distance, his now empty soul pounded in a comfortable warmth that spread throughout his body, as he saw up ahead was his sibling… His best friend.

Asriel moved sluggish but kept up the stumbling pace as Chara frolicked in a garden off golden flower with rainbows and glittering stars over above. The child wore a silken white robe as wimsuns and other human children laughed out playing tag. Chara’s eyes eventually caught the smiling worn out figure of their brother. As a child ran over to tag them, they stayed to see Asriel. This caught the other children’s and monster’s attention as they smiled and waved out to him. Chara’s eyes grew large and soft as tears brushed down their cheeks. The gave a non-scary smile and ran to their brother. As they rushed to him, Asriel smiled weakly, watching them get closer to embrace them into a hug. “ ASRIEL!” They cried out, closing in on the beaten goat boy. However…

The darkness seeped past the light as an unseen force shoved Chara back. The children and monsters gasped as he ran over, helping Chara up and fearfully watched t darkness grab Asriel’s ankles, making the poor child fall onto his belly as he was being dragged away. He cried out for help as Chara and the others rushed after him, only to have the darkness replacing the light as Asriel was swallowed up… It seemed like a long time in the cold bitter blackness… Until Asriel managed to open his eyes.

He recognized this place… The royal side garden… The one where he and Chara played… The one where he met….. He stopped his thought as he noticed everything around him was much bigger than he was use too… And with that, everything looked unkempt as vines crawled around the bricked walls and now rusted black bars for those to look in. He couldn’t help but feel something was wrong… He took in some breaths, glad to be alive but also upset that Chara was gone just like that. Asriel tried standing u but… Something felt off… He couldn't stand up, it was as if something had weighed him down. He tried pulling his legs only to eel dirt move around his feet. He looked down to see grass below himself… And… And a gold petal and green stem. Confused he moved around before a small puddle showed him his reflection… He… He was…He was a flower… He began to panic and cry out for help… But nobody came…

After several long agonizing days of crying to himself, Asgore finally stumbled upon him. At first Asriel was happy… Was he happy? He didn’t feel happy… He felt… Excited but not happy… spent a while with his father before asking if he could visit his mother. Asgore had helped his son move as best he could until he learned how to dig and control vines from the dirt. He didn't feel like he use to with his father. He just felt as if the two could co-exist much like being roommates… But not a father-son reaction anymore. A few months went by as he stayed with his mom and dad n a weekly bases. Again he wasn’t happy, and just felt like an accountancies more than a son. Asriel eventually met with Sans and Alphys, along with Undyne and a much different looking Papyrus…

Sans and him would often chat, still not knowing if they were friends again or not… A year went by and he was ‘friends’ with every monster in The Underground. They all respected and cared about him to a degree… But he still wasn’t happy…He soon drew reclusive and depressed, and deep down it felt like he could care less about anyone other than himself. He went into hiding before he grew tired of not being able to care or love anyone… With a deep breath he closed his eyes and flung himself off from Hotland to fall into the boiling lava below. He wanted to feel peace again… Warmth… Love… He wanted to see Chara again… Last he saw them they looked… So happy for once…

It was dark after a spark of pain surged through his small body… Darkness enveloped him yet again… But… He didn’t want to let go… Something deep inside called out… He didn’t want this… HE DIDN’T WANT TO DIE! Before he could thrash about in the lackluster void, he noticed a shaking button that read, ‘Reset’… His eyes shined as he read it… He reached out to press it…

Asriel opened his eyes… And was in the garden again… And again e cried out until several days later Asgore found him… Only Asgore acted just like he had before when he first met his son again… He didn’t remember anything… No one did but Sans as Asriel learned after growing more aggressive, killing everyone over and over or taking different routes, growing more and more upset with not being able to feel anything good again… Asriel felt miserable… Depressed… Angry… Lonely… He didn't feel anything…
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That’s what the determined ridden flower liked about Sans… He was hard to predict at times… And now that the flower had no more control, it was much more difficult to get a read on the skeleton. But the two kept irritating the other, never ending Flowey’s sick little game… At times it felt like he was somehow still friends with Sans in a twisted and deluded way. It brought spark into his pitiful life. The only other person he could have messed with was Frisk since they too remembered the resets. But Frisk… Was different. Flowey hadn’t broken their mind over the years like Sans and they had done so much for everyone. They reminded Flowey too much of their long late sibling who seemed genuinely nice at times but rather fierce most of the time.

Sans and Frisk were the only one the flower… Well not cared about, but in a sense, wanted them around more than anyone else. Sans to bother, and Frisk to lean on. That being the only reason because they knew about the resets and they both reminded him of his friends when he was innocent… Simple… Weak… A crybaby… That’s what he felt like at the moment as he watched Toriel tuck in their newly adopted child into the small bed as Frisk yawned, completely tuckered out from their day. They nuzzled their small furby like toy Asgore had gotten them while Toriel sat on the edge of the bed singing Asriel’s favorite song. She always sang it to anyone she looked and watched over like Chara and the other fallen children after them. “ Oh let’s go in the garden. You’ll find something waiting. Right there where you left it lying upside-down. Oh when you finally find it, you’ll see how it’s faded. The underside is lighter when you turn it around. Everything stays, right where you left it. Everything stays but it still changes. Every so slightly, daily and nightly. In little ways, where everything stays.” Torel leaned over to kiss their forehead affectionately.

As Frisk looked up to their new mother, the managed to catch a glimpse of Flowey watching out of the corner o his eye. Once they ad been kissed, Frisk rustled underneath their blankets looking upset. “ Oh my… My child, is something the matter?”

“ You always give me a kiss, but what about…” They had to lure Toriel into their plan… They showed the small purple toy to her, “ But what about Tatius? H doesn’t have a mom.” Frisk smiled nervously. Toriel chuckled softly, leaning over to kiss the small purple cat snouted toy. “ An how about F-Flowey?” Frisk gave a pleading smile to their mother who looked over to the potted plant. After a quiet pause as the flower looked to the motherly monster, Toriel turned her head back to Frisk and patted them before getting up.

“ Good night my child.” She said uneasily, keeping her soft motherly smile on her face. She then turned out the lights and closed the door until a fair amounted gap was left, letting in that hallway's magical glowing light.

Frisk frowned and gave out a light huff of disappointment. They put down their plushie and sat up seeing Flowey have is scary black eyes out with the white pinprick pupils along with that toothy smile. “ Flowey… Why’d you have to put on the creepy face?”

The flower slowly looked to Frisk, his voice shaken up, “ Wha-What? T-This is my please face without looking like Asriel or doing the bull shit puppy dog eyes…” He said confusingly. Frisk’s frown worsen as the leaned over the side of their bed, opening up a small drawer at the top of the desk that was put right next to them. They shuffled around, finally pulling out a small mirror to hold out to Flowey. Flowey’s stem backed away harshly, “ I-I… I didn’t… I never… I didn’t know that’s what I looked like…”

“ Really?” The child questioned. The flower nodded sadly as Frisk put together the pieces… All those times where Flowey made that one particular face… He wasn’t being maniacal… He was… He was pleading and sad. The nervous smile, the tilted eyes… “ Flowey… I’m so sorry… just wanted to try-“

“ It’s fine Frisk… I know… But… You know...” He let out a heavy sigh.

“ But Flowey-“

“ Night.” Flowey turned away sourly while the child felt somewhat helpless. They were determined but… That couldn’t change ones opinion on another. With a small defeated sigh they laid back down eventually falling asleep. After they were in snoozing away, Flowey quietly pushed the button on his new music box, the old tunes ringing out, lulling him to sleep.

Another day of the family being mostly spread out aside from Toriel, Frisk, Flowey, Sans, Alphys, and Undyne being at their large spacious home. Toriel was busy looking up what to get from the local mall with the help of the nerdy lizard. While in the living room, Frisk sat on the couch watching a wonderfully animated and musical movie about a man who was born different and was forced to live in a bell tower as he talked to gargoyles. Sans was either sleeping or listening to the film since e sat next to Frisk but had his eyes closed. Undyne meanwhile sat on the other side of the couch trying to whittle some wood from seeing the monstrous man’s own little wood carvings of the area around him. Flowey had joined in, his small yet strengthen vines carving with a sharpened and sturdy thorn. Undyne groaned and gave up, handing the rest to Flowey who gladly took it.. Well more of greedily took it. Honesty he was pretty good at it, and it kept him busy. Undyne looked back to the movie and squinted harshly as the townspeople ridiculed the poor man before a lone woman went to help him. “ So… Like, do they mistake him for a monster?”

“ No. He was just born that way and treat him like one-no offense.”

“ … That’s fucked up.”

“Well… That’s what some people do if their insecure. I mean… monsters have bullies too?”

“ OHOHO YEAH!”

“ Yup…” Flowey chimed into the small conversation. He fully knew that from first hand.

“ Hmm... Must be some fault in some humans and monsters.” Frisk said, quite confused themselves of why people and monsters did that to their own kind.
After the film was over, Flowey had made a small smooth wooden model of everyone that lived within the house, receiving some spectacular applause from the fish an child. He finally felt proud of himself… He hadn’t felt that since he consumed the six souls and took over that big skull hanging in the labs back in The Underground.

“ Where you gonna’ put them?” Undyne asked, fully intrigued that the passive aggressive flower could actually make something without burning it. Flowey’s prideful smile came to a halt as his beady eyes lowered onto his newly made models. His eye twitched slightly before vines shot out from the dirt to tear apart his creation. Except when the vines swept down the models vanished, his vines quickly stopping before nearly landing on the table. Both Undyne and Flowey sighed in relief as the table wasn’t broken, or they would deal with Toriel’s wrath.

Flowey looked for his models, still salty about having no place to put them all. That was until his eyes landed upon Sans who had one eye open, staring at him as a perpetual wink. “ whoa, don’t pop a root there bud-dy.”

“ WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

Frisk leaned over to pat the agitated flower, “ I asked Sans to hide them so you wouldn’t break them. Their too wonderful to be broken. I was thinking of tagging along with mom and buy something to put them in. You did a really good job. You shouldn't be upset with something so beautiful.”

Flower glared harshly at the child who seemed fairly concerned. The look faltered into a softer look, but still with a harsh stare, “ … You think their beautiful…?” The child nodded happily, even getting the rough fish and lazy skeleton to agree. “ … Okay… I won't break them… Can I paint them at least?” Frisk looked towards their dunkle who rolled his eyes, vanishing into a blue mist to come back with the wooden modes and some children’s paint from Frisk’s room.

Soon Toriel walked in to tell the group she was about to head out, this letting Frisk gain the opportunity to run up too her and ask to go. Of course Toriel agreed as she scooped up her adopted child who hugged he, smiling brightly. “ I am sorry to ask of this but… Undyne, Sans… You and Alpys will have to watch over Flowey.”

“ Dammit-I mean, sure thing Miss T!”

“ got it tori… but if he breaks something he’s going in the cellar-y.” Flowey groaned from the pun while the mother and child giggled.

Meanwhile the fish gave deathly stare to the skeleton, “ WE DON’T EVEN HAVE ONE!”

It was an odd group to watch over the normally pissed off plant, however thankfully Flowey was occupied with painting his wooden models, but still demanded to have something laying in the back. So Alphys brought out her laptop and connected it to the television, “ O-Okay. I-I found a game that has-“

“ anime?” Sans asked, being cheeky with his old time friend, getting a small pout from her.

“ Yes… But i-i-t as mystery-"

“ Is it that one with the people in that school with the bear as their judge before execution~?!” Flowey chimed in, grinning manically.

“ N-No, sorry. That ones st-still downloading.”

“ Fucking son of a…” The flower grumbled before stopping, thinking to himself of what he just said. He nervously recoiled from his statement and shook. Sans even looked away anxiously from the mention.

“ Bu-But I-I did find this o-one free game with anime art style. It has mystery.” Sans tilted his attention over, curious. “ Romance.” Undyne perked up as her eye focused on her girlfriend. “ And h-horror.” Flowey paused his painting as his grin grew back.

“ … it’s not that one gay game with the horrible deaths is it?” Sans asked, getting a flustered lizard n his back, which was well worth it to see Alphys go into a tizzy.

As Sans narrated over the main character, he eventually started really getting into it until things got… strange. Well stranger considering the first two images was a room of organic like meat, and a close-up of some type of monster that even monsters would have trouble talking to. Let alone it’d more than likely scare the hell out of amalgamate. The main character seemed to meet up with a strange girl… Later one day the character came into his house smelling something amazing. The character witnessed the girl eating something that of a a strange plant… And that’s where Flowey put his words in.

“ FUCK THIS GAME!”

“ Would you calm down! Would you rather them to be eating meat?” Undyne asked.

“ YES!... Maybe…I don't know!” Eventually further on down the line, the neighbor was attacked by something and started to see the horrible organic world around him much like the protagonist. Upon also seeing his wife and daughter as monsters. Sans quickly asked for Aphys to stop and look u how bad this game was going to get. The intelligent monster looked it up and read it along with the other two while Flowey bitterly kept painting. From reading the article, Sans pupils had vanished into his sockets while Alphys gagged and ran out to empty her lunch from the sickening game. Undyne was helped by the skeleton to quickly deleted game and never talk about it again. Sans almost wished Frisk would have reset The Surface to not know about the horrifying and mentally sickened game.

Undyne rubbed her temples and eyes to forget what she just read, “ Okay… That game sucked ass… Ugh got any movies daffi-dick will watch?”

“ HEY!” Flowey snapped at the fish who was a bit on edge at the moment. “ Actually I found a movie at the stupid weeaboo store you guys dragged me too… Though it was really shitty.”

“ and it was about…?” Sans question, raising an invisible brow.

“ It’s about some machines that override fish and scuttle onto land eventually dyeing off and taking over humans and shit.” Before anyone could say anything Undyne quickly got up and left the room, only to return with the DVD and walking right by the group and going outside, dropping it into a trashcan. The three watched from the window to fully view Undyne summoning her spears to plunge into the trashcan like she had done to the spaghetti when cooking with Frisk for the first time… Which eventually led to her home going up in flames, much like the trashcan was somehow. “ YOUR DOING THE WORLD A FAVOR FOR ONCE!” Yelled out the flower.

Eventually the four got tired and decide to just pop in a movie from Frisk’s and Papyrus’ collection as they waited for Toriel and the determined child to arrive back home. After they got back, Frisk rushed to the living room while the others helped Toriel with some bags. Frisk placed a large dollhouse onto the table next to the flower, opening it up for him. “ See? Told you I’d get you something. I’ll be right back, I need to go help.” The child smiled, dashing off out from the room leaving the flower to himself.

Flowey smiled slightly as his vines wrapped around the dried painted figures of the monsters an humans that lived within the house. He played out each one in his mind as he pretended them to walk into the dollhouse. He then grabbed hold of the figure of himself, a smiling cheerful flower. The vine reached out to place the smaller wooden flower before he paused… He looked over the smiling wooden figures in the dollhouse, standing in a group, happily with Frisk in the front like they were going waiting for a photo to be taken. They all looked so… Happy… Flowey looked down to his mini-self before looking back to the little wooden family. Words started to drown out his thoughts… Those words that a monster had told him how he was to live his life just like them… The monster had once told him how the two of them were to live on… ‘ You don’t have a family./You can never belong./You destroy everything./You're not one of them anymore./Your just a soulless freak./What makes you think you can fix what has been done?/You have no soul./ You cannot care for them./You have no friends./They are no longer your parents./It is best if they forget about you…..’

The thin vine loosened its grip making the tiny model of Flowey drop to the table. Tears swelled up out the sides of his empty eyes before is stem bent forward sadly… They were right… Flowey could never belong… He didn’t have a family… How could he be such an idiot?

Chapter Text

A bright and brand new day peeked over the small snowy filled town, shining upon what excitement would behold... Well figuratively considering the sun was on The Surface-The point being, it was a new day! At this time the young teen-aged skeleton and growing prince about to hit into his first of his teenage years rushed across the ever flowing steam of Hotland, joking around and laughing out as they passed by several monster folk who would wave back. The two had stopped at The Waterfalls, taking in some deep breaths and visiting the secret garden the two helped maintain, sitting under the growing crabapple trees they had planted. The trees themselves were not fully grown yet, but were capable of bearing fruit, which three were plucked off from. The two boys chomped into the sweet taste of the monster fruit while the skeleton stuffed his oversized sapphire sweater's pocket with the remaining fruit he had gotten.

The goat monster was ecstatic today, Sans had told him that the two were finally able to visit an older teen than Undyne and Alphys who was a great and dear friend of the wily skeleton. The only reason Asriel had not met this friend was due to them being grounded for smoking, which Asriel agreed that that was highly unhealthy and could lead to 'falling down'. The two had caught eye of a rather large shambling mound of green gelatin smoking for years in The Waterfalls. A great colossal, Moldbygg was often seen smoking around, inhaling some type of ashed magic and exhaling a thick tar filled aroma. With that, Asriel became concerned for the monster while Sans reassured his upset friend in the past whenever the two came across it.

After the two were done eating the small fruit and reminiscing on the smoking monster, they got up and were off yet again to meet Sans' good friend who he had known for quite a while. Sans and this friend apparently went way back since Sans was younger than Asriel's age, having this guy to help watch over him and Papyrus when their father was busy at his scientific works. So the two finally made it to the small ice slated town of Snowdin, Sans stopping at the local restaurant in the homely town, while the prince tried to stop his running and instead fell into a pile of snow, not knowing Sans would stop in front of the building. The skeleton chuckled out before pulling his friend out from the pile of soft cushioned ice, dusting off the snow that stuck onto the prince's fur.

Asriel’s eyes were caught in the large bright orange neon glow coming off from the top of building’s sign. It read out, 'Grill'. Sure not the best name, but Asriel wasn’t one to judge, considering how lousy he and his father came to with names. Once the skeleton put is bony hands onto the door’s handles he stepped back, pulling the two doors of the building out with him, opening it for himself and his younger friend. The warmth of the inside seeped out to the two children, as brighter lights shined out over them. Sans took is friend along with his head, guiding him in to reassure him that the small building was a safe environment.

Inside were several booths, a pool game, an old weary jukebox tucked in the back, a couple of tables and chairs, and stools in the back surrounding what seem to be a bar of some sort. Some of the royal guards who had been off duty played pool, shuffling around and eyeing the balls on where to nick them so they would roll right into their intended target and bounce back with a clattering noise. Though most of them were canine like monsters, which meant they had to restrain themselves and one another from snatching up a pool ball once it rolled on the green textured carpeting.

In the booths sat some of the older rabbit folk of Nice’s family, mostly all women at the table, making it rather lively and chatty. They all went off about their day, or cute monsters, all the new store items, and things they had found in the dump in The Waterfalls. While others listened and toyed with their phones, others filed their small claws. Behind them sat a lone plant like monster with no visible eyes and a giant maw gaping out like a horse’s snout. The plant monster’s teeth tapped against each other in a small but non-violent gnashing movement as they ate their food laid out before them on the wooden table.

As Sans lead the way for Asriel, the prince just gawked and looked around. He had hardly ever gone to a restaurant, even if his parents were royalty. So this was all so new and exciting to see different monsters and local places far from his little abode. His shining eyes gazed upon two older monsters sitting at the stools, chatting about who knows what. An old pale fish monster kept up the conversation, getting a chuckle out every now and then from a magenta colored bird monster with a round duck-bill.

It didn't take long as Asriel happened to bump into something… or rather, someone. He quickly turned around to apologize only to see Frostdrake now holding an empty plate, with his food's condiments splattered onto his yellow scaled belly. Behind him stood Baron, Glyde, and Punky. The smaller grey hamster monster of the bunch tilted down his sunglasses as his eyes peered out from behind his green curly locks. “ Dude, he just made you spill The Bosses Food!”

“ DON’T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?! GRR! WHAT GIVES CRYABY?!”

Asriel backed away, his paws fumbling with one another as he tried to place his words, “ I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t see yo a-a-and-“

“ hey whoa, cool it azzy. ah, i thought i smelled singed poultry. how’s the feathers frost? charred, boiled, or well done?”

" Screw off Sans! Your little boyfriend here made me spill The Boss's food! Do you know what's going to happen if he finds out?!”

San’s stood in front of his royal friend and smiled in a sinister way, “ yeah, he’s going to cook your goose, that’s for sure.”

“ Not if I fix it first! Hey princess, you owe me a sloppy Joe!”

“ O-Oh, I-I lef-left my bag at-at home, I’m sorry-“ Asriel nervously explained, but was soon cut off. He did have some gold, but not enough for a sandwich.

" YOU DON’T HAVE ANY GOLD?! WHAT KINDA PRINCESS ARE YOU?!”

“ The one that doesn’t need to take shit from you.” Sans blatantly said.

The cold feathered bird snarled out, “ Fine, then you pay for it! I’m not getting on The Boss's bad side just cause princess here won’t pay up for what HE DID!” Frostdrake leaned over, nearly having his beak touch Sans' face. Both scowling at the other until the other three walked to each side of the angered bird, being ready to pounce on the skeleton at any given moment.

“ Hey, four on two isn’t fair you asinine cretins, specially you birdbrain!” Said a calm yet demanding voice from the side of them all. Behind the bar stood a rather tall teenage monster, sporting back shades like Frostdrake, a black leather jacket covering an old worn out white shirt, and the body type of blood orange flames. The blazing monster put his red-hot hands onto the counter and hopped right over the bar counter to now be closer. With black ripped pants and steel toed boots with spurs he strutted over, looking down at the three bullies. “ So… This is how you guys respect me for letting you in here?”

The bitter fowl glared up to the flaring monster, “ This doesn’t involve you, you traitorous greaser!”

With that, the monsters made up of flames stomped his boot down, only missing the scaled toes of Frostdreak by the slightest, “ Excuse me?!” He scoffed, putting an elbow in his other hand, letting the free hand rotate, “ Are you talking to me? Did you ask to get food? Did you call me up? Did you bring me here? And all of the sudden you're saying this doesn’t involve me? I don’t think so, not right now. Your getting your crummy food for your lard-ass of a leader so SIT DOWN!” Once it was silent in the corner near the jukebox, the fire monster cleared his throat and snatched up the burger that had fallen onto the floor, pulling up and smudging it against the bird’s belly for the condiments before dropping it back onto the plate. He then cocked his head to the side, calling out, “ Or would you rather me tell the old man, you were the guys who nearly broke the pool table last week by throwing Baron onto it!”

Over behind the bar stood an elderly flame monster, with a grey mustache and old circular glasses in a dashing black jacket over a frail white shirt with a bow at the neck. The fire that flaked off him was a bright blue flame with bright blue going towards the center. The blue flamed monster who was initially cleaning a mug snapped his attention to look over, the fire that was his body, flaring up into the air, “ WHAT?!” He asked out in a deep gruff voice. The four hooligans trembled with fear before dashing out the diner and into the snow chilled town, only to leave the blue blazing monster to shake his fist, “ NEXT TIME I CATCH YOU LOITERING AROUND HERE, YOUR GOING TO WISH YOU LIVED IN HOTLAND’S LAVA!”

After that fiasco, the orange flamed monster… Smiled? It was hard to tell since no one could see his mouth or eyes even. He reached out to the skeleton, his fist wrapped up to expect the now incoming bump of Sans’ fist. “ My main man Sans, sup? Who's the kid?”

Sans smiled brightly before gesturing to Asriel, “ this is prince asriel dreemurr. zzzy, this is an old friend of mine, grillby.” Asriel quivered reaching out to Grillby before recoiling his arm away, scared to even touch a flicker of the flame. “ he’s uh, kinda shy. don’t worry azzy, you don't hafta' fist bump, his fire won’t hurt anyone unless he wants it too.”

Grillby gave a small chuckle and patted Asriel’s fuzzy lop of hair. Upon touch, Asriel only felt a comforting warmth come from the hand. Asriel quickly hugged onto the greaser before letting go and backing away shyly.

“ he’s a hugger. forgot to mention that.”

“ Hey no problem man. It’s nice to meet you lil’ guy. I mean, damn… I get to meet the prince of the Dreemurrs, holy crap, that’s amazing. How did you even get to be friends with him, let alone talk to him?”

“ long story grillz, but first how 'bout some grub?” Winked Sans with Asriel giving a friendly smile to the older monster.

“ Jeez, I’d love too but the old man needs help with some of the upcoming orders. Word is, some of the royal guard from Hotlands and The Waterfall are heading over, along with the leader, so we gotta’ get the meal to top notch.”

“We can help you!” Asriel smiled brightly, speaking out cheerfully, only to get a look from the other two. “ I’ve never seen the leader of the royal guard, and besides my mom's taught me how to cook fairly well with fire magic.”

“ Oh no, no it’s okay. You're the prince, you don’t-“ Grillby was cut off by the enthusiastic goat monster.

“ No, no, by all means! A friend of Sans is a friend of mine! And if that friend needs help, then I’m all for it!”

“ Heh, this kid is something else. What do you say Sans?”

The skeleton sighed, luring the two to disappointment, only for a smile to flash across his face, “ what are friend’s for if they just leave you?”

The three had gone into the back kitchen after Asriel had met the elderly blue fire. This old timer was named, Fintan. He had originally had a pub on The Surface, working with his wife, his three daughters, son, and son-in-law while Grillby was still a young flame. Eventually once the war broke out, the others were extinguished or the exception of himself, Grillby’s mom, one aunt, and uncle. The family of brightly lit flames lived in Hotland, but with the exception of Fintan who lived in Snowdin. Making a family diner that his late wife had always wanted. She had always wanted one in a nice cooled climate, so that’s what Fintan did. Grillby often visited and stayed with his grandfather, to help work and behave better with the old timer watching over him. Fintan was incredibly pleased to talk to the young prince, thinking it was a privilege, even though that wasn’t true at all. He tended to keep to the olden days, being shocked that the goat volunteered to even help.

Once the guards got to the family diner, Fintan took down the orders and left to go into the kitchen where the three young monsters awaited orders. As the elderly flame told them what to make, Grillby helped the other two on how to prepare the food while Fintan went to prep the royal guard's leader food himself. While Grillby chopped some vegetables and kept up letting the other two on what needed to be done and how, Sans used his new magic to levitate the food for it to be in the right place when put together. Sans also attended to condiments and drinks while getting told onto to not steal any of the ketchup bottles... Asriel on the other hand used his magical fire to help cook the meats that were actually some type of plant since the only edible type of animal down under were bugs. He made sure each was cooked the way it should and flipped them over like pancakes. The prince seemed to have enjoyed cooking, after helping his mother and learning from both parents. Although at one point Sans did toss a rather warmed potato as Grillby asked him to hold it. The skeleton couldn't actually feel it burn him and just tossed it for dramatic attention into Asriel's paws. Who in turn quickly tossed it back to Grillby who had yet to be done preparing something. And so the three somewhat played a literal hot potato.

Once the food was complete, the four monsters each took two plates-aside from Sans who just levitated all the rest with the blue hued aura and headed back out. Asriel smiled happily to the guards he served, shocking them to notice that the prince was serving out their food, all while Grillby set out to his customers. Sans being the jokester he was known for made his plates hover above the guards who reached out for them, nabbing at the air. Of course the skeleton lowered the plates, making sure nothing dropped, and before any of them could really get upset with him. Then there was Fintan who served the leader himself who just happened to be the children's friend's uncle, Trogle.

Trogle gave a hardy smile and chatted with the blue flame before his glinting eyes caught hold of the three young monsters, " Well I'll be a sea monkey's uncle! What are the lot of you two doing here serving out food?! Sans did you break something? Asriel, did Sans break something, thus gettin' you into trouble as well?" His shining yellow eyes borrowed into the skeleton, still keeping up with his sharpened tooth of a grin.

" i'm wounded good sir. why must you automatically assume i did something, good sir? i'll have you know, azzy here recommended that the two of us helped out was all." Sans tutted, wagging his finger.

" Really? Jeez Asriel, you're like your father!"

" I-Is that a g-good thing?"

" COURSE IT IS! Your father has always been a big cuddle and kind monster! Much different from how your mom 'use' to be." Grillby's attention locked onto Asriel and Sans with a questioning look. Sans then did the same to his younger friend.

Asriel tilted his head, a bit stumped about what the fish meant, " Wha?"

" AHAHAHA! Oh man, your parents never told ya?! Tori, when she was younger-oh man! She didn't take shit from nobody! She was a real rebel of kid! In fact, she picked on your dad a lot, calling him a nerd, pushing him down, slapping his gardening books out from under his paws. Lots of stupid shit kids do when their young and like somebody!"

" I-I thought you w-were suppose to be nice when you liked someone?"

" Well kid, we all have different ways of expressing our emotions to others. But finally your dad had the gull to ask Tori out, and she of course said... ' Fuck yeah'!" A small packet of mustard soon collided with Trogle's scruffy face, an agitated look coming from the slightly fuming Fintan.
" No using that word! This is a family diner! In fact, no swearing at all!" He swiftly pointed to a jar alone the bar's table. Trogle grumbled harshly as he parted with several gold coins, getting snickers from the three kids. as they watched him.

" S-So Grillby, wh-what do you do for fun around here?" Asriel asked shyly as the three of them sat down at the booth nearest to the old jukebox, finally able to eat their meals they had made after the guards were attended to. As the prince lifted his burger's bun the young skeleton slid the ketchup bottle over to him. " O-Oh thank yo-"

" DON'T!" Grillby managed to cut him off and snatch the bottle before making sure the lid was on... Surprisingly it was and he sighed in relief as he handed it over back to the bemused prince. " Sorry. Often SANS... Likes to prank people here and undoes the cap making the ketchup go everywhere."
" nice of you to catch-up on that Grilbz. not so sure why your all hot and bothered about it though, it's pretty funny." Chuckled the skeleton.
" The first time it is, the next dozen not so much!"

Asriel looked at the other bottle that Sans had his bony fingers on, which he had been eating... Drinking it? " So... Sans likes ketchup... Any reason why?" He asked the flaming monster, only for Sans to speak up himself.

" well if you think about it, ketchup is a tomato smoothie~" He winked, chuckling at his own corny joke, making the young prince giggle a bit.

" Point being... Sans likes pranks... And speaking of pranks. I got one in mind." Grillby said rather smugly as he popped a French fry into the fire under his shades.
Asriel's focus went back to that of the orange and red monster while Sans' smile grew into a devious grin, " i'm listening..."

Grillby then leaned in close over the table to whisper to the two others, " The jukebox has three plays of a song for one gold coin... And I've got five coins."
" i like where this is going... i'll chip in two. azzy you just sit back and watch." Sans reassured his new friends who watched the two with anticipation as they got out from their seats to the jukebox, punching in the songs. The two then walked back over and chuckled to themselves, their eyes-well Sans' eyes looking to his side, making Asriel peek out from behind him as, 'What's new pussycat' played out. At first Asriel was content and then slowly grew suspicious as he thought to himself.
Thinking they had played, 'What's New Pussycat'. And it being a much longer song than Asriel originally had heard. By the third time the song played, Asriel grew more puzzled as well as the entire diner, thinking that maybe the song was played twice. But by the fourth time it played, Asriel's eye widened, thinking they had just played the song four times or at the very least twice and it's a really long song. The goat slowly looked to his friends, " How many times did you guys put in that song?"

" hehehe... twenty one..." Asriel slowly raises his paws to put on his face only to have Sans nudge him out of hiding to move his head, gesturing to the rest of the diner who had know caught wind of what was going on. All while Trogle kept a hard stare on him and Grilby, as his hands shook on the bar's table. Trogle's eyes then averted to his coffee cup, with the expression of that he just got his thirty-day chip from anger management. His teeth nearly grinded against each other as if sharpening the set even more thoroughly.

With that, the song faded out... The diner halting to a silence right before quite subtly the song played out, " BWAM! BWAM! WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?!"

Trogle then slammed down his shaking fists onto the bar's table making the silverware fly in different directions, " GRAAAAAAH DAMNIT!" The three, including Asriel had to cover their mouths from the laughter from this fantastic piece of art of a prank. Thankfully after the seventh song had played, another song from the previous bunch started to play...

" It's not unusual~." The jukebox played out, sweeping out a sigh of relief from the entire diner, some even being ecstatic cry while some cried with joy. The song then faded out to where it was deathly silent... Only for the jukebox to start up with, " BWAM! BWAM! WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?!" making the guards flip the fuck out. No one could handle it as the three boys were able to burst out laughing from all the noise.

All while Fintan seemed pretty unphased by the whole situation and just incredibly indifferent as he muttered, cleaning his mug, " Yup, same shit as usual..."
After the eleventh play of the song which just kept consecutively paying over in a row, the jukebox’s cord was sliced from a green neon spear. Trogel panted a bit, then sat back down to regain his composure… Only to b gotten onto the blue flame monster. Trogel would have to pay the owner back… And Grillby would have to stay around more for playing the prank. Which was fine with the cooled orange monster, since he did enjoy helping out his grandfather, and was actually looking forward to becoming a chef himself. Of course Fintan’s discipline would settle into the rowdy teen eventually to make him a strong and sturdy monster in the future. Which would most certainly help in the long run as the years went by as-
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Grillby ran his cozy restaurant, adjusting his glasses and bow-tie that had been passed down from his sapphire grandfather, who was now in a friendly retirement home with the rest of the flaming family, which now included Grillby’s young niece and nephew who stayed in Hotland. His shy niece, flashing a green swaying flame while his slightly older nephew, Heats thought he was the top dog in the area. Even for his scrappy size, the kid was always full of pep, much like Grillby when he was younger… His old childhood friend ha strolled into his very own building as the casuals talked and ate amongst themselves, creating faint noise in the background.
Sans gave him his usual toothy smile and hopped up onto the stool, putting his elbows on the counter to look up with lazy and tired eyes. “ hehehe, hey grills. How’s fry-day, treating you?”

With a wink, the flaming bar tender grew quiet… If he had eyes, they would be cold stone like the skeleton’s younger brother, “ Must you? It’s still the morning. You just got here.”

“ and hey, what do ya' know, the place suddenly got hotter. must be because i just got here-“

“ Or it could be my new employee.” Grillby quickly cut his old friend off from his punning jokes. “ Flowey?! Are those burgers almost done?! I know you can cook better than that shit tasting Mettaton food!”

“ Ye-eah! Ju-Just gimmie' a moment, will ya?!” Hollered a shrill voice from the kitchen, leaving Grillby back to Sans’ attention as he toughly cleaned a mug.
Sans linked for a moment before a sudden chill ran down his spinal cord… He knew that name… From somewhere? But where? Was it his nightmares again? “

Sans, are you alright?” The skeleton was concentrating too much to even notice any words being directed to him. Suddenly his left eye flashed light blue, extinguishing away quickly as his mind was jerked back to reality. Grillby had his hand on the back of Sans’ hand, covering his knuckles. The skeleton quickly gave a bright smile.

“ hehehe, course I am. just thought i caught a fever from being near you is all.”

Grillby’s fiery hand was pulled away, the flame monster shaking his head in slight concern, “ I for one hope you are. Lord knows I you don’t, Papyrus will be incredibly worried. Also… Fever from me? What is that suppose to mean?” Grillby’s glasses shined a bit as he lowered his head to simulate a light yet crude glare.

“ what, I’m just saying that I feel cold as ice, but your making me feel much warmer-“

The fire bar tender groaned, “ Sans… No.”

“ aww, come on-“ He chuckled out.

“ You're not even drunk and your hitting on me.”

“ that a problem?”

“ …..Hold on” Grillby went quiet as he went into the back and came out holding some burgers in a plate, setting them down t the old balding fish and cheerful bird. Sans couldn't make it out due to Grillby’s position, but in his other arm that was hiding behind is body, was holding something. The flame walked back over settling down a potted golden flower. “ There, you can hit on my new employee instead, besides he needs a break.”

“ A break?! Are you taking away my gold pay?!” Screamed out a vice room near the skeleton, making him flinch slightly. He looked around or anyone near him… But it was just Grilly and this flower. Where did that yell come from?

“ No, you just look tired.”

“ hey uh, grills? your worker like a spider or something? Maybe a mouse monster or an ant-sized froggit-“ The flower ten turned around to give a nasty look to Sans. The skeleton’s eyes became hollow as he stared at the irritated flower. The flower’s reaction however was curling away from Sans with a nervous look on his face.

“ Uh-Uh-Uhm… Gr-G-Grillby, can I go back to work-“ Stuttered the flower.

“ Flowey please… This is an old friend of mine, Sans. He’s a regular here. Sans, this s Flowey. I found him out in the front once early morning nearly frozen to dust. Now if you are going to stay under my roof, can you at least chat with Sans. I know you haven't been well lately Sans, so don’t bullshit me. And Flowey, you’ve worked hard enough. I need to prepare or the royal guard and their leader, so go get a booth and chat or something.” Grillby asked the two as he put down a bottle of ketchup for Sans and a small stack of French fries before heading into the kitchen. The skeleton sighed as is pupils came back into focus. He carried the flower to a booth and set the pot on the table, as well as the other two items.

Sans looked up to the golden plant, his smile dyeing down a bit since no one was looking at the two now, and no one would even bat an eye of attention to the odd couple. “ so… you’re the one who keeps resetting huh?”

“ Quite to the point aren’t you?”

“ eh, grills knows me well. he knows i’m not feeling the best. so, why are you here?”

“ T-To… To try and do something good, anything good. I just want to feel like I belong somewhere.” Flowey wasn’t really in the mood to fight and bicker this run. He just wanted to try his best to seem like he could belong somewhere without fucking it up or being shunned away.

“ right, and i like mustard-“

“ N-No! Re-Really! Y-You don’t understand! Not all of my runs before a reset are bad.”

Sans folded his arms as he leaned back in his cushioned seat, inquiring more information, “ then how come i always experience nightmares and unpleasantness about you?”

“ I don’t know! Maybe because I’m not made out of love and the magic from us both mixed with the resets project onto those negative feelings? I-I don’t know…” The flower slumped foreword, his frail looking stem bending over making it look like it had been left out to care for itself. Flowey slowly chewed at a fry, hiding his face with the gold petals.

The thing that got Sans was that Flowey didn’t sound mean-spirited, but just as depressed as himself. “ … you really are trying, huh?

“ Yeah… If I don’t, I just end up making everyone's life a living hell, shoving everyone away making me alone and become more and more insane with no one to be with. Or I just try to do myself in.”

“ why don’t you just… give up?”

The sad flower loomed it’s head up, a very tired Flowey stared at him, “I can’t. Something inside me won’t let up. But unlike you. It’s just pure determination that won’t leave me.”

Sans watched the look on the flower as it stared at him apathetically. He sighed out, “ what do you mean, ‘unlike me'?”

“ The only reason your around is because of Papyrus. And I know, you think to yourself of how much more you can take, right?”

Sans’ teeth gritted ever so slightly, “ ye-yeah.”

“ That’s the same with me. Except I don’t have anyone and I can’t quit. I only have the resets to keep me tied down to sanity, even if a little. If I didn’t have that power, I’d go crazy. Just like if you didn’t have Papyrus anymore…”

Sans’ look slowly turned into a harsh glare at the mention of being without his brother, “ h-how do you know tha-“

“ Sans… I've reset many times. We both have died quite a bit. Trust me, I know how you get.”

The skeleton’s glare turned into a more concerned and upset look, “ how many times have we’ve fou-“

“ Depends what your HP is.”

“ … 580.” Sans said quietly, shifting his eyes away.

“ Unfortunately, I’ve lost count. But I can defiantly tell you, you’ve died much less than I have.”

“ so i really dunked you, huh?”

“ Not necessarily… A few of them were me begging you to end the pain. While half of my deaths were never by anyone’s hands.”

Sans slightly sympathized for the horrible flower, “ you really hate yourself that much?”

“ Yeah… I-I really hate-“
---------------------------------------

“ THIS IDEA! IT’S FUCKING STUPID! It’s not going to work…” Shrieked the overly-aggressive flower as he put on is ‘scary face’ as Frisk dubbed it. He spat out insults all around and hissed out throwing a tantrum of pure rage coated in hatred. Only to be shushed by the determined twelve year old who just put their hand over his mouth.

The child walked over to their favorite… and only dunkle since Papyrus was more of a cousin and Mettaton being more of… An aunt? An Auntkle? Popular girl cousin? Whatever, point was, was that the child tugged on Sans’ sleeve as he lay there on the floor, no doubt falling asleep before he reached the green sofa. “ mmm, huh? oh hey kiddo, sup? is paps yellin’ at me to get to the couch or my bed again?” They shook their head as Sans’ eyes came into better focus noticing the irritated looking flower in the clay pot as Fisk held him.

“ Dunkle Sans, can we go to the diner? We’re hungry.”

“ tch, alright, aright, but your leaving sunshine here.”

“Huuuuuungry” Frisk and Flowey both said in unison as the child bumped their stomach against the clay pot, making Sans close his eyes regretting what was to become. He finally sighed and got up, yawning and cracking several bones.

“ okay, okay, lemme’ just tell tori." He smiled down to the child, patting their head, ruffling up their hair a bit, deserving a small giggle from the human. As Sans went to tell the motherly goat, Flowey’s vines slipped out to fix up the messed hair.

“ Can’t believed that worked.”

“ Told you he was too lazy to argue with me.” Frisk giggled to their flower brother. Sans soon came back and held the child’s hand. The flower ha questioned what he was doing considering they weren’t walking outside yet, only to notice Frisk held onto the pot tightly.

The three were then transported right outside the new remodeled and larger version of Grilby’s. Flowey groaned, his head spinning as he made gagging noises from being shifted from point A to point B within time and space, " Oh god! I-I hate when you do that!” He cried out, flopping to his side sickly. “ I-I don’t feel hungry anymore…”

“ ah, if only it worked for the kiddo.” Sans chuckled, seeing Frisk have a determined look of hunger in their eye.

On the way in, the regulars; mainly monsters greeted the other regular skeleton and the young human who had saved them all. Even if they were free, the regulars still wanted to be in a lovely diner with their friends, much like Grillby who wouldn’t dare up and abandon himself from being a bar-tender and chef. Up on The Surface, he had managed to buy out an old closed down building, refurbishing it from hid gold savings and turning it into a brand new yet still the same looking diner. He had even gotten staff this time from the larger area, as well as more customers, especially tourists. Both humans and monsters alike worked alongside their fiery boss quite happily.

Sans strutted along over to his normal seat, hopping onto the stool while Frisk followed right behind like a duckling before sliding the pot onto the counter and climbing up the stool themselves. Sans snickered to himself, his levitating magic helping to boost up the small human until they were able to sit down and smile, looking around at familiar faces and newer ones.

The fire behind those round glasses shined, noticing the friend and precious kind hearted human. Grillby strolled on over, smiling if anyone was able to tell, in a wonderful mood to see the two. “ Ah, Sans, Frisk-“

“ And Flowey!” Frisk pipped up, holding up the plant to show the owner the disgruntled plant.

Grillby’s joy faltered as he locked onto the plant, “ … Flowey…” The only response in turn was a glance from the flower who looked irritated like always. He often heard how rude the small plant could be. “ So, what may I get you?”

Sans smiled brightly to his friend, “ You should know by now Grills.” He winked, slouching into the counter to hear a sigh from the fire monster. Grillby nodded and went to get the usual for the trio. The skeleton took this time to look about at the other faces of the diner, as Frisk kicked their feet around, waiting for their meal.
Flowey meanwhile swerved around to sketch out his new surroundings before his eyes landed onto the old worn out and broken jukebox which sat next to a newer one that could actually work. He frowned seeing the old thing wasting up space, but still being there as to fill nostalgia to the owner of the diner. He sadly eyed the severed plug, seeing how useless it was without having a purpose. He often felt like the old jukebox… Just sitting there, not being able to be fixed up or to serve anyone anything like it was meant to. Frisk noticed the flower’s composure and patted him, smoothing out gold petals that hung over his face. While the skeleton closed his eyes to either think or sleep, Flowey leaned into the pet wanting to feel their determined warmth and kind attitude.

Not too much longer, the flaming monster came back serving the human with a burger, the flower with some fries, and their oldest costumer a bottle of ketchup. The three-well, two thanked Grillby before they started at their food. Flowey's vine would pick up limed fries and drop them into his tiny maw, still thinking about the jukebox and himself. Frisk merrily chomped into the burger while the skeleton drank down the tomato like paste from his bottle.

Once the bottle was half empty, or half full as some people tend to think, he watched Grillby attended to some other costumers. Once he was gone and no one else was nearby, the bottle was placed back onto the counter. This made the child stop their enjoyment of the well cooked food and look over to their dunkle. Something was up, they knew Sans would never put down a bottle unless something was wrong. Sans’ pupils faintly gazed over Frisk, only to be reeled back noticing the child staring up at them. “ oh uhm…”

“ What’s wrong?” Fisk asked, concern started to grow over them.

“ hehehe, don’t worry kiddo, it’s nothing bad. i uhh… i just wanted to ask you something.” Frisk tilted their head, their brown flowing air dangling to one side. Sans lipped his light colored hood over his head to hide a faint blue blush while he nervously rubbed the back of his neck’s bones. “ uhm.. would you mind if i… hooked up with tori?”

The small child smiled cheerfully while Flowey gagged on his fries, spitting them out to turn at the skeleton in a harsh manner. Frisk gave their dunkle a thumb sup, “ Of course not, why would I? If you like someone in a non-creepy stalker way, go for it.”

“ ah jeez, thanks kid. whew, that means a lot to me-“

“ Where’s my say in this?!" Flowey butted in, snarling as his petals bend back in a defensive manner, making Frisk lean away slightly.

“ you don't get a say, it’s not like tori is your mom or anything.” Sans gave off his casual smile to the provoked plant who seemed stunned for a moment before replying.

“ Think about Asgore! You’ll shatter his soul!”

“ asgore’s a tough guy, i’m sure he’d be fine with it. i mean sides, he’s dealt with being separated for years so-… wait a moment.” Sans paused himself as the gears in his mind worked overtime. His smile lowered as e watched the ruthless flower. “ since when did you start thinking of someone else’s feelings?”
“ Since you’ve thought you’d finally have a normal life again!” Flowey’s vines slammed the counter, getting few eyes placed on him. Frisk nervously reached for a vine to calm the flower, only for it rip away from the gentle grasp.

Sans’ left eye flared up a tiny bit with a blue flame surrounding his iris, “ hey, calm your roots, frisk is only trying to help. and if it wasn’t for them, i wouldn’t have a normal life and you'd be all by yourself. maybe your just upset because you don’t think you can have a normal life for whatever stupid reason.”

The child was about to speak up, only or the flower to interrupt them abruptly, “ If you think you can have such a ‘NORMAL’ life, then get together with someone else without trampling over an already fragile soul you bonehead!”

“ why do you care about this so much?” Sans leaned in, glaring at the angered flower.

“ I don’t! But at least I can feel like I’m doing something good for once!”

“ what by keeping tori as a lonely mother whose lost everything?”

“ So has Asgore! He’s lost the same, if not even more! He just wants his family back!”

“ …” Sans remained silent before a smile grew across his face, making Frisk too unnerved to say anything. “ i get it now… i see what your point is. you look up to the big guy like he’s your father. hehehe, that’s adorable. except you know… he’s not really your dad, right?” Sans leaned back, shrugging as he gave a wink, chuckling to himself, making the plant more bitter.

“ AT LEAST I CAN PRETEND I HAVE ONE UNLIKE YOU, WHO HAS NO ONE!” Flowey spat out violently, making the skeleton across from him go quiet as his hollow dark eyes gazed into space. Flowey had a crazed smile, thinking he had won the argument.

Sans then leaned over to Flowey’s face with his pupils completely gone, making Frisk shiver in fear. He then whispered quietly in sinister tone to Flowey, “ A T
L E A S T I H A V E A R E A L S I B I L I N G… someone i can always count on, no matter what. someone who will always remember me and love me. someone who would never leave me and actually trusts me. someone i can always look to when i’m down, and for them to look up at me, knowing their safe, and i can protect them.”

Frisk shuddered softly while Flowey’s snarled up face of rage slowly went away into a shock of realization. Sans’ pupils reappeared once he looked to Frisk with a low smile, “ sorry kiddo, but… i’m pretty sure your just pretending to care about this ‘thing’. no one could ever care for ‘it’. if you're trying to make ‘it’ feel like 'it' can have a normal life, you can stop. ‘it’ll’ always be broken.” Sans then turned his attention back to Flowey.

“ ya' know... hehehe, your right. i really did start to think we’d have a chance up here… but then you came along.” H let out a soft sigh, “ you don't belong here…” Sans swerved his stool and hopped down, “ i’ll be waiting outside for ya kiddo.” And with that, the skeleton whisked himself away, leaving Frisk look back over at the broken down flower who was still in a state of shock.

Chapter Text

The group of children, mostly containing of young teens sat down in a circle near the babbling flow of the waterfall, splashing water slightly onto some echo flowers, whose colors gleamed off the reflections. There sat Sans, Asriel, Grilby, Muffet, Undyne, and Alphys, all of which were eager to start up their little game. Sans rested his elbow onto his other and rubbed his chin, squinting at his friends. “ Oh my god Sans! Just pick someone! I’ll grow a new tooth before you pick someone!” Undyne shouted out, flipping her arms into the air dramatically. The hostile girl growled before the skeleton closed his eyes and pointed to the flaming orange and red monster.

“ yo grills, truth or dare?”

“ Dare me sucka’!” He folded his arms proudly, giving off a smug smirk if he could. Sans chuckled and tossed a bag of hotdogs he had in his backpack.
Sans pointed two finger guns to his friend and winked in a cheeky manner, “ fry us up some water sausages~.” Grillby held the packet up and made the fire on his body flare up with anger before muttering and holding them to slowly cook them. He only did this to make the process longer for the skeleton who gave a slight glare with a blue tongue sticking out.

“ Okay, Alphys, truth or dare?”

The nervous lizard squeaked as her name was called out, clacking her caws together nervously, “ Da-Dar-NONONO! TRUTH!”

“ Hmmm… Is it true there’s a giant skull in The Lab that eats monsters?”

“ H-Huh? Oho, no, no! It’s ju-just an extractor.” A few of the monsters blinked in confusion.

“ For what?” Muffet asked, raising a brow.

Alphys’ eye sifted around, her cheeks puffing up in embarrassment before she sighed and rubbed her scaly knuckles together, “ I-I’m not really sure. Maybe for lava if there’s too much in The Core?” She gave a small shrug, confused herself by the large behemoth skull like machine that was strung up in The Labs. She often wondered what it was used for since she never saw it in use. Gaster wouldn’t even tell her what it was, besides extracting… But that had been it. “ O-Okay m-my turn. Muffet? Tr-truth or dare?”

The purple feminine spider monster giggled behind a hand, “ Truth deary~”

“ I-Is it true th-that… your family makes spider goods o-out of spiders?”

“ Well of course-“ She then got an ‘EW!’ comment from the rest of the group, along with a remark of cannibalism, which made her rather agitated. “ Only the non-sentient ones, much like snails and others bugs. Besides, spiders in the wild eat other spiders, so there really isn’t too much to get worked up about. Now then, Undyne deary, truth or da-“

“ FUCKING DARE ME!” She screamed, the violet spider flinching.

“ I dare you to… Show off your strength.”

Undyne gave a toothy grin and got up to dash to a rather large boulder, picking it up and suplexing it, making the entirety of the rock crumble into pieces. While everyone went silent, the blue fish pumped up her fists into the air above and shouted victoriously, “ YEAH!” She then pointed a small claw to Asriel who leaned back from fear, “ Fluffy! T or D?!”

“ U-Uh-Uhm.. Tr-T-Truth…” He nervously asked as the rough fish came back to sit down in her original spot.

“ Is it true that you munch on stuff when your nervous?”

Only for Asriel to demonstrate unknowingly as he chewed on Sans’ scarf from witnessing Undyne raw power. The young skeleton looked over at the seemingly traumatized goat, “ uhh… yeah, yeah he does.”

The prince finally snapped out of it and rubbed his neck in embarrassment, “ Hehe… Sorry… Uhm, Sans? Truth o-or dare?”

“ eh, lay a truth on me.”

“ I-Is it true that uhm… No to b-be rude, but your dad kept you and your brother a secret for a wh-while?”

Sans put both of his sweater covered arms behind his back, looking up as his conjured up tongue poked the inside of his cheekbone, “ mmm, yeah. something about seeing if we’d be stable or something. it was kinda confusing. alphys, truth or dare?”

“ U-Uh-Oh my… U-Uhm ddddare?” She shut her eyes tightly, slowly opening them as to expect something painful headed her way.

“ dare you to hug undyne.”

“ SA-SANS!” Aphys yelled out, receiving a giggle from Sans and Grillby. She looked over to the fish sitting next to her as her muscles locked up. She shook violently as she spread out her arms, squeezing her eyes tightly again seemingly moving to Undyne… When in reality she hadn't moved an inch. Undyne rolled her eye and quickly gave a comforting hug to the lizard who blushed up immensely. Alphy’s eyes opened, above a dark red shade, still frozen in place. “ Gr-G-G-Griiiiilby…” She practically pleaded out.

“ Just dare me man.”

“ I-I da-dare you to smack Sans for me-“

“ Done. This is what happens when you use me as your personal grill!” Grillby eagerly agreed as the back of is flaming hand slapped the arm of the skeleton who couldn’t stop giggling, making him slap the prankster on the same spot again and again.

Sans pushed his older friend away laughing out, “ ahh, no grilz! stoop it!” He yelled out playing along with the gentle whaps of the back hand.

“ Right anyways. Dear lady Muffet, Truth or d you even dare?”

“ Huehuehue, dare what deary?”

“ Dare to dare, and you’d find out.” Grillby said in a smug tone, making the spider girl grin with the thought of the challenge.

“ Then dare me, if you even dare.”

“ Very well… I dare you to make us some muffins later.” The fire fueled monster snickered as Muffet’s challenging gaze lowered to unpleasantness.

“ You could have just asked me… Urgh, fine… Sans…”

The skeleton was happily picking out a hotdog from the package that his flaring friend had warmed up, putting it on a stick and blowing the cool air onto it, taking a small bite. “ uhhh…dare?”

“ I dare you to show off your magic~! I hear it’s rather enticing to behold!” Muffet’s three pairs of hands clasped together behind five shining eyes that gleamed out, ready to see a demonstration. Sans looked to Undyne and gulped down his mouth full of food. He nervously hesitated before his eye glowed out the eerie blue and yellow, making all the hotdogs sink into small sticks and handing them over to the other monsters. All of them were in an awe of amazement as he seemed to do it so easily. Well besides the prince since he had seen that and much more personally. But he still enjoyed it the sight, it made him feel protected. “ That’s amazing deary!” She clapped to the skeleton who covered up his small embarrassment with his hood from hearing someone stroke his ego.

“ hehehe… uhm, azzy. your go.”

“ Hrm… Dare! I mean might as well since everyone else is doing it, right?”

His bony friend chuckled as his voice got serious for a moment, “ i dare you to…” The prince gulped, regretting the choice he picked as Sans’ voice went lower like he had when his father was using Asriel as a tool in training. “ … bleat.” He swung off his hood, reviling a large friendly grin.

The small goat monster puffed up his cheeks in a bit of humiliation and anger on the side. He sighed, knowing this wouldn’t go well and let out an adorable bleat that would make most women stop what they were doing and admire the sickening cuteness of him. Of course while Grillby and Undyne laughed out from the tiny vocal statement, Alphys and Muffet went into the, ‘Awww!’ of overwhelming cuteness. Asriel folded his arms in a manner of a small child, sticking his tongue out to the skeleton who joined the other two laughing. “ Hrmf! Grillby, truth or dare?”

Once Grillby pulled himself from the sheer adorableness of the prince he wiped away what may have been a fiery tear from his face. “ Ahaha-oh-ohh man, truth.”

“ Why did Frostdrake call you a traitor?” Asriel had been a bit stumped by how angry the bird and fire had gotten at one another. All jokes aside, the eldest of the group regained his composure.

“ Ah… ‘That’… See, a while back I made a group of misfits and rebellious teens. Frostdrake was one of my friends in my old group. There were so many people in the group, that we had to have two leaders. Me, since I founded the group, known as The Forest Teens, while someone else was picked to be the other lead. That guy was good at many things. I would have chosen Sans, but I still needed a right hand man… Besides I don’t think Sans would have been the best pick to be another leader.”
“ i am so offended and triggered my good sir.” Sans joked out, putting a hand over his chest, getting a shush from Grillby.

“ Anyways, Frostdrake went to the other guy as his right hand man. It was good and all, we were all friends… except, the other guy turned out to be manipulative, and turned everyone but Sans, Doggo, and Undyne against me. Muffet and Alphys weren't in the group at the time, so they never got to deal with any of that dramatical mess.”

“ O-Oh… I-I’m s sorry…” Asriel looked down, his ears dangling in the direction his head leaned.

“ Ah it’s all under the water now… Anyways Undyne-"

“ JUST DARE ME ALREADY!” Screamed out the over-zealous blue scaled fish.

“ Okay, jeez… You need to chill out-“

“ nah, she hates being cold…” Sans chuckled, getting a punch to the shoulder from the teen girl with a gnarled toothy gesture.

“ I dare you to… Show us your eye.” The others gasped out, including Sans, quickly looking to Grillby with a horrified and shocked expression, a flash of blue flickered for a split second as his casual grin faltered down. Undyne, being the toughened, stubborn, and hard-headed girl she was crossed her arms before merely grinning her sharpened smile. She gently took off her pitch black eye-patch, revealing her hidden eye under it. It looked like her normal one… however a rather deep thin scar went across it, while the eye it’s self was as dark the color of midnight could get. And right there in the middle, sat a thin cat-like iris of pure yellow staring out to the others. The pupil itself was far more slimmer and piercing than her natural eye. She smiled and tucked it back under the patch again, looking proudly to the group.
“ Pretty sweet, huh?! Though… Can’t really remember all what happen, but I take it as a win! … You okay there Sans?” Undyne tilted her finned head to the skeleton who covered his face with his hood.

“ ye-yeah, yeah. i uhhh-it just looks painful is all…” Sans lied through his clenched teeth. No one dared to tell her how she really got it. Sure it wasn’t the best decision, but kids can be rather emotional and take things out off proportions. She shrugged and pointed to the spider girl.

“ Truth or dare?!”

“ Mmm… Truth me deary~”

“ Shit… Uhm… Is it true you eat other monsters?”

“ PARDON?!” Muffet’s five compounded eyes shot up in shock.

“ Well erm… I mean you’re a spider and well…” Undye’s voice went down, knowing she had done goofed.

“ That’s fairly racist deary! Hrmf! How rude…” he purple spider mumbled out before her sharp eyes darted over to the white furred prince, getting a small squeak from him.

“ Your go deary.”

“ U-Uhm… Truth please.” He lowered his head down into his shirt to hide from the angered monster.

Muffet’s bright yet creepily cheerful smile returned upon her face once again, “ Do you really know how to cook?”

“ Ye-Yeah… Uhm i-it’s… It’s a hobby…” Asriel spoke quietly, fumbling with his fingers to get yet another ‘Awww’ from her and Alphys.

Grillby quirked a blazing brow and turned to Sans, holding a hand in front of his mouth to whisper out, “ So our new king’s more of a sissy than King Fluffgore?”

“ shhh! don’t be rude. sides we all know you wanna be a cook.” Sans snapped back whispering to the sentient fire being.

“ Uhm, Al-Alphys. Asriel pointed out to the yellow chubby lizard.

“ Tr-T-Truth as well please!”

“ What are you, mister Gaster, and Sans all working on?”

“ Hrm… I-I-I’d like to tell you bu-but-but, we’re not prohibited.” Asriel frowned in a bit of a letdown, he really was curious as to what was going on. Alphys merely shrugged in response, telling she couldn’t really let anyone know the projects at work. “ U-Uhm… O-Oh jeez… I can’t pick anyone anymore, I-I don’t know what to ask..” She trailed off before rubbing her temples to concentrate.

Thankfully… Or Unthankfully, her science partner grinned and leaned over putting is skeletal hand on her shoulder, “ heh, that’s fine, I can pick for ya.”

“ Ye-Yes please.” She smiled softly as a headache came through into her mind, making her slightly out of commission.

“ no problem alph… undyne, i dare you t-“

“ Hey, whoa! Slow your shit Sans! Who said I only wanted dares?!”

“ well… you seemed pretty enthusiastic about it-“

“ Truth!” The fish called out, tightening her knuckles and swinging them into the air to protest against the skeleton.

The skeleton squinted as his smirk let him… Only for the sly smile to come back in full tilt, “ okay… do you ‘like’ alph?”

“ What kinda stupid dumb-ass question is that?! Course I like her!”

Sans chuckled, “ hehehe, yeah… but do you ‘L I K E' her…?”

Alphy blushed profusely as Grillby snickered to himself. Undyne just had a vacant and blank stare on her face before even daring to respond. “ You didn’t ask in that tone, so you don’t get that answer, now it’s your turn…”

Sans shrugged, scoffing from the huffy fish. He leaned back onto a pale bluish rock, shrugging, “ hehehe, fine, fine… dare me.”

Undyne’s growling expression turned into a mischievous yet sinister smile full of two set rows of sharp and pointed teeth, “ I dare you to kiss Azzy on the cheek~.” She rang out, making everyone look to Sans except for Asriel whose attention went straight to Undyne with wide eyes.

Sans himself stopped his large constant grin as the pinpoint pupils cleared away in the back of his eye sockets, not seeing any of this coming. He slowly sat up in a straight manner and glowed a light glow of blue across his skull. From the stilted silence, it was easy to tell how shocked Sans was at the moment. He hesitated before leaning over and giving the smallest peck on the prince's furry cheek, in turn making the goat blush up and cover his face with his loppy ears, clutched in his paws. As Grillby said nothing, just like Sans, the two girls went through the third, ‘Awww' again. All while Undyne laughed out at Sans, getting back at him as he shrunk down into his sweater to hide in what he and Papyrus liked to call, ‘Sweater Town.’ The prince himself scrunched up into a ball sitting nearby him, embarrassed but… rather happy. Behind his hidden face was a gentle and warm smile. All due to a small friendly kiss on-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

His cheek, where Frisk planted the peck. Asriel blushed lightly from the friendly gesture, still looking down as the human held his soft white paws. “ … Asriel?”

The young prince looked up with warm tears pouring down is fuzzy cheeks, “ .....”

“ Wh-Wy are you crying…?” Frisk asked, more concerned than ever before.

Asriel took a steady moment before looking away, avoiding their new friend’s gaze, “ … Frisk… Please. Just stop this… I know you’ve been doing this for a week straight now…If your going to reset, just do it already. I’m so tired of feeling like you're going to do it anytime now.”

Frisk had freed all the monsters, and moved into the city where they had been from originally. Once there, the monsters set up camps near or in town, while others rented out hotel and motel rooms until they could build up or buy some homes. Thankfully the towns nearby were actually fairly peaceful unlike the older days when Chara was raised there. Many changes went around, and most people enjoyed the company of the friendly yet bizarre creatures, sensing the monsters weren't hostile and had grown peaceful over the years. Before the war, both races were still being established and that the humans often fought with other humans, eventually turning over to fight with monsters. Both races now were what could be a peaceful utopia, though some were still jerks and criminals, but not as much as they use to be.

But for the story right now, Firsk’s new founded family would stay at a hotel the first day in the morning when the sun began to rise over the horizon once the barrier let up. Once the monsters got settled into the hotel, Frisk would run off, making their way all the way back to The Ruins, often getting there at noon. They would play and chat with the lone goat monster hidden all the way down below to himself. Afterwards, Frisk would have to leave and went back to town. In the morning, they go to The Underground again to see if Asriel was there… Only to find Flowey. And so, they reset to right after the barrier was broken, doing this routine for a bit over a week, which scared the hell out of Sans, due to him sensing it.

Frisk had only wanted to spend more time with Asriel and if they were to show him to anyone, no one would have enough time to figure out a way to change him back to normal. They would at least need a long while for different tests, and Frisk would rather not make the poor prince go through all that trouble since he wasn’t really himself when he was the flower. And Flowey wouldn’t put up with any of it… This was the reason why Frisk tried to see if he’d stay as Asriel… But of course, Asriel remembered every reset, aside from True Resets… He had grown tired of talking and playing, only to know the next day his happiness would be stripped away, and go trough fading and fleeting feelings as Frisk would reset.

“ You can’t keep this up… It isn’t fair to tease everyone to going to The Surface just repeat their freedom every day, yet going nowhere. Please… If you're going to do a True Reset, just do it… If not, then please… Just go out and live your life. You have people waiting for you up there. Let them live like their suppose to. Just leave me here.” Asriel took in a sharp breath and sat down in the golden bed of flowers.

The child sat next to him, saddened and ashamed. They felt rather selfish for doing this for a full week or so just to try and make Asriel feel again. “ But… It’s not fair for you. You shouldn’t stay down here all by yourself.” Frisk sniffled a bit, growing tears of their own.

“What is one monster’s life to every monster in The Underground Frisk?”

“ But you don’t deserve this!”

The young prince sighed painfully, “ I do Frisk… I've done horrible things. I can’t live a normal life. I did this to myself. It’s no one’s fault. Only mine. I don’t care if I’m just a scapegoat… I just want everyone to be happy.” He sadly chuckle at the unintentional pun. Frisk quickly held onto the poor goat monster, clutching onto him, not wanting to let their friend go. “ Frisk… If we’re really friends, then you’ll go be with your loved ones.”

“ But I want to make you happy...”

“ Then go be happy with them. That’ll make me happy.” Asriel weakly whimpered out as he was cradled by the human. The two stayed quiet for a while until both ad calmed their selves down. Frisk sighed and pulled away from the equally tall monster, taking out the reset button, Asriel watching them in a painfully tired way.
“ I guess this is the only way I can keep anyone happy. And to keep up a really old promise.” Frisk said sadly, grabbing the reset logo and standing up, pulling it up above their head and swinging it down to their lifted up knee. The button now shattered into two pieces, one being absorbed back into the human like a vessel.
Asriel stood up to smile at Frisk, “ I know it’s hard… But it’s finally time for you to forget me. Now you can go be free. Be happy. Be loved.” He held back his tears as best he could as the human vacantly stared at the other half of the reset.

Frisk then put the other half into Asriel’s paws, his expression changing from bitter-sweet to confused. “ Sorry Asriel. But I have two promises to keep. One, no more resetting. That was a long promise I made to Sans. Your right, the monsters deserve to be free. And two, the promise I made back when I first met you. I promise, I will fix you.” Determination flowed from their voice from the very core of their soul.

Only for the sad prince to wince at the word, “ Frisk… Promises don’t last. I should know-“

“ But I pinky-promised on it! No one can go back on that!” The child said abruptly as they were upset and stubborn. Trying to make another upset and stubborn person to change ideals.

“ Please Frisk. You need to learn that no matter what you promise, it will always break.”

“ Well-well… My promises are golden and nothing can break a golden pinky promise!”

“ … Doesn’t gold break easily?”

“ Asriiiiiel!” The whined out, “ I’m trying to be sweet and helpful!”

The small prince of monsters smiled gently at them and gave out another deep sigh, “ Okay… Okay… I’ll be here tied to that promise then... I've got nothing else to lose.”

“ Thanks Asriel. But first, I do need to get rid of this temptation” They said as they held the broken button out. “ I don’t trust myself anymore. Please hide this so I don’t do a true reset.”

“ Bu-but… But what if something happens on The Surfa-“

“ That’s why I have half. I’m pretty sure a full reset button makes everything go back. But I have one, I think it would just affect The Surface, or where I’m at. It must have happen when you were Flowey right? I mean, how else would the other souls have fallen down here over time while The Underground stayed the same after your resets. I don't think your determination was enough to reset the whole world. So, if you turn back to Flowey and are still down here and something goes wrong… You can use it for The Underground.”

“ But-but, what if I try to hurt you and take it-“

Fisk smiled softly to their friend, “ I know you won’t.”

Asriel was reassured as the human put their hands over onto his shoulders. Asriel knew he wouldn’t… Not anymore. Flowey was now as broken as him, not willing to do much of anything anymore. “ Your right… but, what happens… If you do need to reset-L-Like if… If… I decide to…” He trailed off in a saddened tone before Frisk’s other and was placed on the other side, making him curiously raise his head to Frisk.

“ You can leave clues for me. Then I can bring you back. I know sometimes you’ll want to let go, and it might seem selfish. But, I don’t want you to go… I WILL fix you. I promise.” Frisk looked directly into the others eyes, their voice full of determination. The goat prince hated doubting, but he couldn’t help himself from feeling that way to Frisk. However, he did want them to keep a promise to Sans. At least they might actually be able to keep that one with the skeleton since he, himself never could. So Asriel nodded and started to walk away to leave, not wanting to say a goodbye, feeling as if he didn't deserve it. However Frisk tugged onto his sleeve which broke him a bit, he wasn’t good with goodbyes… “ Before you go hide it and turn back… Can I at least show you one thing?”

Asriel’s eyes shifted away before giving a faintly weak smile.

The two children sat at the edge of mountain like hill. Both looking at the view beyond where the sun filled the sky faraway with clouds here and there, looking like figures from their imagination. Frisk licked their nice-cream as Asriel sucked on his, both has been watching the beautiful sight to behold along with the nice cool breeze and freshened air all around. Frisk had wanted him to at least witness a gorgeous day while he had some type of feeling, and before the two would ultimately have to split ways. The two had remained quiet as they took in the great view, every now and then telling each other what a cloud would look like, making the other figure out how they would see it. This was by far the best day Asriel ever had.

And all while Frisk had bought along snacks for the both of them as they watched the world around them in all its bountiful glory. The human moved their sweetened sugary treat away to point out something, “ Asriel! Look!” They pointed out with their free and up to the side of the sky, overhead the town nearby. Asriel gasped out almost dropping his treat as his eyes caught the sight of the large and colorful textured beam in the sky. It was a genuine rainbow, made from real drizzle of the clouds and the light of the smoldering sun. Frisk happily looked at the rainbow, before noticing they hadn’t gotten a reply from their friend. They looked over to see the monster prince stare at the beam of light, entranced by its beauty. It didn’t take long until tears form at the bottom of his eyes, cascading down his cheeks. “ A-Asriel?”

As Frisk asked in a concerned manner, they soon found the goat to laugh, almost insanely, but not being able to pull it off. The laugh wasn’t the happy type, but more of the sad and broken down type when someone had finally given up on everything. “ A-A r-re-real rai-rai-r-rainbow…” He stuttered out, smiling as more tears rolled down his fur. “ I-It’s funny… A long time ago, me and a friend both promised w-we’d see a rainbow together. When we finally got out of The Underground, that would be the first thing we'd do together… I’m… I’m just so happy to see one with a good friend. Thank your Frisk.”

The human put their free hand onto the monster's back, patting him and slowly rubbing to help calm him down from his episode, “ You really miss Chara that much, huh? That must have been one special promise.”

However unlike what Frisk had expected, Asriel turned to look over at them, “ ….. Who said Chara was my only best friend?” Realization then dawned and struck Frisk, making them open up their squinted eyes for once. This was very new! Asriel had another-
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Best Friend? That’s what Flowey had called them… right? Or was that only because he mistook the young determined filled child as their adoptive sibling? All while Frisk, themselves thought of the vicious little plant as more of brother than anything else. They had always wanted a sibling… Someone to be with them when they were lonely. At the orphanage, Frisk would often become great friends with other older children, pretending they were their older sibling that they could count on… Only for them to be adopted out and having to find someone new. The small child never truly envied any of the others who were picked out from the bunch, and felt happy, knowing they wouldn't have to stay at the orphanage. Though it would get fairly empty and lonely at times.

Frisk shook off the past thoughts and cupped the gold tinted doorknob of their room, opening it ajar and stealthily to peek in. Upon looking into their own room, they could make out the dollhouse they had bought Flowey. All the little wood carved figures were doing various things in the home. And with all those cutely carved smiles, the entire crew seemed content and happy. However, Flowey’s own small mini wooden self was nowhere to be seen. Speaking o which, his pot wasn’t on the table looking out the window.

Frisk squinted and stuck out their tongue to concentrate where else the sentient plant could be hiding. Frisk then moved in, leaving the door to be fairy open as they crouched down onto the wooden flooring, getting on their belly and army crawling under their cozy bed.

Low and behold, Flowey was hiding in the corner under the bed to where the two walls collided, having his stem turned away like he had been put in time-out like a younger child, waiting for their punishment to be over with. Next to the broken down flower lay the wooden self of him, carelessly dropped, smiling to Frisk. It’s carved in smile seemed hollow and empty, much like the real thing it had been based on. They scooted in under the bed a tad more, making some shuffling sounds to warn the flower they were there, but not to scare him.

Flowey gave a gurgling growl from his throat, still not facing the child, “ Frisk… Just leave me alone. I was meant to be alone, so just leave me already.” He whined out instead of his usual tone that dripped with hate.

“ Nu-uh.” Frisk wouldn’t budge as they shook their head.

“ Ugh, why aren’t you going to go see the smiling trash-bag like everyone else and talk to him instead? All the rest probably have…”

“ Oh, and why would that be?”

“ Because, no one wants to check on me unless their told to.”

“ I’m not… I came here by my own choice. You know, I know you don’t want anyone near mom, but did you really have to bring up his dad?”

“ It was self defense… I just-I. I don’t like to be reminded that he’s right.” Flowey swerved his head around, drooping gold petals bent over his true sot face with gentle eyes and fangs. “ They're not my parents. Not anymore. I don’t have parents. I don’t have any friends. Their all just empty lies. I have no one. You probably just pity me and want me to suffer just like him.I –I don’t belong here... I never belonged here or The Underground. I’m just a mistake. Nobody needs me, and nobody wants me.” The weak plant lowered his stem, tears dripping down and into the soil below, watering himself. “ I just need to wait until I wilt away.”

“ Flowey. I’m not like Chara. You can count on me. If I didn’t want you here, I’d let you stay underground. I know the others only put up with you because I do, but I do it because I care about you.”

“ Why…? Why do you care about me?! I’ve done nothing right since I got here!”

Frisk carefully grabbed the clay pot, sliding it over so they could wrap their arms around it to simulate a tightened hug. “ Because, I know that deep inside, your still Asriel. And even if you weren’t, you don’t deserve to be alone. Your just crying for help, and I heard you.” Frisk sniffled themselves a bit, feeling the small droplets of tears splash onto their head as they held the pot close. “ You need a friend, you need help, you need somebody.”

“ Frisk. You're not my friend. You’ll never be my friend. I have no friends.”

“ That’s fine. I don’t want to be your friend.” Flowey whimpered lightly, only to get dragged out from out under the bed and taken into Frisk’s closet. Once inside the small room with small light gaps treading down, Frisk placed the pot onto the floor and sat next to him. “ And your right, I’ll never be your friend. But, I can be part of your family.”

“ Frisk, you're not part of my family. I don’t have a family! I don’t… I don't have a sibling anymore… I don't think I ever had one to begin with.” He lowered down, this time Frisk put their hand under his chin so he wouldn’t droop over the pot. Te gently cupped his face, tilting him up so both of the sad duo could look each other in the eyes.

“ Then let me be your sibling… I’ll let you choose. I won’t tell you anything, it’s your choice… It’s always someone else’s choice… Someone always gets to choose whether they love you or not.” The child looked down in disappointment. From what little things Frisk had told the stubborn plant, they themselves were never picked by a family. Never getting to be loved like most normal functioning families. It was always depended on the parents who they chose to love. Frisk never got a say in it. Neither did Chara until they fell down. Asgore even dared to offer his soul so they could o back home. For the first time, Cara got to pick. Once Frisk had fallen down, Toriel let them pick whether or not call them as mom.

Frisk got to pick someone to love, and that was Flowey. They had only wanted to be picked all over again… It was Flowey’s choice this time. It was his call. The flower stayed silent for a while until a rare hopeful smile spread upon his face, “ I always wanted a sibling… I always wanted a sibling like you Frisk. If you really chose me of all people to love... That makes you such an idiot. But… I guess I can choose you to be my sibling.”

Sans kept quiet as he tried to pull himself into sleep on his mattress, only not being able to like he normally could. He could always fall asleep without a problem! So why was it so hard this one time? All because his mind was working out things, separating thoughts and comparing them. Was this what he was actually like without having to pretend to be happy and fine all the time? Sure some of it was genuine happiness, but the other half he always tended to cover up. Without worrying about the resets he could go back to being normal… The last time he was ever really normal was when e lost his father to The Core. After a year or so, he started to turn back around for his old self to be re-birthed, only for that to be crushed, breaking him part on the inside after learning of Asriel's death.

After that, his brother was constantly upset and worried about him. So for Papyrus’ sake, Sans began pretending half of the time that he was fine. But once the resets began, the facade went into an overload, sometimes Sans himself not knowing if he was faking or if he was actually happy. He had fooled himself just like he did to others for so many years. And now with no more resets and Papyrus to be happy alongside his brother, made it to where he could be himself again.

But was this rediscovered self good? A questioned himself over and over. He was less worried about the prickly plant, than his new self cracking out from a long hardened shell that grew out over the years. That was until he heard his room’s door creak open and close softly behind. He sighed lightly before sitting up as he was clutching his pillow and turned around looking weak and tired.

“ paps, for the last time, i’m fine, i’m just tired is all an-“ He quickly shut his trap even if it wasn’t actually open as he talked out from his teeth. At the other side of the small room stood the loving goatly mother he had a crush on. He began to shrink under into his sweater to retreat to sweater town, clutching the pillow for him to use as a shield. Toriel walked over and sat next to him with a soft smile.

“ Sans… I can see you.”

“ no you can’t…” Sans squeaked out from under his sweater.

Toriel rolled her eyes playfully, smiling from the amusement. “ Sans you silly skeleton… I heard of what happened. Is it true?”

Sans’ soul felt like it would explode, “ y-ye-yes…” He just couldn’t bring himself to lie or break her promise. Not anymore. Not after the resets were gone. Back then, it wouldn’t have mattered, but now… Now things were different.

Toriel let out a light sigh before picking up the skeleton from under his arms, making him drop the pillow and lock up as he was lifted off from his spot and guided onto her lap. Sans thankfully still hid his face under the hood, bushing profusely. “ Sans… It’s sweet of you to think of me as someone to get together with, but… I just cannot.”

“ wa-wait…what?” Sans peeked out from hiding, his eyes widened in shock with his soul starting to ache. Was he getting rejected an out pushed into the friend zone?!

“ It is not you. Nor is it Asgore. It is me. I am the problem. I Just can’t move on. Sure I do not enjoy Asgore around, but I simply cannot move on because of him. I have spent so long to myself that I do not need a companion anymore.”

“ s-so…so… i would have never had a chance, huh?” The skeleton said sadly, a small blue swirl of energy leaked out from his left eyes. He felt horrible at the moment.

“ I wouldn't say that Sans. In fact if I wasn’t accustomed to being by myself, I would take the offer in a heartbeat. And perhaps I might. Ut not now Not while I have Frisk. They are still growing. They need me. The last time I didn't pay attention enough and let them do their own thing…” She trailed of a bit as she remembered her original two children, then the other six that fell afterwards. “ But Sans, please o not be upset. You can certainly do much better than a little old lady such as myself.” She gave off a warm smile as the skeleton had a hard time keeping away any tears to start shedding.

“ However… You will always be my best man. I truly do love you, deep down. But not in that sense. You are part of a much larger family now, and we all love you deeply as a family should. You are still part of my family Sans. And with that, you and your brother will never be alone again.” She gave him a motherly kiss on his forehead. That was until the former judge collapsed into her emotionally and mentally exhausted. The goat monster wrapped her arms around him, gently rocking his somewhat limp body. “ What are you thinking…?”

“ … i’m...just so happy i have someone to finally lean on, knowing i’m not alone anymore… thanks t.” He felt a great weight had been lifted from his shoulder blades as he let out a long sigh of relief. He just didn’t want to think Toriel thought he wasn’t good enough, or still was with the old king. But if she had admitted it was her and still loved the skeleton anyways, then it wasn’t that bad really…

“ But of course my Sans-Satoinal skeleton.” She chuckle softly along with him. Sans wasn’t lying this time. He felt happy. Happy to finally have someone to back him u from so long of putting up with things by himself and for Papyrus. He slightly felt like he had a mother in a way. Not a sugar-coat one like Frisk had now, but rather as motherly figure to help guide him along.

Toriel then began to hum as she slowly rocked the weary wrack of bones. She started to hum that one tune... The one that on rare occasions Asriel would sing to him when he needed someone the most. It always comfort him, relaxing his bones as the gentle queen began to softly sing the old melody. Sans began to drift away into sleep under the loving arms of Toriel, his brain shutting own to view happier times from the past instead of worrying about the future. “ Oh let’s go in the garden.” Memories began to flash absentmindedly in his head. The old garden he helped build beyond The Waterfalls.

“ You’ll find something waiting.” The crabapples, fully grown and bearing fruit.“ Right there where you left it, lying upside-down.” A single crabapple in the hands of the old statue. “ Oh when you finally find it, you’ll see how it’s faded” His old tattered and wet scarf hidden under the old rustic music box of The Waterfalls. “ The underside is lighter, when you turn it around.” His old friend nibbling at his scarf happily. “Everything stays, right where you left it.” Them in the side garden of Asgore’s old home. “ Everything stays, but it still changes.” “ The side garden being overgrown with fauna that finally got out of hand. " Ever so slightly, daily and nightly.” Watching the twinkling gems above from his favorite spot when he and Asriel would chat. “ In little ways, where everything stays.” Asriel’s gentle smile… Tears ran down as the memories finally faded into darkness as he drifted into a deep sleep.

With the sleeping skeleton cradling n her arms, the motherly goat smiled, placing him back into his bed, covering him up with the raggedy blanket he slept under. “ Heh, get some rest you one-tired skeleton.” She chuckled lightly to her own pun and shut the lights off. Once they had moved to The Surface, Sans became mystified with the stars, and with the help of Asgore and Frisk, the two had bought him some glowing star figures to stick to his ceiling. The plastic stars glimmered as the gems did back underground as the lights were turned, Toriel keeping the door partially opened just encase before making her way down to talk to her child.

As Toriel made her way to cheer up her child, who no doubly was talking to the flower, trying to calm him down for whatever reason. She knew the sweet child loved that plant. But why? It was so rude, mean-spirited, it even almost killed them back when they fell. As she grew closer to the child’s room, her floppy ears picked up some faint speech from the inside. She carefully ducked down, snaking over to the wooden door and pressing the tips of her fingers on it as her white dangling ear perked up. “ Frisk. You're not my friend. You’ll never be my friend. I have no friends.” Toriel’s soul tightened as she heard the normally crude plant sound distressed and hurt for once.

“ That’s fine. I don’t want to be your friend.” The two now sounded closer, they must have been under the bed or in the corner, thought Toriel. And again, they soon sounded rather muffled, but with her impeccable hearing, she could still make it out.“ And Your right, I’ll never be your friend. But, I can be part of your family.”
“ Frisk, you're not part of my family. I don’t have a family! I don’t… I don't have a sibling anymore… I don't think I ever had one to begin with...” Toriel pondered, trying o think of Flowey’s past history. She didn’t know much other than what she had already known. The flower never did speak up about himself or his past. Maybe there was another flower who had been his sibling and passed away, so that he grew into the often heartless and aggressive flower he was today. She remembered when Asriel had lost Chara… His mood shifted quickly and he wasn’t himself. He wasn’t himself until he came back home, wounded and dyeing.

“ Then let me be your sibling… I’ll let you choose. I won’t tell you anything, it’s your choice… It’s always someone else’s choice… Someone always gets to choose whether they love you or not.” Toriel closed her eyes as she remembered asking what the fallen child had wanted. Either for them to go back to The Surface, which meant sacrificing on of themselves or staying down below. Chara had thought it was a trick, until they finally realized, they finally got a choice, instead of being forced to do something.

“ I always wanted a sibling… I always wanted a sibling like you Frisk. If you really chose me of all people to love... That makes you such an idiot. But… I guess I can choose you to be my sibling.”At that moment, Toriel’s eyes opened with the thoughts and recollection of her former self and memories that were bound to it. She quietly opened the door, walking to the closet door and pulling it open to find Frisk clutching the potted plant. Flowey had his same beady eyes, but now with a frown. As Toriel knelt down, the young child scooted away, further holding onto the pot, not wanting to let go.

“ It is okay my child. I am not here to take you away from him, nor am I here to lecture him for what he had said to Sans.” Frisk opened up a bit, now looking up to their new mother. Toriel’s eyes locked down onto Flowey, “ Now… Is it true, that you see Asgore as a father figure to you?”

“ –Ye-Yessum…” Flowey lowered down, sure she said she wasn’t here about Sans, but she could still lecture him about Asgore. Flowey curled up his stem trying to shrink down much like Sans had.

“ And you think of Frisk as a friend, correct?” She asked, trying to see if he’d take bait.

“ N-No… As a-a si-sibling…” He cowered profusely in his clay pot, only to be initially surprised and shocked as Toriel’s expression went to that of his old sweet mother who had taken care of him when he was little.

“ If that is the case. Then, would you like me to be your motherly figure?”

Flowey felt as f his non-existing soul was going to shatter. Or rather his determination would. Sure he wouldn’t be able t care for her, Asgore, or Frisk… but he’d finally feel like he belonged somewhere. He silently and fearfully nodded, almost out of instinct before Toriel scooped the clay pot from her child's hands and lifted it to her snout. She gently kissed Flowey’s forehead and smiled, “ You do belong. You belong here my child."

Chapter Text

The small group of children nibbled at the sweetly yet stick cinnamon bunnies that had just cooled off from being baked and molded. The kind prince expertly cooked the small treats for the group, almost putting Grillby’s and Muffets skills to shame. The toddler giggled happily as he played with his food while as Undyne acted like a shark ready to swim up and tear off the head of a unsuspecting seal afloat. As they enjoyed staying in the skeletons warm abode, escaping the nipping coldness outside, they had finally mellowed out from playing in the frosted ice outside. However the eldest skeleton of the two brothers stayed a bit quiet, which was rather unlike him. Asriel on the and hadn’t spoke a single word, aside from telling the rambunctious toddler how long the tasty morsels took to bake.

Undyne and Alphys had noticed the abnormal behavior f the two, growing concerned, Papyrus only really noticed his brother and had pulled the two girls attention to it, further worrying them. It happen just two days ago when they were playing Truth or Dare. The butch fish was only joking around to get back at Sans for constantly tasting her and the pudgy lizard. Perhaps that dare did mess the two up slightly. This was all making the gruff fish feel further guilt, not knowing it would come to this.

Before Undyne could say one thing t break the ice of silence, the front door slammed open, making a loud cracking sound as it collided against the wall of the house. At the door-frame stood the royal scientist, with his casual lab coat, one arm holding scrolled up blueprints, and having safety goggles shield his eyes. What practically kicked the door in was Gaster’s shoe, his leg still n mid-air. “ ALPHYS, SANS, HOLY FUCK!”

This shocked the entirety of the group of close knit friends, not one of them ever heard him say that word. The only ones who ever had were Alphys and Sans. Alphys would catch the vulgar word when something didn't add up and further frustrated the scientist. The same went for Sans, except it was very rare at home. Gaster had sworn much more at work, probably due to stress and things not turning out the way they were intended.

“ DAAAD! SWEAR JAR!” Papyrus rose from his seat, ashamed with his father. Sure Papyrus was a young child, but he was goody-two shoes to a degree. If he accidentally did something wrong, he would become overwhelmed with guilt and try to fix it up. He always tried to be friends with anyone even if they were rude to him. And he mostly never tried to get on anyone's bad side, or just causing trouble at all.

Gaster rushed over to the table near the front door, quickly placing a single gold coin into, “ THERE! Sans! Alphys! We've made a large discovery to regulate The Core! Come along-Oh right! So sorry Undyne and my young prince, but I may need to ask of you two to watch over Papyrus!” Before anyone could say a single syllable the scientist dashed over, grabbing hold of the young scientific workers, pulling them out from the warmth and toastyness of what the home provided them. Once the trio were far go the small toddler waddled over t the front door, closing it, keeping the chilly climate outside.

“ Well… That certainly was something…”The fish raised her brow from the sudden situating.

“ Yeah… I can’t believe it wasn’t you this time.” Asriel giggled to himself, receiving a squinting face from his fellow friend.

Papyrus who was oblivious to what his father was so excited about merely walked back to his seat, climbing up to sit down again. “ IT HAPPENS A LOT ACTUALLY.” He shrugged, his father’s eagerness and rushed nosiness was a normal daily basis. The tall skeleton was an ironic enigma. He was calm, confident, proud, and normally either relaxed or intimidating. Sometimes the guy would drop to the purple and green like blue carpet to fall asleep. Sans often wondered if he had some type of narcolepsy. But moving, this was Gaster. Yet at the same time he could be frantic, high strung, and compelled with adrenaline. He was rather easily excitable and would go hopping into a situation, immediately fascinated. He was the most relaxed hyper type of monster in The Underground. “ ANYWAYS… UNDYNE? I THINK SANS IS UPSET.”

“ Wha? What makes you think that squirt?” She tried; key word ‘tried’ to give a genuine smiley, only for it to mold into a big toothy grin which didn't faze him.

“ HE’S BEEN QUIET FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS. WHEN HE HEARD YOU GUYS WERE COMING OVER HE FREAKED OUT AN-AND HIS FACE BECAME BLUE! KINDA LIKE HOW DADS FACE TURNS PURPLE!”

The other two thought, well mostly Undyne since Asriel’s eyes shifted away to the side. “ Oh-OH! … Ohhh…” Undyne went from realization to knowing to disappointment in herself. She the rubbed the back of her bluish neck, “ Riiiight… ‘That’… Ya see, I kinda dared him to kiss Prince Fluffybuns over here on the cheek, cuz he keep teasing me and Alphys to date or something.”

Papyrus looked like he was concentrating before the gears in is head could spark to life, “ SO HE POKES AT YOU TWO AND YOU GET BACK AT HIM LIKE THAT?” He question, getting an affirmative nod from her and the goat. “ … SO, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?”

Undyne looked over to the prince who finally gave up giving her a nasty glare at the mention of being dubbed, ‘prince fluffybuns’, before twiddling his fingers, “ I-It’s just embarrassing i-is all.”

“ SO? HE GIVES ME LOTSA KISSES ON THE CHEEK AND FOREHEAD!”

“ Paps, it’s different when it’s family. I think I pushed a little too far.”

“ Yeah…Y-You kind of did. I mean the other group keep making jokes of how were boyfriends and stuff and that I’m a princess." Asriel said quietly, flushing up furry cheeks a tad.

“ The hell? They did? I mean-Hey! Don’t listen t them! I just wanted to see how Sans liked it if he was being poked fun of for liking someone!” Asriel’s gaze lowered away as he rubbed his sleeved arm. Undyne’s expression broke downward into concerned look, “ I’m sorry I had to use you for it, but it was the only way.´ Undyne placed a finned hand over onto his shoulder, “ But it wasn't meant to embarrass you. I know how sensitive you are. I was not intending to pick on you. But why are you freaking out so much?”

“ Because. B-Because. I-I uhm… I-I erm.”

Undyne’s inner cogs started to turn around before her eye opened widely, her thin iris growing thinner like a light was blinding her, “ … Oh my god, you ‘like’ him?”
Asriel shrunk down a bit, making Papyrus fall of his own chair only to push himself back up, walking to the scared Prince to hug his arm. “ Oh shit you do LIKE him. Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to force you into that situation, I just wanted Sans to feel humiliated-Shit-Fucking-I didn’t mean to humiliate you!”
Papyrus’ short arm extended out to the living room, giving a tiny cute threatening glare, “ UNDYNE! NO SWEARING IN THE HOUSE!” Undyne rumbled to herself, quickly sprinting off to place her coins, then running back over to the shy goat prince.

Asriel sighed heavily, “ It’s okay, I understand. It was an accident. I’m just stressing over if maybe… He doesn't like me, a-an-and he doesn’t want to see me-or-or maybe he hates me now-WHAT IF HE FINDS OUT I LIKE HIM?! I don’t wanna' be alone again!” Asriel curled up into a tight ball, tearing his am away from the peppy skeleton who looked hurt an sad for his brother's new friend.

Undyne put her hand onto his back an rubbed it. Sure she wasn’t motherly, but she still had SOME maternal instinct as she apologized. “ Asriel, if he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have let you come in or use the oven. He’s just not use to feeling this way, but while you were baking, I saw him watch you and smile.”
Asriel peered out from hiding with his arms over his head, “ Re-Really?”

“ YEAH! HE WAS WATCHING YOU COOK AND BAKE LIKE ME! I WATCHED BECAUSE YOU WERE SO COOL AT IT! AND-AND-AND YOU MAKE HIM FEEL HAPPY!” Papyrus chimed in, in his usual yelling way as he waved his tiny arms about at his sides. The goat monster slowly uncurled himself from the fetal position and gave a small shy smile.

“ Yeah, besides I’m sure he had the hots for Grillby at one point. Either that or admiration, but he seems to like to spend his company with you.” She gave her sharp toothed grin before Papyrus yelled out, making the other two swerve their heads to him.

“ ARGH! UNDYNE! SANS HAS BEEN RUBBING OF ON YOU AGAIN! YOU SAID A HORRIBLE JOKE! ARG! I NEED TO MAKE A PUN JAR!” Shouted the smaller child in anger, all before Undyne realized he heat related joke she hadn’t said on purpose. Thankfully he dilemma made the prince laugh from a bit of amusement of the whole misunderstanding.

It took a while as the three made their way over to Hotland after entertaining the hyper young skeleton for an hour or so. Undyne had had enough and quite literally flipped over a table, stating that their two friends needed a break from their ‘nerd work’. They took the Riverperson's boat, Ariel holding onto Undyne tightly, fearing that he might have drowned again, while Papyrus clinged to the dark robes of the Riverperson laughing all the way due to the dog part of the bat looking back every now and then making faces. Along the way, both older children chatted about something that kept itching at Asriel’s mind. “ So wait… Sans only did it to tease Alphys… Then why were you upset?”

“ DUH! Because I like her!”

“ Why don’t you tell her then? She obviously likes you around.”

“ Can’t. Trust me I want to, but she’s gotta’ learn to stop being so afraid and grow some courage! I want her to stand up for herself, if I ask he to o out, she’ll still be the same… Speaking of which…”

Finally they had made it to the large laboratory, walking into it. The goat did somewhat agree with the easily angered fish, that poor Alphys needed to stand up for herself. Much like Asriel did when he first met Sans. If he had stayed in hiding and quiet, he would have never had such a good friend to cherish. As for the building they entered however, Asriel saw what he had never seen inside The Labs … All sorts of gadgets and gizmos whirred all over the place, beeping sounds ran down the rooms, bright lights filled the walls. It was rather chilly due to being near The Core, but also for sanitation manners. Screens buzzed with activity while machines hummed in the background. As the small group made their way, following Papyrus of all people, since he was brought to the Labs every now and then, remembering where is father’s office was located.

Asriel watched other scientific monsters roam around doing their own individual jobs. A green furred lanky cat like monster was mopping some of the tiled floors, stopping once in a while to check on some screens, pushing in several buttons as he multi-tasked. Another seemed to just be a large head with a gaping maw who was talking to a smaller monster whose bug eyes were glued to some papers that stuck out from his coat. Another monster, this one being a young lizard in their early twenties ran past the group with papers in her mouth as a yellow bow bounced around on her head. Then there were about three royal guards making sure things were fine or taking break. A cat helmeted one chatted alongside a mantis looking monster and a dog guard while other monsters did their own things in the back that didn’t stick out to much to Asriel.

At last they had made it to their destination, Undyne clearly knowing they were there as her eye struck over to catch sight of the shy nervous wreck of a lizard, “ HEY! ALPHYS!” She shouted out, causing some monsters to stumble, mess up their calculations, or like Aphys, jumping with a box, falling on them. Undyne winced from the sight and hurried over to help the other girl up.

“ WH-W-WHAT-W-WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING HERE?!”

“ You've been gone for three hours! You need a break!”

“ O-OH-O-OH-OH MY! SA-S-S-SANS!”

The short skeleton cam over munching on a hotdog, dressed in an equally white lab coat, “ huh? oh hey, why are you guys here?”
“ Sans, you've both have been gone for three fucking hours!”

Sans nearly choked on the magical food from hearing that, and being nearly tackled by his younger brother. He swallowed the mouthful and looked to the side,” hey dad! apparently it’s been three hours!” Gaster’s looming presence made its way the scene.

“ What? That’s impossible, we’ve only en working for-“ He checked the clock on the metallic wall nearby, giving a bemused look, “ Oh my, it seems that we have… Hrm… Well I just need to finish up a few adjustments then you all can go back to the house. However I will escort you. Undyne… How did you all get here…?” He gave a small glare.

“ Walked! Took a while!” She grinned out, nervous considering Gaster nor Toriel really wanted the kids to ride the Riverperson’s boat from Asriel's indecent.
“ Very well… You all can go out to the recreation area and wait.” He said before pointing to his two pinpoint pupils with two fingers, only to point at the fish who nervously gulped.

The recreation room was basically a large area with vending machines , chairs, and tables. but most of all, it was like a small water park for monsters to cool off. So with that being said, the children jumped into the medium pool of cooling water. Thankfully the water was casted with some magic to make the clothes not to get wet. Though Undyne hated the cold, she did enjoy water and even more when it came to cooling down from the heat. She also loved joining her friends playing and splashing around the water as she and Sans kept a careful eye on Papyrus.

Asriel sat in the shallows of the chilling pool, still rather scared by water, but wanting to cool off and be near his friends. It didn't take long until Sans noticed the shy goat sitting away from them. He was embarrassed, even too shy to talk to him due to that one stupid dare. Undyne swam over with the toddler riding her shoulders, poking the older skeleton, “ Dude, he’s scared more than you are. We talked and h really cares about you. Don’t leave him hanging in there. He thinks he did something wrong.” She nudged the skeleton who was set as a stone until her words reeled him back into reality. He frowned as Undyne swam off to the lizard pretending to be a shark chasing her while Papyrus cheered on happily.

Sans let out a large sigh and swam over to the young prince, “ hey.”

“ O-Oh… Uhmm, ho-howdy.” Asriel kept quiet and to himself.

“ a big mouthed fish told me you think ya did something wrong?”

“I-I-I, well-um-I… Yes. You must hate me because of that dare. I’m sorry.” He curled up a bit.

“ azzy, dude. why would i hate you? only thing i hated was the moment undnyne for pulling that shit off. though i guess i kinda deserved it... but it wasn't meant for you. i should be the sorry one. i haven't talked to you or anything because well…i’m embarrassed a bit too. i mean, i really do like you, and i could never hate you for anything.”

“ Re—R-Re-Really?” Asriel looked over with pleading eyes, getting an affirmative nod from the skeleton.

“ if it embarrasses you as much as it does for me, we can just uhhh. put it behind us. but i do like you… maybe… maybe we can get to know each other better in the future and build up on it. i-if… if you want too.” He looked away, blushing a light tint of blue.
Asriel then started to get into the deeper water so he was next to the skeleton and smiled gently, “ I’d like that. Tank you-“
---------------------------------------------

“ –Sans… Chara? … Please… Come back...” Flowey weakly spoke out as he sat there in the frozen ground, his eyes growing weary. He was in one of those moods again. Trying to die without having to reset, mostly due to sorrow for reflecting on the past, and to see how long he could keep it up. Most times, the skeleton brothers would miraculously find him like fate had its own sick twist to play into with Flowey’s life. Once his eyes finally shut, e embraced the cold to freeze up and start over… Only this time, he wasn’t found by either of the two brothers, but by someone else.

The sad crippling emotion got to Flowey, letting a special monster know trough figments and code. Flowey opened his eyes as he felt the frozen ground vanish underneath him, the new area warming him up even if it was slightly humid. Flowey had found himself in The Waterfalls, searching around for the grinning skeleton, knowing quite well that he had probably been teleported here. Unfortunately his eyes came into contact with two white pinpointed pupils of another monster completely. The lone non-glowing flower scrunched it’s stem back into the vibrant blue echo flowers that surrounded him. A tall amorphous black gooey like substance of a body stood before him. It’s head was that of a skull, cracks going up above a drooping eye as the other cracks went down below the other eye and into a twisted up smile. One pupil being much smaller than the other stared at him as the black sludge beneath acting as a body reached out, forming a skeletal hand at the tip to touch the petrified flower.

It spoke garbled up gibberish of screeching and head pounding induced noises, though for some odd reason Flowey could hear a voice over the scratchy low hum of the monster. “ What were you doing?” It asked, petting the flower calmly while it’s smile started to turn.

Flowey shook under the monster's soothing pets, scared out of his mind. This thing always came when Flowey got emotional, like it stalked him, taking notes on how he felt. And he always felt the negativity of things since he couldn’t love. But this thing was always fascinated in the non-emotional flower. This creature was almost scarier than Chara at times… Flowey gulped, “ Waiting…”

The creature’s head tilted eerily, “ For what?”

“ Family. Friends. Somebody… Anybody.” Flowey announced sadly, his eyes averting away from the other.

The creature nodded, pulling his hand away, “Ahhh, you don't have any, much like me."

“ Ma-Maybe I could-!” Flowey snapped up to the larger monster.

“You can't. Just as I can't. You destroy everything, and I vanish. You don't have a soul, and I don't have a physical appearance to stay here. We both can never belong... It is best if everyone just forgets about us and we live in a co-existing manner. Not to interfere, but only to observe. It is for the best if they leave us alone to our own devices. Don’t you agree my young prince…?"

Flowey held back any small tears that might break through his sight and to hold-back a snappish remark. He hated this monster the most… Time to time he would dwell on the past and blame him for what happen to him. However, the other unworldly entity could probably think the same. And it was best not to piss him off.
“ Ye-Yes sir…” Flowey whined, feeling powerless and hopeless like he use to a long time ago. Back when everything was better. He only tried to fight this monster once, and the pain was far worse than his original death and Sans' judgment put together.

“ Now… ‘Flowey’. As you call yourself now. Do you remember what happen last run?”

The flower curled up looking up at the monster, fearing what was about to transpire. Thankfully the other monster could only have his way ever so often and not all the time since he was constantly floating throughout space and time or in dimensions. If he was able to do this every time Flowey harmed the monster’s offspring, Flowey would avoid the brothers all the time.

He gulped nervously, “ Ki-K-Killed… Them a-all.”

“ And you know what that means right?” Flowey nodded before trying to burrow under the ground, only to be stopped and locked into placed a purple aura. “ Ah, ah, ah. No running of this time. Let the doctor see if he can ‘FIX’ you…” Flowey gasped out as he-
-------------------------------------------------------------

Saw the ghostly monster that had somewhat tortured him in The Underground. All who was home at the time were the skeleton brothers, Frisk, that dorky kid who enjoyed Frisk’s company, and himself. He shook violently, his pot began to rattle against the den’s table. He tried not to move so that THING would not notice him. It was a good thought, but of course the good old doctor turned his head to the flower painstakingly close before vanishing away. Flowey began to hyperventilate, but tried his best to remain calm. However the black tar like monster with the cracked skull appeared right before him, making the flower squeak in fear. He bit into his lips vigorously, not wanting to scream for help. He knew the brothers would dismiss it, and rather not worry and upset Frisk as they answered the door to let in the monster child. Thankfully Flowey knew he wasn’t going to harm him since the brothers were fine and healthy… But why did he show up?! Flowey hadn’t seen him for quite some time. So why now?

“ Why? Why do you keep trying to press forward my prince? You should return to The Underground. You belong there and only there, as I belong only in the void."
“ Be-Be-Because I-I have a-a family! G-go away!” He quietly yelled out.

The tarred skeleton simply dismissed the flower’s fearful offense, trying to seem brave, only to fail miserably. “ You know this will not last. It is just a false security the human child is putting over you. Anytime, they will reset and we will be here again talking like always."

" Th-T-That's not true! They have a name too y-you jerk!" Flowey sniffled a bit, not enjoying the idea that someone was to call their new founded sibling who had done so much for him, to only be called a human. " F-Fr-Frisk promised! N-No more resets!"

The unworldly skeleton's pupils vanished to simulate closing his eyes, while a soft sigh escaped the oily and hollow body. " I recall the many times you've told me that..."

" I-It's true! The-They broke the reset button!"

The other monster chuckled harshly as the pupils came back into existence, " That's an amusing thought. You know fully aware that that is imposable. You've tried doing that and it has never worked."

" Their determination let them break it!"

" Yes, yes, I'm 'sure' it did... Yet yours wasn't strong enough, right?" The tar substance like creature rolled his white pupils in his eye sockets. " You are just wasting useless and petty time just like always. Come with me, you know you don't belong here."

“ O-Oh Ye-Yeah?! Sa-Say’s who?! You! That’s w-who! Y-You… You don't scare me anymore! Your just jealous that I have people who care about me for what I am! Unlike you!” Flowey snapped out, finally pushing away his fears to talk back at the doctor for once.

The monster stayed silent for a moment before leaning over the flower creepily“ You well know that they do not care for you correct? The human is just using you as a pawn, just like the human before them. The others only put up with you because of the human's facade. And Sans... Heh, you know he still hates you. No one can actually love you, as you can't for them. But once you finally figure it out that you don’t belong here and slink back into your old crying corner, I will be there, waiting in the realm of being forgotten just like you. That child will eventually turn their back on you, leaving you like everyone does. Hehe... Your hopes and dreams... WILL NEVER COME TRUE! J U S T L I K E M I N E!” It screeched wildly, it’s one widened eye forming a glitch of purple mist around it as it hissed out.

At that point the plant snapped completely. “ SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Nrgnnn… I SHOULD HAVE JUST SHOVED YOU INTO THE CORE INSTEAD!” Flowey screamed out, only for the doctor to vanish away as something behind the flower came to a crashing sound. Flowey turned around quickly to find a skeleton watching him. “ … H-Ho-Howdy there Paps.” He sighed in a great amount of relief as the tall skeleton quickly picked up the broken cup, walking to Flowey.

“ WHAT WERE YOU SCREAMING AT MY DEAR FLOWERY FRIEND?”

“ Uhm… I-Imaginary friend?” He cracked open a forced smile as Papyrus squinted, shifting his eyes to the nervous flower to the air, and back.

“AH, I SEE NOW… YOU HAVE NO IMAGINARY FRIEND… BUT…” Flowey had the look of dread looming over his face, worried Papyrus might tell Sans… “ YOU WERE PRETENDING YOU HAD ONE BECAUSE WERE WAITING UNTIL ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS CAME OVER! BOY IT’S A GOOD THING I HEARD YOU! PERHAPS THE TWO OF US CAN WATCH SOMETHING TOGETHER?!” Papyrus chimed out happily, making Flowey sigh in another great amount of relief.

Flowey groaned on the inside, not wanting to be with Papyrus… But if it could keep that abomination away, he called it a win, “ Okay fine. But I’m pocking!” Papyrus nodded.

“ I SHALL GET SOME POPCORN-“

“ W-Wait!” Flowey cried out right as he tall lanky skeleton was about to run off. “ … C-Can I come with you? And maybe… W-We could ask Frisk if they want to join.” Flowey looked up to him, for once letting the young skeleton see how genuine or rather scared Flowey was for once, and not with him faking.

“ WHY OF COURSE FLOWEY! YOU ARE ONE OF MY MOST TREASURED FRIENDS!” Flowey smiled slightly, sure he couldn’t feel happy. But as long as e felt like he could actually belong with these people, it wouldn't be so bad.

In another room as Frisk welcomed their only two-limbed friend inside before retrieving Flowey, they stopped, hearing the flower's screaming. They couldn't hear what he was going on about, making the dinosaur like child peek over their shoulder as the door closed, " Yo, your bro okay?"

Frisk shrugged, obviously concerned. Just as they were about to run into the den, something caught their eye. A faint glitch like flicker formed in the coroner of their eye of the room. Frisk watched the glitching pixilated wrack of black sludge and skull form in the corner of the room, looking back at them with that ghastly smile. Frisk kept their sight locked on the apparition, squinting to see if the thing meant harm or just wanted to be a creeper. Not too long passed until their orange friend nudged their arm, Frisk's gaze tore away as they compelled themselves to check on their friend.

Frisk looked worried, afraid they had scared their monster friend by staring at nothing for a solid minute. Only their eyes met with the monster kid looking where they had been looking. " Y-Yo... You... You see it too?"

Frisk gave a shocked expression, Kidd could see the entity as well?! They slowly moved their eyes back to where the monster was, only for it to have vanished. " Yo, i-it's gone."

Frisk gulped a bit, " You saw the big gooey skeleton too?"

" Huh?" Kidd gave them a puzzling look, " No way dude. I saw someone who looked like my dad's sister yo."

Frisk pondered, " Wait. You mean, you have an aunt? How come you never told me you had one?"

" Be-Because... They say I don't. But yo, check it out! My dad says he grew up with his sister and brothers! Him and my uncles said she was like a scientist or something! And-And like one day, she like... VANISHED! He began to ask around to find her, but nobody saw her. OR KNEW OF HER! It was really weird yo! It's like... Like she just got erased from existence but my family still remembers her! E-Even the photos that my bro and uncles took, she's gone from them! All her journals, blank! It was like she was never there..." He shuddered suddenly, " Yo, it's like a ghost or something! I thought it was just a story he told me to scare me! I-I don't wanna think about it right now-..." He paused sniffing the air, his mind reeling back from shock to be greeted with a sensational aroma. " YO! Is that popcorn?!"

Frisk sniffed the air, inhaling the fresh warm scent and smiled, nodding. " Let's talk about this another time." They agreed with their scaly friend as the other smiled wide and ran to the kitchen. Frisk stayed there to think for a moment. From what the child gained, Gaster; The old Royal Scientist fell into The Core. He was unknown to everyone but the strange hollowed out gray specters they saw sometimes, and the mysterious Riverperson. That's all they really knew about him. But now learning of Kidd's aunt... Could that have been the one they mistook for Kidd back Underground? Was she the one at The Waterfalls during some runs? There were always other grayed out monsters who spoke to them, telling of the doctor's brief past and to forget about them... They shook their head and went to the kitchen. For now, those questions would have to wait. They needed to enjoy time with Kidd and reassure Flowey he was okay.

Sans smelled the scent of the newly cooked popcorn from his room and smiled brightly, proud his brother could finally cook from the lessons with Toriel’s aid... Without burning the house down. He was… Actually happy for once. A state of peace in mind, sure Toriel and him weren’t getting together, but as long as he had this crazy home and those he could call family, he felt at peace. Finally with the resets being over, he could relax and lay at ease instead of moping around wondering if there was a point in the world. But after years of hardship, he was finally given freedom and liberation thanks to the small child. With a happy sigh he soon thought about heading downstairs to join the others in watching whatever.

His made up family was precious to him, so he often spent much more time with them than sleeping or working on old failing blueprints. He could enjoy Toriel’s company and cooking, being her best little skeleton, being comforted by a motherly figure in a way. He could finally help the poor sorry king with his gardening like he use to before the resets started; he had always felt bad for the big guy. Undyne was always there to back him up when things got rough, lean on Alphys when his inner nerd needed talking too. Knowing that Papyrus had many friends now, as well as others to fall back on instead of just Sans. The younger skeleton could now be happy like he had always wanted his brother to be. Mettaton was there for his brother to lean on and be treated with respect. And of course, last but most certainly not least… Frisk. The kid had done good. He was proud of the tiny determined child, who fought with all their might for love and peace. He was so glad to be there for them now, knowing that he could fully trust them.

He sighed blissfully as he sat up on his bed, stretching a bit from a small nap, turning to wear his legs danged off the side. He stopped to think… The back of his mind gnawed at him, telling he was missing one person in his happy life. He gulped, his mind thinking of the cruel flower that made his life an endless cycle of living hell. And now that he was in the same family as Sans… Sans couldn’t really think of anything.. Positive about the golden flower. Why did Frisk care so much for him? Speaking of golden flowers and pure kindness, his mind drifted off oddly enough, thinking of how the golden flowers reached The Underground in the first place. All because of the prince, carrying the first fallen human back to their home while golden flower seeds got stuck on his fur and clothes. Sans looked down sadly…
Is mind wracked with grief and pain, that told him he was forgetting two people who could have stayed with him as a family today. Asriel, the prince he swore to protect… And his-“ d-dad?” His eye shined the bright neon blue as tears formed in the corner f his eye sockets. Before his door stood the looming dark sludge like apparition, staring at him.

“ A-…Ah….ah…Ahns….Sah…”

Sanss only witnessed the eerie figure of what could only be his father, very rarely. And with that being said, for some reason, no matter any reset or true set… He could remember seeing him like this so clearly. Sans scooted away, his back now against the wall on his bed as he watched his former father walk closer. Unlike Flowey, Sans could never really understand the poor abomination of The Void. Sans quietly curled up, clutching at his skull as a faint static came way from Gaster. “ pl-please… i-I’m sorry! ju-just go away! i…i can’t help you! i can’t help! i can’t help anyone!” Gaster only moved forward, the static and garbled noises growing louder, making the small skeleton curl up more until he shut his eyes.

“ i cant help you! leave me alone! i can’t help! st-stay back! i can’t help anyone! i-i couldn’t help you! i couldn’t help papyrus! t-tori! alphys! undyne! asgore! the-the kiddo! n-not even asriel! i couldn’t help! i couldn’t-I C A N ‘ T!” He screamed out, flashing his eyes open to see his room completely normal with no trace of the other monster. He panted lightly and flopped over back on his bed. The static ceased, but left it’s impression, making the skeleton weary and tired again, slowly closing his eyes and rifting off back to sleep to rest from the experience that took a small toll on his mind.

Chapter Text

“ come on dad, he’s gonna’ be here any minute!” Sans eagerly said as he knelt down next to the older skeleton who had fallen asleep on way to his own bed… Sleeping on the floor. “ man, I better not do that when I’m older since paps got his energy from mom!”

Gaster sat up, yawning as he looked at his watch, then to his eldest son, more than half asleep, “ Who aid your mother was full of pep?”

“ you! now come on, get uuuup! i wanna’ be prepared while your prepped up for your meeting with the other workers and scientists!” He quickly went behind his father and pushed against his back, making him stand up in an odd manner. He received a small chuckle from the tired doctor who was still a bit wobbly from just waking up.

“ Sans, calm down. He and the meeting won't begin until an hour, so… Give me about thirty more minutes.” He closed his eyes, starting to lean back against his son who huffed out, being mildly upset.

“ daaaad! you told me yesterday to specifically get you up an hour early! don’t go back on your word… again! can’t you go any faster?!”

With all his might of not using his magic to waste on his tall father, Gaster suddenly stopped his slouching position, and instead let go so he fall down manually. “ Oh no! Gravity is increasing on me!” he dramatically yelled, lowering down onto Sans who was getting irritated.

“ no it’s not!” He protested as Gaster’s arms went limp.

“ It is too Sans, same thing happened yesterday.” He said casually before completely falling on his oldest son who at t moment has his upper torso and legs sticking out from the sides of Gaster.

“ you rotten father! your butt is crushing me!” He yelled out, only for the other skeleton to snicker to himself, knowing he won this dispute. Sans struggled around but finally was able to pry away from being under his dad’s back, who was now drifting back off into sleep again. “ why do you have to act so weird?!”

The small skeleton angrily walked out from his father’s room and went downstairs to join his brother on their green sofa to join in on a movie the two had found at the dump. Once Sans sat down next to the small child, a voice came to him from behind the couch, “ Your dads almost as bad as mine.”

Sans flipped out, his pupils vanishing into the black void of is eye sockets, nearly jumping up to feet, and of course falling off the couch, scrambling around to not fall like a cat that just messed up a jump. “ oof!” he grunted as his back slammed into the carpet. Papyrus and the voice gasped, both rushing to his side.

“ Oh golly! I’m so sorry Sans! Are you okay?!” Spoke the young prince who had been hiding behind the couch, to spook his equally spooky friend… Well at-least in the eyes of humans. Papyrus ran off to fetch a small kit from inside a drawer of a table nearby, rushing back over with one of his father’s stethoscope around his neck. The smaller skeleton dropped over as Sans sat up from the help of Asriel. Papyrus quickly flipped open the small kit, pulling out rubber gloves and a band-aid that had a smiling bat monster on it.

“ WATCH OUT! DON’T TOUCH ME, I’M STERILE!” Cried out the young child, making Sans hold back laughter from how cute his brother was. Thankfully while Papyrus ran behind Sans, lifting up the over-sized sapphire sweater and shirt under to applied the small bandage, Asriel had healed Sans already. But it was best not to spoil the little skeleton’s unnecessary hardship.

“ thanks guys-and thanks doctor paps… except need to inform you of something else that’s wrong with me.”

“ HUH? WHAT’S WRONG?!” Papyrus began to worry while Asriel’s paws glowed just encase he needed to heal up his friend again.

“ i accidentally swallowed some food coloring yesterday.” Sans winked to his goat friend who smiled, rolling his eyes playfully while is paw’s magic essence faded away.

Papyrus gave a small glaring squint, unsure of what joke his brother was trying to pull on him now, “ BUT WE EAT THAT COLORED CEREAL STUFF ALL THE TIME… YOUR FINE!”

“ huh… you sure? cuz' it feels like i dyed a lil’ on the inside.” As Sans gave a big grin to his young brother, Papyrus’ face scrunched up, utterly upset with him. Papyrus stood up and snatched away the kit, turning around to put it back up.

“ NOPE…” Papyrus was just not dealing with it today, finally making the other t laugh from his reaction.

Sans managed to calm himself down from the laughing fit and looked over to the white goat, “ dude, what are you doing here? you weren’t suppose to be here until another hour or so.”

Asriel gave his friend a paw, pulling him up before sitting on the soft emerald couch, “ I-I know, but I really wanted to see you two. I was really excited that you and Alphys got a day off while our dads and some other scientists have a meeting. Especially when mom told me that you’d probably hafta' watch over your baby bro-“

“ I'M NOT A BABY!” Shouted out the skeleton, slightly muffled as his long red scarf happened to brush up against his jaw bones.

“ Haha, sorry! But once she and your dad said I could come over and help, I got super restless and happy! I mean think of it. The whole house to us three for a buncha’ hours! How could I not be hype?!”

Sans chuckled as Asriel’s eyes shined big and his stubby fluffed tail wagged what seemed to be a mile per miniature. “ ok, okay. fair enough dude, fair enough. dads still sleeping, so we’ll need to keep it quiet until then.” The prince nodded in agreement, “ however…” He caught his friend’s attention easily, “ you said my dad is almost as bad as yours? hehehe, you’ve gotta' fill me in dude.”

Asriel gave a sheepish smile before helping up the young toddler up onto the couch so he could also listen in to the semi-juicy gossip kids would enjoy about exploiting their parents, as their parents would embarrass them unknowingly at times.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Asriel jumped onto his parent’s bed from the joyful adrenaline that surged through his body of getting to hang out with the skeletons today. Asgore curled up under his blankets while the motherly goat woke up to see her son bouncing round on all fours, not heavy enough to really effect the other two boss monsters. She giggled at the sight of her son wagging his stumpy tail repetitively saying ‘Dad’ to hopefully wake up the lumbering king. “ Dad! Dad! Dad! Come on dad! Dad!”

She chuckled, looking over her shoulder at the spectacle,” Your son is awake.” She gave a warm smile to Asriel who had already dressed himself, and by the smell of a sweet substance of syrup and pancakes, he had already cooked himself up breakfast.

The behemoth of a monster tiredly opened his eyes, examining the ecstatic child, “ Before sunrise, he’s ‘your’ son.’ He said as his wife only chuckled, turning away for the king to deal with him.

Asriel misplaced a bounce and slid right next to the king’s side of the bed, pushing himself up, “ Dad, come on! We gotta’ go! Wake up!” The sleepy humble giant only closed his eyes again, going back to lay onto his pillow. Asriel pushed up his green and yellow stripped sleeves and prepared to take matters into his own hands. That being by, biting his father’s long loppy white ear and pulling it with his tiny fangs. With how strong the mighty king was, it didn’t really effect him with no succession as the small child tugged on it. Asriel soon let go of the floppy ear, spitting out a diminutive tuft of white fur from his mouth. He took in mind of the position he was as he came up with an idea. He crawled away from his father to the edge of the large king sized bed-hehe king sized, Asriell thought. He’d need to tell Sans that sometime. But for now he turned himself around, getting on all fours until his main target was locked onto.

He lowered his head down and scampered straight to Asgore, giving one last bounce, his head collided against his father’s. Asriel fell back from the sloppy head butt, making the king raise his head up. “ You promised. You told me I could wake you up an hour early to go help babysit.” He gave a frowned upset glare to his father, which was hard since he was so sensitive and still a tiny child.

The king smiled at the cute sight, “ Okay, okay. I'm up, I’m up.” He let out a long boastful yawn mixed with a bleating sound as his child’s face arose to a bright smile.
The prince then hopped off the side o the bed, proud that he was actually able to get the king up, “ Yes!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After Sans regained his composure from the short sweet but funny story of the small prince trying his best to wake up the king of all monsters, Papyrus joined them on the couch with a remote. “ YOU SHOULD THANK ME, I LET HIM IN WHILE YOU WERE BEING LAZY!” The smaller skeleton of the two said, sticking a bright orange conjured up tongue to his brother who scoffed.

“ excuse you, but i was trying to wake up ‘mister, i’ll go to sleep at three in the morning after i finish this report'… but thanks paps.” He gave a soft smile as his younger brother put his tiny hands on his hips, striking a small heroic pose, making the prince snicker.

“ ANYWAYS YOU CAME JUST IN TIME! I JUST STARTED MY MOVIE! SO I REWOUND IT! WANNA’ WATCH IT?!”

“ Of course! What’s it about?” Asked the eager goat while Sans laid back on the sofa’s arm, propping himself into a more suitable position.

“ OH IT’S A REALLY GOOD ONE! IT’S ABOUT A SMALL MOUSE MONSTER BEING SEPARATED FROM HIS FAMILY, BUT IT HAS A REALLY GOOD ENDING! IT’S ONE OF MY FAVORITES!” Papyrus waved his small fists from being so happy to tell someone about the movie he enjoyed so much. And so the three watched the film, making small remarks and friendly comments, while Sans angered his brother with puns every so often. The film had finally gotten to a point of a song number that was so sweet and sad as the two broken apart siblings sang, unknowing where the other was and thinking about them. Asriel had requested for it to be played a few number of times so he could remember it. He really enjoyed the song and wanted to sing it if he ever felt lonely and thought about his dear skeletal friend.

Eventually the movie was nearing its climax or so and Sans let the two, explaining he had to get his father up. Sans entered the room to find his dad still sleeping on the floor. He thought for a moment on how to wake the scientist up. An idea flickered in his head as a smug grin grew on his face. The sleeping scientist was nudged by his son, final waking up, “ dad. dad?”

“ Mrmm… Yes?”

“ look.” Sans said before walking over to an old record player Gaster had in his room. The tired skeleton’s eyes opened more as he saw Sans’ Gaster Blaster floating above it, below was magical blue energy, surrounding the record player’s top. Sans cranked a small lever and pushed a button, letting the record play out, but not with the needle. Instead he opened the draconic skull's jaw, music flowing out from it’s mouth. Sans then put it back down, the music ceasing, then opened it again for the music to be let back out. Sans did this several times as Gaster gave a confused look, his jaw open from the sight.

“ … Sans... Have you been messing with The Blasters for other purposes? And, why are you showing me this?”

“ ehh, i had nothing better else to wake you up… well I mean that and your fifty minutes late.” He shrugged. Gaster quickly scrambled to stand up, dashing past his son to grab hold of some supplies and papers on his desk and snatching his lab coat. The lanky skeleton quickly sped past his sweatered son and down the stairs, past the other two.

“ BYE SANS, BYE PAPYRUS, LOVE YOU-HELLO YOUNG PRINCE-OKAY BYYYYYE!” He shouted out along the way, Sans rushing outside the room, hopping onto the wooden stair’s railing to slide down. Once on the first floor and off the slippery rail he caught up to his father who put a piece of toast in his mouth, much like those cartoon girls Alphys watched.

As Gaster broke into a cold sweat of running outside the toasty house, Sans slid to the front door to call out to him,” dad, just teleport!” Gaster skidded to a halt and took the advice as vanished in a small light of vibrant purple. Sans soon closed and locked the door afterwards, getting a look from the other two.

“ You know he had fifteen minutes to prepare right?” Asked the fuzzy prince.

Sans gave a little shit eating bratty grin, “ that’s what happens when he falls back on his word. anyways, to keep us from any shenanigans, we’re gonna’ hafta’ stay in the house. i don’t mind lounging to watch movies.”

“ That’s all good with me-Oh! Maybe I can cook something later!” The small goat really did like giving out treats and making things for his group of friends since he never got to before he met the pun loving skeleton.

“ THAT’D BE AMAZING! YOUR FOOD IS LIKE IF GRILLBY’S AND MUFFET’S FOOD HAD A FUZZY BABY!” He squealed out in joy, pushing his hands to his cheek bones as his eyes shined. “ ALSO… SANS WHAT IS THAT THING?!” He pointed to the small Gaster Blaster. Asriel hadn’t mentioned it since he saw what it could do, but apparently Papyrus didn’t know. Which meant the toddler poked and patted the hovering skull.

“ hehehe, it’s just a little guy I can summon. i’m sure you’ll get to make one when your older paps.”

“ SO COOL!” Cried out the skeleton, his eye twinkling while Asriel hesitantly pet it’s snout, making it look rather happy. Asriel soon gave a small smile to the summon, remembering it protecting him.

“ hey paps, your movie’s over, which should I got get now?” He petted the draconic skull one last time as he dismissed it while the other two waved goodbye to it.

The smaller skeleton brought his hand to his chin to think, squinting his tiny eyes before gasping out,” THE ONE WITH HE SEAL MONSTER HUMAN!” He flailed his arms, making this long crimson scarf get tied up around an arm so he got tied a bit. Sans nodded and went upstairs to retrieve said movie while Papyrus struggled in the wrapping of his scarf. Asriel giggled and helped pull him loose.” THANKS! HEY, WHILE WE WAIT DO YOU WANNA PLAY A TINY GAME WITH ME?!”

“ Of course Papy!”

As the older skeleton came back with the movie, he stopped along the stairs to view over the wooden railing to see his fiend and brother clapping hands in a choreographed fashion. “ PATTY CAKE, PATTY CAKE!”

“ Baker’s man!”

“ BAKE ME A CAKE!”

" As fast as you can!”

“ ROLL IT UP, ROLL IT UP!”

“ And put in the pan!”

“ AND-AND…UHM… DON’T KNOW THE REST…” Papyrus frowned a bit, reviving a pat from Asriel.

“ Hehe, neither do I.”

“ god that was adorable…” Sans said as he walked over, putting the next movie in, making Asriel’s cheeks brighten up a bit.

“ So what’s this movie about?” Asriel asked, smiling to the brothers.

“ IT’S ABOUT SIBLINGS AND ONE TURNS INTO A SEAL MONSTER!”

Sans chuckled a bit, “ actually it’s that, but it’s also a movie that made me care just a tiny bit more for paps here.” As Sans sat down with them, he told the prince that this movie was rather special in sibling terms. The rest of the day was filled with more movies, including a small frightened fish getting separated by his father to return back through may challenges of the sea. These two movies seemed to justify Sans’ relations with his two relatives, sharing those feelings if something like that had ever happen to either one. And of course with Asriel enjoying tunes wanted to remember the song of the seas that were told by the soon departed mother of the first film. After the two movies, the brother caught the small goat monster singing it as he prepared some spaghetti with Papyrus helping out. Sans had been helping, but seemed to become entranced by the lovely song from his friend. His friends singing calmed him greatly, not to mention he enjoyed the goat’s singing capability.
Though the movie he hummed dealt with sibling relationship, he couldn't help but think about it deeply. He often wished for a sibling who would be there when he was lonely, backed him up, and would risk themselves for him, as he would for them as well. Though most of those thoughts were before he became friends with Sans. But his connection with Sans seemed to be more than just a friendly bond that kept growing into a lively flower in Asriel’s soul. And for that, he enjoyed every minute he had with the skeleton.

And yet another movie was played, which seemed to be the brother’s favorite due to half of the film dealing with skeletons. As Papyrus giggled at the humor, Sans and Asriel enjoyed the cinematics and love triangle of the three grouped friends that was the main plot. Asriel started crying as the main character used mercy on a large terrifying bull skeleton like monster who calmed down from the tune and faded into golden flower petals being swept up into the starry sky by the gentle breeze. He thought it was one of the most beautiful and moving moments of an act of mercy ever was as his father told him about some humans using mercy in the war.

Afterwards was Papyrus’ nap time, which let Sans read the younger one’s favorite book, Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny Soon after, Asriel read The Adventures of Fluffy Bunny.. “ A long time ago, a Fluffy Bunny fell into a hole. Injured by its fall, the Fluffy Bunny called out for help. A young snake, the king's son, heard the Fluffy Bunny's call. The Snake Prince brought the Fluffy Bunny back to the castle. Over time, the Snake Prince and the Fluffy Bunny became like siblings. The King and Queen snake treated the Fluffy Bunny as their own, showing that the snakes had become omnivores The snakes underground were full of hope to change over new leaves. Then... One day... The Fluffy Bunny became ill. The Fluffy Bunny told them that it needed carrot medicine. The carrot medicine was over in the rabbit village. But no snake dared to go there since no rabbit would reason with them. The next day. The next day....."

Before he could continue Papyrus lay there snuggled up in his race car themed bed, sleeping soundly. He wanted to continue the story however, which Sans had no problem with while he went to fetch something from the brother’s closet. Asriel read the rest to himself as he thought it was a sweet story about friendship and a trusting bond. Once Sans came back, he showed Asriel his own unique talent, bringing out a small wooden guitar out, strumming it. He played a gentle tune, Asriel closed his eyes listening to the soothing voice of his friend, who he had to admit, wasn’t a bad singer. Ever since Sans saw the movie with the skeletons, he wanted to learn how to play some songs, and now he was able to share it with his new found friend who-
-------------------------------------------------------------

Happily scooped up the small withering looking flower. The tall young ‘dashing’ skeleton who worked so hard to become a royal guard hold the flower in his mittens carefully. Papyrus had spied the small golden flower laying in the snow, it’s petals torn here and there. He arrived to his cozy home, trying to tell if the flower was going to be okay or not. His brother reluctantly helped to see if the small flower was fine or had given up. Sans didn’t let the other skeleton know that he hadn’t wanted to help or would much rather let the plant die all together. Not long afterwards Flowey cracked open his eyes to find is surroundings were the inside of the brother’s house. He was currently in papyrus’ old room, which he remembered from being a child. The two skeleton monsters use to share the room while their father’s room was where Sans’ room was now.

He spotted the small action figures beside him, giving a soft chuckle. He really hadn’t changed too much from when Flowey met him at such a young age. Flowey’s stem laid on the dirt from the pot, resting on its side as memories flashed around his mind, restoring old neglectful pained feelings. He cackled out madly yet with sorrow, finding his fate of being found by the brothers when on the verge of death funny. No matter what, he always seemed to come back to them, much like how he did when he woke up in the garden where he and Chara were ended.

Eventually Papyrus came in to check up on him, chatting about certain things while Flowey felt too tired to kill him or leave, or even reset. He was in one of his apathetic moods again, which made him wonder if that’s what Sans usually felt like. He pushed the grim thoughts in the back corners of his mind and kept up trying to be nice under the care of Papyrus who made it his sole duty to ‘keep Flowey safe and happy.’ Whenever the limber skeleton did this, it made the gold flower’s mind relive the olden days as the skeleton’s now lazy brother had promised he’d do the same.

Sans began to open up to the small plant, but not as easily as previous runs. Some runs Sans was like this, while other runs Sans felt pity, and then ones had Sans want to actually help out the doomed flower from the endless cycle. It was always hard to tell how the older skeleton would feel with him ,making him amusing to Flowey as his interactions were always different, even in the slightest of ways.

One day however Papyrus had taken the flower to go eat, make puzzles which entertained Flowey for an hour or two, and then having some nice cream as a treat on the way back home. Along the walk, Papyrus made a fatal mistake not even Sans would know about until he saw it or figured it out. “ THANKS FOR HANGING OUT WITH ME TODAY FLOWERY!”

“ Mmm?" He munched onto his frosted treat, "Oh, yeah, sure, no problem.”

“ AH, IT’S SO NICE TO FINALLY HAVE SUCH A GREAT FRIEND. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, YOU ARE NOT ONE.” Flowey turned around, nearly choking on his snack. He stared at Papyrus, only to notice the large smile he gave down to him. “ YOU ARE INSTEAD THE BEST! YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND FLOWEY!” Flowey would have sighed in relief but Papyrus had just called him, ‘his best friend’… Flowey’s eyes grew as wide as saucers, painful past wounds were being stripped away, sinew by sinew in a chaotic manner. It was if someone had peeled off skin, exposing the sensitive veins and dumped it into lemon juice mixed with salt. Promises and old covered feelings leaked out into his mind, exposing him to the harshness of the past.

“ azzy…..Asriel…Flo-” His name began to become distorted as a black shadow asked him. “ FLOWEY?” The darkness faded away to show the skeleton, worried about the plant.

Before the skeleton could open the front doors, a bulky vine shot out from the dirt, smacking Papyrus right under his chin, making him fall down the small set of stairs, dropping the pot along with him. Papyrus yelped as he felt what felt like razors slash against his cheek. He grabbed hold of the side of his face watching in horror as his ‘friend’ had vines squirming about and around him, three longer vines drooped with sharp thorns. “ St-Stay away! Y-You're not going to f-f-fool me!”

“ F-FLOWEY? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?” He shifted himself up slightly, reaching out to the plant who hissed out angrily.

“ I told y-you stay back! I'm dangerous! I’m n-not your best friend! All of my best fr-friends always turn on me a-and hate me! YOU JUST WANT TO SEE ME SUFFER!”

“ WHAT? NO! WHY WOULD I WANT THAT?! THAT’S NOT WHAT FRIENDS DO-ESPECIALLY BEST FRIENDS! FOWEY PLEASE-“ He cautiously reached out again only for the flower to back away in the snow frightened like a cornered animal. He soon quickly burrowed into the sheet of snow and into the ground.

The next morning Sans yawned out, not getting much sleep as he tried working on something... He noticed is brother came into the kitchen, still in his pajamas… Which was odd considering the younger brother was always full of pep and dressed up in is casual ‘battle armor’. He moved into the kitchen sluggish, and tired looking. “ paps? i didn't hear you get up... papyrus what's' wrong?”

His brother looked over with a gloomy frown, “ FLOWEY LEFT...” He said quietly before looking down, grabbing a mug, tapping his finger bones on it to make a small clattering sound.

“ really?” Sans asked, bewildered.

The thin taller skeleton sighed, sitting next to his brother, not bothering to even fill up the mug with anything “ IT'S GOOD HE'S GONE, I GUESS... HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE ANYWAYS. WE DON'T NEED HIM AND HE DOESN'T NEED US...”

Sans' soul tugged harshly as he watched his happy-go-lucky attitude be crushed. ”paps, sometimes you try your hardest, but things...” He paused as past mistakes were envisioned and etched into his own mind. ” don't work out the way you want them too. sometimes things have to change, and maybe sometimes there for the better…” He said in a low sad tone, not really thinking what he said was true, but he never wanted to see Papyrus like this. Not like ‘himself’. He was suddenly grabbed onto by Papyrus who wrapped his arms around him tightly. Sans remembered Papyrus doing this once their father vanished.

" PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME..."

Sans' pained smile twisted around, " i promise i won't leave you behind..." He sighed and patted his brother’s shoulder blade softly before-
-----------------------------------------------------

Hugging in return. That’s what Flowey wanted to do with his small wooden dolls, just like he had done with Frisk before becoming a flower again. He thought to himself about it while waiting for the others to leave the home for errands or whatever. Flowey didn’t mind and didn’t care most of all. He did care... Well, not really but more concerned about Papyrus and Frisk were to be watching over him for the majority of the day. Papyrus was busy with a call from the scandalous robot, and Frisk knew it could take some time before the three could hang out.

The small child had a book in their possession, continuously saying, ‘Peek-A-Boo’ as they turned the page and look up at the empty room. “ Would you stop that! It’s freaking me the fuck out!”

“ I thought only the ‘creepy face’ did that.” Frisk remarked making the flower snarl from the coffee table.

“ Don’t sass me! What are you even doing?! I seriously thought when you wanted to read Papyrus’ stupid book, you wouldn’t be playing along with it!” Flowey snapped out.

“I’m not, but then again I kinda am in a way.”

“ THEN WHICH ONE IS IT?!”

“ Both.” They closed the book before turning to the enrage small flower. “ Papyrus told me he use to see grey figures when he read Peek-A-Boo With Fluffy Bunny by himself. And I don’t want to try it without someone near me.”

“ Tch, grey figures?”

“ Yeah. He says he use to see them long ago after he woke up in the hospital from a rock hitting his head.”

“ Sounds like a shitty synopsis to a shitty horror movie.” Flowey huffed out.

“ But the thing is, is that I've seen weird grey figures before. I wonder I their linked to something. Something big.”

Flowey’s curiosity got the better of him as he listened in. He was glad for once he didn’t have hands as his roots twisted around one another in nervousness. He scanned left to right in the room before opening up to the human, “ I think I know what you might be talking about… Can you uhm… Describe them?”

Frisk watched Flowey’s expressions, now being equally nervous as he was. “ One was a small monster with big buggy eyes and what looks like a rib-cage poking out on its chest. Ones a scary looking Burgerpants missing a face and carrying around a tiny blob with a face. Another's a really big lumbering head with big mouth with sharp teeth. And then one… That looks like Kidd. Only grey, white eyes, and have stitches in the back of their head.”

Flowey nipped his lip before watching Frisk’s expression grow into an uncanny type of fear from what they had just described. “ I uhm… I’ve seen them… All they ever did was stare at me. What about you?”

“ They talked to me.”

“ WHAT?! Re-Really?!” Flowey gasped out, shocked. Out of all the years he had seen these phantoms, but not one had spoke to him… Except, ‘one’. “ What-What did they tell you?! Was it about me?!” He suddenly went into a panic before Frisk grabbed hold of his pot and rested him on their lap, patting him.

“ No. But I do remember what each one said. I can’t figure it out-even if it’s ingrained in my mind. No matter what I can remember every word and sentence. Like someone's telling me word per word.”

“ … Well?! G-Go on!” Flowey bounced his stem up, scared but rather curious of what the gray figures had said

“ The one that looks like Kidd told me, ‘ Yo, you’re a Something, it kinda went into a static, then continued with ‘ too, right?’ So I asked them what they meant. They told me ‘Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same. Except you don't exist? Everything functions perfectly without you.’ I cheered them up and they told me to forget about them and don’t think about this anymore.

Flowey pondered a bit, “ Hrm… Honestly sounds like me at times.”

“ The other three kept talking about an older scientist who fell into his creation, scattered across space and time. And that Alphys was promoted as t new Royal Scientist. They call him ‘ Doctor W.D Gaster.’ Would you happen to know anyone by that name?”

“ Mrmmm…” Flowey puffed up his cheeks looking up, trying to fool the child into looking as if he was thinking instead of panicking, “ Nnnnnnope. Must have been before my time.”

“ Well, have you ever seen a gooey black hunched over skeleton?”

“ What?! Me-NO!” He laughed nervously. Thankfully to his benefit Papyrus nearly kicked the door in, but not with as much force as Undyne would.

“ IT IS TIME TO HANG OUT MY FRIENDS!”

After playing a video game, the trio decided to pop in a movie to play in the back for sound while they began cooking their lunch, which of course was spaghetti… With different noodles! Papyrus had gotten much better thanks to Toriel teaching him and the grumpy fish not to burn everything. Frisk stirred the semi-floppy noodles around, soaking in the hot boiling water to became softer. Papyrus maintained the sauce, reading a few directions and adding a small it of red wine for flavoring, but also for a healthier heart for Frisk. Flowey was having a ball frying up the meatballs and chopping some herbs or vegetables into the matter. He was pretty good at it with all his vines multitasking. However he often got into a depraved mode of pretending he was cutting up somebody and the other vines that worked on the meatballs were trailing through someone's organs.

After all was done and they sat down to eat, they started up a talk which eventually led the over joyous skeleton to make a kind comment on the two. “ I MUST SAY, THAT FRISK YOU ARE THE GREATEST HUMAN EVER, AND THE BEST… HRM, WELL I AM NOT RELATED TO ASGORE OR HIS GIRL CLONE. AND SANS ISN’T REALLY YOUR DAD, BUT HE’S A DAD MIXED WITH AN UNCLE. AND WE ALL LIVE AS A FAMILY” The cogs in his mind creaked as he tried to think of the word, while Frisk watched him and Flowey rolled his beady eyes. “ AH! I KNOW! YOUR ARE THE BEST NIECEPHEW I’VE EVER HAD!”

Frisk gave a small giggle and smile to the thin skeleton while Flowey groaned, “ Their your ONLY one…”

“ NYEHEHE! WELL OF COURSE FLOWERY! I WOULD CALL YOU THE SAME, BUT HONESTLY YOU ARE TRULY ONE OF MY BEST FRI-“ Before the cheerful skeleton could finish, Frisk quickly knocked over their own glass off soda and went into faking a small choke, or something going down the wrong pie. “ OH MY, FRISK ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” They coughed a bit and launched out from their chair, swooping up the clay pot so the soda wouldn't get on it, making it all sticky.

They nodded and went to the kitchen to get a sponge and a wet rag. They put Flowey’s pot on the counter and retrieved the two items, only to soon be stopped by their ‘sibling’.

“ Friiiisk?” They frowned, looking over to him with a pained expression of being found out. “ Are you…” His eyes shifted around, “ … Okay?” He asked in a confused state, receiving a nod. “ You did that because of me, huh?” The small child looked down slightly ashamed.

“ I’m sorry but, I had to-“

“ It’s okay, I understand. It’s fine, really.” He gave a soft smile, reassuring the human who gave on back and went over to clean the table with Papyrus. Flowey’s smile faltered instantly when they walked away. His fake smiles were getting slightly better when he had to pretend to be happy or to calm down Frisk from letting them feel bad. Flowey thought to himself of all the times the young skeleton would call him his best friend. Sighing to himself, sticking out from the ‘best friend’ branded pot he longed to be called a best friend again.

After a few more games and lunch, the trio chose a movie, one of Frisks favorites. While the young child went to fetch the film, Papyrus readied himself on the cushy couch, setting Flowey’s pot down on the coffee table in front. Flowey hesitantly waited, pulling in some extra effort to ask the other monster a specifically delicate and personal question that had lingered with him since the last meeting with the shattered doctor. “ Hey uhm, Papyrus?” He started out slowly, regretting how he got the others attention, but soon shook it off desperately.

The tall thin monster gave a warm smile to the small sentient plant, “ YES FOWEY?”

Flowey felt a lump in his throated stem, gulping nervously, “ Do-Does… Uhm-Does. Does Sans… Ha-Hate me?” He asked in a rather pathetic looking manner. He was thankful no one else was around to witness the pleading look.

Papyrus scratched his skull, his usual smile fading down into his thinking mode as cogs and gears turned in his head, “ HMM. I DON’T BELIEVE HE DOES. WHY DO YOU ASK? HAS HE BEEN PICKING ON YOU? IF SO I’LL TALK TO HIM ABOUT I-“

“ NO! No, no, th-that’s okay! I-It was just a stupid question is all, nothing more!” He chuckled nervously as Frisk walked n over putting in the movie and reuniting with the other two. They sensed somewhat of tension in the air, only to get Flowey turning to the TV and Papyrus putting back on his smile, happy to be sitting with his dear friend.

As they watched the film, Flowey cried to himself quietly as one of the two main characters ruined something they both had worked on, making the smaller of the two break into tears and run off. It reminded him too much of a fault he could never let go. But alas, the movie went on, one main character sacrificing themselves for the good of their friend who had now patched things up, and defeating the villain. And of course, it having a happy ending which angered the flower. While Papyrus volunteered to put the film up, the two sat there alone, trying to figure out what to do next.

Well Frisk was… Flowey on the other hand was angry with how everything turned out, believing there was no such thing as a happy ending or miracles. Fortunately Frisk managed to quiet and settle him down, asking if the beginning motto helped him at all with Flowey being stubborn and snarling at them.
Frisk smiled and changed around some of the wording to make Flowey understand better. “ Your bad, but that's good. I believe you can be good, and that's not bad. There's should be no one you’d rather be than yourself.” Flowey’s snarls quieted down as he thought about the ass backwards logic, leaning over cupping his cheeks with a sorrowful smile. “ Because, if this little kid likes you, how bad can you be?” Flowey’s beady eyes softened as realization cracked through of how much Frisk did care for the nasty plant. How could he be so stupid? He shouldn’t have believed the old fragmented scientist's speech, and just focus on someone who really loved him, no matter what or who he was.

Chapter Text

The noon cracked upon The Underground, another small session of teaching her son, Toriel was surprised and glad to meet Alphy’s young friends she helped babysit every now and then. And of course with the skeletal scientist being busy, meant the skeleton brothers would join along in her home as well. Asriel bounced around with glee, making his sweet yet hardened mother smile. She was so happy he could enjoy others company without the fear of winning all the time, or anyone being scared to humor him. And Asriel had really come out of his sheltered shy shell, being scared easily, but also highly sensitive. Other kids wouldn’t know how to help him and would often flee, leaving him all alone.

The doorbell buzzed through the house, snapping Toriel out of her thoughts about her small son’s brief past and went to answer it, “ Ahh, good afternoon you two. Papyrus you look adorable as ever.”

“ I’M NOT CUTE!” Papyrus still swaddled in his large red scarf and brown coat, puffed up his chest to look more… ‘intimidating’. “ I’M MANLY AS HECK!” He held his position before struggling to keep form, finally letting out the air he sucked up… which was odd, considering he was a skeleton, but let him have his fun. Papyrus panted a bit from keeping in the air, putting his tiny hands on his knees, putting up a tiny bony finger, “ O-OKAY, I TAKE IT BACK-OH BOY…”

The motherly goat covered her snout, chuckling by the small act before picking him right ff the ground, holding him like she would for Asriel when he had a nightmare. With a small peck on the toddler’s forehead, Papyrus curled up and giggled brightly. “ And Sans, looking charming as ever.” She smiled as she laughed.
Sans shrugged, having a backpack n him bob around, smiling wide and giving a shy wink, “ hehehe, aww shucks miss t, your gong to make me become baa-shful” He chuckled out making the mother howl with a fit of giggles while Papyrus ceased his happiness as his face slimmed down into a disappointment and agitated look.

“ THAT WAS BAD, AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD SANS.”

“ so… does that make me-“

“ DON’T.”

“ bad.” Sans’ smile grew as his brother glared harshly down at him.

“ STOP.”

“ to.”

“ YOU STOP THAT!”

“ the.”

“ I'M GONNA TELL DAD!”

“ ….. bone?” Sans raised his non visible brows while Papyrus made an ungodly screech of frustration, dealing with his pain in the ass brother. He squirmed around, Toriel putting him down holding back a wicked laugh. Papyrus groaned loudly as he waddled into the homr before Toriel could not maintain herself and burst into laughter from the twos conversation. Just then, a white flash sped by her and tackled Sans to the surprisingly soft soiled dirt, “ oof!”

The prince was on his back much like the skeleton he had just tackled. Both sat up rubbing the backs of their heads, “ Shhhh! Ow. Okay, tackling you to a hug was not the best plan.” Asriel said as he got up with Sans.

“ yeah… but it was kinda funny.” He smiled t his friend, who wagged his stumpy tail happily. Toriel rolled her eyes as she smiled and shook her head as if to say, ‘boys’. However she stopped as Undyne popped into her head from how rough she was. She shook the small thought off and welcomed the older skeleton inside.

Finally after some small time had passed, the doorbell rang out, making the queen to answer it while the trio of children sat in the living room’s edge n the large couch. Sans had brought along his small guitar, practicing some tunes as they waited for the nerdy lizard's arrival. He strummed it along while Toriel was gone, summoning a rather small bone, being about one or two inches with a pointed tip. He placed it on some stings as a pick. He started up a tune that would probably make anyone be filled with determination to o the right thing as hey fought through evil to preserve people they protected.

“ oh, well i won’t back down. no i won’t back down. you can stand me up at the gates of hell, but won’t back down.” Papyrus started to rock a bit with the rhythm of the tune. “ no, i’ll stand my ground. won’t be turned around. and i’ll keep this world from dragging me down, gonna stand my ground. and i won’t back down.” Asriel and Papyrus were to invested in the music as they watched Sans, not noticing a small plump violet feline with a jet black ponytail, wearing a pink skirt like shirt onesie waddled on over from the tunes.

“ heeey baby, there ain’t no easy way out. heeey, i will stand my ground. and i won’t back down.” Sans continued, concentrating as his eyes shut, his fingers strumming as he remembered each pluck of the strings. “ well i know what’s right. i’ve got just one life. In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around, but i stand my ground. and i won’t back down.” Upon joining the harmonizing tunes came a short green crocodile like monster with yellow pigtails and an equally pink shirt and shirt. “ heeey baby, there ain’t no easy way out. heeey, i will stand my ground. and i wont back down. no, i won’t back dooown~…” Sans reopened his eyes to get a much larger applause than he thought he’d receive, only to find two new toddlers standing in front of the couch, “ ahh! where did you two come from?!”

“ like… outside?” The cat pondered.

“ Like blame our parents mister skeleton.” The gator girl giggled.

Thankfully without any more confusion, Toriel and Alphys entered the scene, Alphys walking over, putting her claws on each of the new children's shoulders. “ T-Th-These are m-my two friend I-I babysit sometimes. Th-This is Bratty.”

“ Sup Mister Skeleton?” Wave the green monster.

“ dude don’t call me mister, it makes me feel old!” Sans flapped his hands in response.

“ A-And this i-is Catty.”

The violet feline squealed out in sheer joy as she hopped up onto the couch and hugged Papyrus, nuzzling him and purring, “ Aww! He’ so cute!”

Papyrus blinked, just kind of letting it happen before petting Catty like an actual cat on er cheeks, making her flop onto her side and kneed the couch. Sans chuckled as Asriel watched the odd but cute behavior. “ names sans, this heres paps and azzy.

Asriel intruded briefly, “ P-Papyrus an-and Asriel, actually.”

As the group chatted filling each other in on certain things such as names and favorite foods to connect, Toriel soon gathered them up to the dining room. Once thee, the children saw the activity she had planned. In the middle of the room was a circle of small chairs, mainly plucked from Asriel’s room. Papyrus titled his head, “ ARE WE SITTING IN TIME OUT AND FORCE TO LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF MUSIC?”

“ Ohoho, oh my no!” Toriel said. “ Me and my friends use to play this we I was much younger. It is called ‘Musical Chairs.’ You walk around the chairs as a song plays. When it stops you sit on a chair.”

Bratty gave a questionable look, “ Why are there only five chairs? Aren’t there like six of us?” She was quickly shushed by her plump friend.

“ Ah, that’s the gimmick my child! Who ever can’t get a chair is kicked out, until one remains. Now, no rough housing or else no one will get a special treat at the end.” The children talked amongst themselves for a moment, excited about a treat. And so, they started their game. First to strike out was Alphys, being even more terrified than Asriel to actually sit down. So the poor girl sat next to their supervisor, receiving attention from her. Next was Catty, being rather slow. Again the song played out and stopped, getting Asriel knocked out, who was paying more attention to the music than the game. Another round left Sans out of the loop, much like Asriel, except his mind was working on other things. It all came down to Bratty and Papyrus who gave challenging squints and smiles. As soon as the music stopped, both scrambled to the last remaining chair, struggling to keep their goal, only for the chair’s seat to be taken up half by the gator, and half by the skeleton.

Both toddlers pushed each others side to make their opponent fall off the chair, but neither gave in or budged an inch. “ Git off!”

“ NNNNEVER!”

“ No need to fight my children, you both can get the treat. A piece of snail pie~!” She smiled brightly to them, Papyrus’s tiny eyes widening as he felt his soul turn green.

The child quickly jumped ff the chair to hide behind his brother, while Bratty felt more green than her scales, “ U-Uhm… I’m good…” She squeaked, slowly walking behind her yellow scaled friend.

“ Ohoho, that was just a joke children! Here, you each get one! Muffet and her girl-scout spiders came by earlier and I just had to buy them before they were going to be chucked into the dump. I guess most monsters down here are just too upset to not want these. There’s quite plenty of them.” She walked over to the children, kneeling down and opening a small wooden box, filled with sparkling stoned bracelets which were smooth and felt rater soothing to touch. Each bracelet had one marbled cube with half of a white upside-down heart carved into it. “ They are for your best friends or any friend in general, so let me know if you need any others.”
The duo of the small girls each grabbed only one, smiling to each other, knowing fully well two two were best friends. Alphys picked up two, unsure who to give the other to... Though it was quite obvious who she wanted to give it to but was far to shy to do so. Papyrus smiled brightly and snatched up two as well, telling himself he’d find a great friend in the future. Sans picked two up, one for himself and maybe toss the other to Grillby. But thinking about it, they were just good buddies, not really the best of the best even if they were mischievous little shits and would listen to each others problems. He watched Asriel pull out one and looked to the group, fiddling with his paws, doubt gnawing at the back of his mind. Sans felt a gentle smile roll over his face and put the extra bracelet into the box before walking to the prince. Sans showed off his bracelet an took hold of Asriel’s, putting the stones together to make a full heart. Asriel wagged his tail merrily and gave the other a soft hug.

While the children waited on lunch, Toriel had been teaching them the starting point of the waltz. She wasn’t strict and often helped them until they each got simple steps down. Unlike her father who demanded Toriel to be the pinnacle of royalty and fair maiden. She had told them about some of her past as she didn’t want to be a princess full of noting but manners, and why she grew into a rebel before marrying Asgore. While she wet to go check on the food, classical music played out in the den where the children were surprisingly having fun dancing what they were just taught.

Bratty and Catty danced with on another and talked about girly things, that were too feminine for Asriel or Alphys taste. Papyrus danced with the nerdy lizard since he didn’t want Alphys to feel left out since she was too shy to even dare hold hands with her lap partner or the prince. Besides that, the small skeleton felt as if he needed to hep her. Mostly by thinking about Undyne, so he could possibly pull Alphys out of her shell and dance with his hero. Sans on the other hand, had no problem with his young brother setting off with Alphys, he knew that sometimes when the two worked together, she tended to blush here and there. He could have sworn she got crushes relatively easily, and of course he had thought about hooking up with her, but he knew Alphys liked Undyne more, and Undyne cared for the nerdy lizard. This left him dancing with the prince, which was difficult to say the least since their talk at The Core.

Sans held onto Asriel’s paws nervously, trying to remain cool and composed in order to take lead. However Asriel giggled after the skeleton fumbled about, still not use to the steps and instead talked to him, telling him how and where to move. Asriel quickly took lead, Toriel had practiced his dance with him just encase he had to attend a fancy party or if he was ever going to court someone. Of course the sweet white prince only told Sans about the party part only, not wanting to further stress the skeleton. As the song faded out, both stopped, holding each others hands, happening to stare at one another. Sans’ cheeks lowed a light tint of blue while Asriel shifted his eyes nervously before looking back to Sans shyly. The two smiled, but quickly pulled away as Toriel called out, “ LUNCH IS-“
-----------------------------------------------------

“ Ready!” Grillby called out as he kicked open the kitchen’s door, holding large square pan full of fresh warm bone shaped biscuits with several dipping sauces of monster food. He placed the rather fabulous scented treats onto the bar’s counter and smiled under the flames. His happiness was short lived as the only people in the bar were the oftenly drunken rabbit, the flytrap like monster who dined on any food, the pair of the old fish and duck, and that one punk rock hamster. Worry stared to set upon him, looking to the old pair. “ Muriel? Didn’t you text them?”

“ Why of course I did dear! They all said, they’d be here and for you to serve up the biscuits and all! Oh dear, why haven't they shown up?” The faded magenta colored bird put a winged hand to her beak, quite worried.

“ Eustace, you saw the guards earlier, right?” The fiery chef/bar tender asked the pale looking fish.

“ Yeah sure did when I was puttin’ my number on the line out earlier. Saw them all.” He frowned as Grillby’s mood slowly shifted down. It sees that the other three patrons had noticed too, each seeming rather bothered by the turn of the event.

Just then, the door creaked open, making all the monsters look up, only to see the blue sweatered regular himself walk in. They weren’t disappointed in seeing the sentry guard/hotdog vendor as they gave hopeful and small smiles to him. “ He-Heeeeey Sansy~!” Sang out the rabbit.

“ hey shirley. twoey lookin’ good as always, loose some pounds?” He idly chatted as he walked by the booths.

Th large plant with sharpened teeth chuckled, “ Ohoho, you know I try buddy.”

Sans then sat at his regular spot and smiled wide as he greeted the other four. “ punkley, sup my ham? eustace, muriel, looking good as always. hey grills how’s it go…ing?” He slowed down as he saw his dear friend look rather upset. He hadn’t even noticed the tray of dog biscuits. “ what the… grills? what’s going on? you never serve up the dog biscuits for no reason. you always do make them when the guard-dogs bring over a t.v and marathon movies on there. what’s up? w-was it not today?”

Grillby shook his head, the tips of the flames weaving around as he did so, “ It is. We all made sure they’d be in today. But… Their not. This isn’t like them. I’m… I’m actually rather worried.”

“ hey, grills, listen man, it’ll be okay. they probably got distracted with zack delivering pizzas again.” He tried cheering up his friend who was normally indifferent to most things, growing hard but kind over the years. Not much really got to him. The fire engulfed monster nodded sadly before Sans’ pocket buzzed to life. “ hold on there buddy.” He gave a small smile and took out his cellphone, hopping down from his stool and walking to near the entrance, “ hello?”

“ SA-S-SAN-SANS! OH-OH-OH-OHMYGOD! SANS! OH GOD! AR-ARE YOU AN-AN PAPYRUS OKAY OV-O-OVER THERE?!”

“ alphys? yeah-yeah everything's fine, why what’s wrong?” Sans peeked out from the diner’s window, seeing monsters go on about their day happily without any chaos.

“ SO-S-SOM-SOMEONES KILLED T-TH ROYAL GUARDS HE-HERE IN HOTLAND! UN-UNDYNE WENT TO GO CH-C-CHECK IT OUT! E-EVEN THE ONES IN THE CORE! S-SO ME AND HER LOOKED AROUND, THE-THEN I GOT VITAL SIGNATURES DROPPING FROM THE GUARDS IN WATERFALL! A-A-AND THEN OT REPORTS AND CALLS IN FROM SOME TEENAGERS SEEING SOMEONE DID-DISPOSE OF THE GUARDS IN THE SNOWY FOREST! GRE-GREATR AND LESSER ARE DOWN! WHA-WH-WHAT IF THEY GO AFT-AF-AFTER UNDYNE NEXT?!”

“ alphys, C A L M D O W N… now, where is undyne?”

“ I-I CAN’T! I-I JUST CAN’T!” She screamed in anguish and hysteria, “ SH-S-SHE’S WIT-WITH ASGORE AN-AND SOME MERCENARIES AN-AND METTAON AT THE MOMENT!”

“ okay, alphys, i’m going to go look to see if whoever is doing this is still somewhere in the forest. call me immediately if something remotely goes off on your end.” He quickly hung up and rushed out the door, surprising the other monsters, further worrying Grillby, who knew it was best to stay there. He knew Sans could handle himself.

The slow paced wind brushed along Sans’ body as he teleported to his last destination after finding only dust where the doggy couple were. He felt his body and mind shut down momentarily as he saw dust outside of Doggo’s station. He frowned and picked up the pink tank top the husky cherished. The moment of sadness would have to wait as he saw a figure lumbering further down the snowy path leading into the forest. Sans closed in on the rustling to find scattered footprints left in the snow, which he followed. The prints seemed off as if someone was struggling to walk away from Doggo’s post which eventually lead down a small slope. As Sans turned the corner of the slope, he froze up, seeing someone just out of his sight go into the small alcove cave where he found the white annoying dog. He began to make his way to the small damp cave to see antlers and dust piled up in the frozen snow. The Gyfrtot must have gotten in their way…

The small skeleton cautiously went to the cave’s entrance, only to hear the angry yells and soon, screams of Glyde who had taken residence there when he was off duty at Mettaton’s Hotel’s Sushi bar. Sans carefully walked in, wincing as he saw particles of dust spread through the air covering the figure. Once the dust settled, Sans felt his soul skip a beat, “ pa-p-papyrus?” He whispered to himself.

His left eye shined out with blue in a yellow mix of aura as he got closer. Before his dear brother could turn around, Sans jumped him and teleported them both to a clearing in the snowy forest, “ paps, what did you do?!” He asked, only to get thrown off and into the snow. He recovered from the throw quickly to see his brother turn around to discover vines wrapping around his bones.

Papyrus looked exhausted from crying so much, and pail from such trauma tat was all caused by a sinister golden flower in his let eye. His brothers right eye shined equally to Sans’ as a bright orange. “ SA-SA-SANS… PLEASE RUN. I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU-I DON’T WANT TO HURT ANYONE!”

The flower giggled in a sickly sweet way as it bobbed around in his eye socket, “ Hehehehe~! Ohh, silly Papyrus, I know you don’t. Buuut~! SINCE WERE YOU IN CONTROL?” His eyes blackened as white pupils stared at the host. “ Go on cry more. Like it’ll do you any good… Anyways, howdy there sansy boy~! Golly, your brother sure knows how to pick friends who he can benefit from! But then again… You probably never believed him when he told you, ' I’m friends with a talking flower Nyeh!”

San’s felt his skeletal hands curl up into fists and his perpetual smile turning. This was one of the very rare times Flowey had seen the skeleton look pissed. Normally when the two fought, Sans would smile here and there, but not this time. “ Y O U… let him go…”

“ And why should I listen to you? You remember me well, right? Then you should now that I won’t.” Flowey smiled proudly while his poor host shook under his vines.

“ Y-Y-YOU KN-KNOW F-FLOWEY?”

“ Of course he does you idiot~! We’ve talked in the past, but not in this time’s past-it’s complicated, don’t think about it.”

“ look weed, what do you want…?”

“ Me? Oh, I just wanted to help Papyrus into the Royal Guard! Hehe, actually I can tell you the hiiiilarious story behind that… But only if you listen.”

“ heh, and why would you be so kind to share?” Sans gave a small worried smirk.

“ Annnnd there’s the smile… Anyways, I honestly have nothing better to do. Unless your ready to fight right now! Which is fine with me-“ Both brothers yelled out in unison of the word, ‘NO!’, giving Flowey a chance to blink and then smile. “ Ooh, it’s so rare for me to tell stories! … Heh… I-I kind of miss telling and reading stories… And listening to new ones… Hehe, no one ever remembers though…” Flowey paused for a moment, Sans seeing that the vines around his brother gave way just an inch, thinking he almost saw a tear from the psychotic flower for a split second. However as Papyrus gulped in uncertainty, the flower snapped out of his dilemma. “ Now! Where was I-“ H was cut ff as his beady eyes caught the small glint from San’s cellphone being pulled from his pocket slowly. A vine emerged from the snow, skewering the phone as Sans jumped out of the way thinking the flower aimed for him. “ Ah, ah, ah~! No sharing! One more dirty trick like that and I tear your worthless brother's head clean off.” Flowey snarled out, forcefully making Sans pay attention. Honestly he didn’t want to hear a story… But it would give him time to think of a plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The happy go lucky skeleton cheerfully marched forth to Undyne’s fishy house. As e was abut to knock on her door, words caught his attention, pulling him over to the opened window on the side to let in some slightly cool air into the humid house. “ It’s just… He’s too soft. I don’t want to see him get hurt is all. I know out of anyone down here, you’d agree.” Undyne told to an unkown monster from the sound of it.

Papyrus’ body locked up as heard the distinct voice he heard every day. “ i know… and well, i do. but you know he’s going to keep trying right?” Asked Sans in a rather concerned way which was so unlike his older rather since he was always kidding around and being a goofball.

Papyrus curled up as the meeting went on until one scrap of hope shined upon him as Undyne said, “ But it he DOES do something that stands out, then I’ll deeply consider him joining in the ranks.”

“ hehehe, that’s nice of you… were you starting to feel gill-ty?”

“ Oh my god, I fucking swear Sans…”

Soon after Papyrus went to a large hidden garden where he had met the only one he could even remotely call a friend. He had let out all of the things on his chest out to the well trained listener of Flowey who thought through the predicament. Even though Flowey didn’t care for anyone, he did enjoy hearing monsters out and if given the chance to think about how to solve these puzzles since they entertained him. “ AND WORST OF ALL… YOU ARE STILL MY ONLY FRIEND THAT I CAN REALLY TALK TO-NO OFFENSE."

" Ha, non taken!" Flowey said with honesty for once. It reminded him of how he was teased by his friends.

" BUT IT’S HARD WHEN YOU CAN ONLY TALK TO ONE PERSON INSTEAD OF YOUR VERY OWN SIBLING... EVERYONE JUST THINKS YOUR MY IMAGINARY FRIEND…” He sighed out as he sat, putting his mittened hands on his cheek bones to rest his skull.

The small golden flower shivered from the statement before looking up to him, “ You still believe I’m real… R-Right?”

“ WHY OF COURSE FLOWEY, I COULD NEVER NOT BELIEVE THAT. JUST LIKE HOW I BELIEVE YOU TO BE MY FRIEND.” He gave off a small saddened smile, that slightly touched Flowey. Unfortunately that only made him think off his previous friendships that turned into nightmares.

“ Well… Y-You know, I still believe in you right?”

“ YOU DO?”

“ Of course! That’s what friends are for!” Flowey smiled innocently, winking to the skeleton.

“ WHY THANK YOU FLOWEY. YEAH! I THINK I-I CAN DO IT!”

“ Yeah! Exactly And best of all, since were such great friends, I can help you get into the Royal Guard!”

Papyrus gasped loudly as he looked down to his flowery ‘friend’. “ YOU CAN?!”

“ Yup! All you have to do is lower your hand.” And just like the naïve skeleton he was, Papyrus did. Flowey almost felt bad for what was about to transpire… But then again he couldn’t feel guilt. This would be fun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ And that’s the story~! See, your going to be in the Royal Guard FOR SURE!”

“ TH-THAT’S BECAUSE N-N-NO ONE WILL B-BE IN IIIIIIT!” The thin tall skeleton cried out, a burst of tears was found as they ran down is cheek bones. “ I-I DON’T WANT TO BE IN THE ROYAL GUARD ANYMORE! PLE-PLEASE FLOWEY… PLEASE. I JUST WANT TO COOK SPAGHETTI AN-AND-”

“ AND WHAT?! GO BACK TO BEING A LOSER DEADBEAT WITH NO FRIENDS?!” Flowey hissed out to his host.

“ hey! don’t yell at him!” Snapped an agitated Sans.

The gold flower huffed bitterly, “ Hmf! I talk to him about his problems more than you do! You never take the time to talk to him because you feel to ashamed about yourself to even be a role model for him like you use to! He trusted you, but you won’t say a damned thing! I trusted you!” Flowey spat out angrily.

San’s tilted his head squinting, “ what do you man, ‘i’? i’ve never talked to you in this run-“

“ SILENCE! Now… Come on, let’s see whose the stronger sibling! You… Or Dear little Paps, backed up with a REAL FRIEND!” He shouted demonically as the vines tightened around Papyrus, making him yelp from the pressure.

Sans thankfully thought of a plan and put out his hands, “ wait, wait, wait! paps himself said he doesn’t want to be in the royal guard, so why go through with it? and before you say anything, you just said, you and paps against me. you must know I’m much stronger than you both alone… how about… you let him go and you can have me instead. think about it… you’d be unstoppable. we could overthrow the king-we could do A N Y T H I N G.” He raised a non-existent brow while Flowey glared harshly thinking this over as his eyes caught the weeping skeleton he was attached onto.

“ Hrm… He doesn't seem as motivated anymore… And he’s such a crybaby!”

“ ye-yes… yes he is. and unlike him, I’ll do what you tell me to, and you'd have full control of my body. just let him go and promise not to harm him…”
The flower thought or a small moment, “ Any other shitty promises I have to uphold?”

“ only one. i want to talk to my brother one last time alone, if that’s okay.” Sans pleaded to Flowey, who felt a pinch of pain as he oftenly wanted to talk to Chara one last time.

“ … Fine. Make it snappy. I’ll be watching.” The vines made Papyrus crash to his knees as Sans rushed over to his side to hug him. Flowey’s stem stretched away so Sans could talk quietly to his younger shooken brother, vines ready to strike him just encase Sans went back on his words. Flowey had a rather hard time glaring down at them since San’s hug did go around some of the vines, making harsh memories rip open. Finally Sans backed away and held onto his brother’s wrist, vines slowly slithering around his bones, wrapping around tightly.

Flowey soon covered the shorter skeleton, making the bones move around as if he had his own body in a twisted way. He grinned wildly until he noticed the traumatized brother sprinted off, “ He had better not back-stab me or else-“

“ he won’t. and you know he won’t…” Sans said coldly. Flowey growled, knowing Sans was right. However, just one step and a draconic skull materialized from nowhere in front off the two.

“ Wha-what the hell?!”

“ ohhh, right… hehehe, i kinda forgot to mention… i told you, you could have my body… however my mind and magic, ehhhhh… not so much” He chuckled proudly as he felt himself turn around only to stop as another Gaster Blaster appeared. All sides were covered, as well as above so Flowey couldn't make him jump.
All five of the skulls unhinged their jaws and whirred with energy, “ Y-Y-YOU FOOL! YOU’LL KILL US BOTH!” Flower squirmed around, his vines retreating so he could abandon ship. However Sans and Flowey were bound together with a blue aura.

“ two birds with one stone then hehehe…”

There was a small explosion from the forest that Snowdin villagers and the forest teens could see over from some trees, making monsters gasp out. Grillby took off running with the Snowed-Inn keeper, with some other monsters who could heal, while the rest helped the weary and… bone-tired skeleton recover after he had passed out, managing to get help.

Meanwhile back where Sans had sacrificed himself to thwart Flowey, the skeleton's health was now at 1/500. Since his own magic dealt a blow to himself, it didn’t actually kill him, since both were made up from his energy. Flowey however was at 5/6000 and started to go down at a slow and painstakingly amount. Sans laid there in the snow on his side, the world buzzing around him before things came into focus. His sweater was torn as some pieces fell down from the air, much like Flowey’ petals and a leaf. Sans panted weakly as his eyes focused in on the flower whit withering vines and roots strewn around him. At this moment the flower almost looked peaceful with his normal menacing look stripped away, just like the overly cheerful face.

Sans closed his eyes, wanting to go to sleep or better yet passing out… But something caught his attention. A small quiet innocent voice began speaking near him. He opened his eyes tiredly as the white pin pricked pupils wondered around to find the flower’s lips moving, “ C-C-Chara… I-I don’t… Li-Like this pl-pla…Plan anymore…Chara…’”

The skeleton’s eyes opened wider by just a bit. ‘Chara? Where have I hear that name before?’ wondered thought Sans’ mind before the ever lowering health of the flower kept going.

“ Pl-please… Don-… Don't leave me alone. I-I’m ssss-so scared… I’m so… C-Cooold…” Flowey curled up shaking violently as he neared the verge of death, tears flowing down his face which slowly morphed into the face Sans had abandoned.

“a-azzy?”

“ Please… Don’t go… Yet…I-I…Don’t leave me… P-Pleaaase…”

“ … asriel? it was y-you?” He asked the torn up flower who opened teary eyes.

“ H-Howdy… Sa-Sans… I…Don’t…. Feel….. Anything………” He warned the skeleton before is eyes grew tired as they finally-
-----------------------------------------

“ CLOSED?!” Undyne yelled out, seeing the shop they normally sold the cookies out to was indeed closed. “ SHIT! That means we’ll have to go sell at Floor-Mart!” Muffet joined into the utter pain in the assed groan. As the two women went on, the ragtag team made up of mostly monsters watched their Scout Leader hiss in frustration.

Sans was only accompanying the scouts to spend time with the small determined child, while Undyne always tagged along to keep one gleaming eye on Flowey. “ so… i take it that you guys just like mom and pop stores inside malls?”

The gilled ex-warrior sighed, “ Muffet, tell him.”

“ NO! It’s just that… Aherm.” The spider lady cleared her throat, not wanting to startle her scouts. “ You see, this mall rings in many people thus we get more profit by standing out here. However the Floor-Mart is… Boy-scout territory.” She squinted her five eyes in a matter of disgust.

Sans scoffed, smiling wide, “ ohhh, ptttth! i’m sure they’ll understand! i mean, you both work for the same district, if they went against you, that would hurt their own profits. hehehe, i mean i’m no photographer, but I can picture the girl-scouts and boy-scouts working together.” He winked, making the group of children giggle while Flowey and Undyne gave him deadly venom laced glares.

As the group got to the large building’s entrance, they started to set up their small stand to sell out wondrous cookies that Muffet made for the scouting of the school Frisk went to. Muffet and her large family of spiders were now charity workers while she ran her own bakery right next to Grillby’s. She worked alongside her spider brethren, selling low-fat yet amazing baked goods from her many recipes of magic. She could finally be helpful to society instead of trying to snatch away money, though she did have a hard time when it came to discounts that suited her. Speaking of which… “ Hey Muffet, their having a friggen’ 80% off on yarn and sewing supplies!” Called out the strong fish woman.

Muffet’s attention made her turn around quickly as she clasped her six hands together, “ Oh my! Really deary?! Oh my, oh my, oh my!” She hopped from one foot to the other, unsure of what to do, “ Me and my family really need to sew up some sweaters for the orphanage and the Roland Mcdolan House!”

Sans leaned over, watching the violet skinned spider bounce around, unsure what to do, “ hey, hey. it’s all good. how about you guys go in. i’ve got it all taken care of.”

“ YES!” Shouted Undyne, the skeleton knowing far too well something had gotten her attention in the store, which was not the yarn…

“ Heuheuheu, oh my thank you deary~! Though erm, it’s not the children I’m afraid of…” Hey black silky looking eyes averted to the angry flower while Frisk was trying to introduce him to Sugar’s kid who she took in before meeting Zack; a fellow orphan.

“ heh. you don’t think a skeleton like me can handle a plant?”

“ Well… Bones do disintegrate or get grinded into bonemeal which helps crops-“

“ okay, okay! jeez you need to stop talking to grills if he’s gonna’ tell you how the vegetables are so good from where he gets them from.”
The spider gave a small laugh before giving the short skeleton a peck on the cheek bone to thank him, following behind Undyne into the store. San’s pupils sunk into the black void of his eye socket as he raised his hand up slowly to wipe off a sticky wet web like substance left from the small kiss. “ ewwww…”

Flowey took the time to laugh at the others misfortune, his clay pot resting next to some boxes of baked goods the children had prepared. The girl-scouts weren’t really girl-scouts however. Ever since the monsters were free, a handful of people rather not want to deal with the odd race. One being some of the school system’s which linked off into the scouts. The school hadn’t really had a girl-scouts since no one wanted to help out while the boy-scouts seemed capable on their own. But when the monsters came, the PTA members shrugged the monsters off, dumping them into the girl-scouts, that way they wouldn’t have to be mixed in with the ‘normal’ scouts.

Frisk happily joined once they found out their happy armless friend had joined in. The girl-scouts were a small group, while the boy-scout’s had several groups, Muffet hoping more would join the girl-scouts soon. At the moment, the members consisted of Frisk, Flowey, Kidd, Snowy, four of the Snowdin rabbits, and Jeremy; Sugar’s child adoptive child.

As the three girl rabbits would toss Flowey need boxes of the assorted goods. While Jeremy would take the simple orders from customers, Frisk sitting next to him, handing out the treats people had bought. Kidd and Snowy bounced around, greeting anyone who walked by, pulling them into a somewhat guilty pressure due to the lizard lacking any arms from what they knew. While the short fluffy snowdrake puffed his feathers up to look extra cute to draw attention. Sans had to hand it to Muffet, she knew how to work the system, even if it meant scamming it in some form. All while the lone brother of the rabbits adjusted his glasses, keeping track of the money they were gaining. The way they all worked together made the skeleton shocked how well they had been doing, it was like he was watching a machine’s gears work together in one fluid motion.

In fact it me him happy how well these kids worked together, monster and human finally helping one another. He felt a soft smile spread across his face and quickly vanished without the kids knowing. In an instant he came back, his sapphire sweater zipped up, looking rather oddly shaped and bulky. He stood there proud of himself while the crowd died down, letting the children talk amongst themselves.

Jeremy shyly patted Frisk’s shoulder before leaning over and whispering into their ear. Their gaze traveled onto their dunkle with a smile, “ Sans…”
“ sup, kiddo?” He winked to the to human children, making Jeremy cover his mouth from laughter, seeing the comedian skeleton act so casually with something obviously under his sweater.

“ What did you do?” Frisk’s smile grew into a grin, finding it just as funny.

“ mmm… well let’s see… i woke up, got dressed, ate, drove over here with you and miss puffer fish, and now here we are.” Frisk shook their head, getting up from their seat to go over and put their hands under is sweater, only to reel them back and rub them together from a frosty nip of ice. “ hehehe, ice got you pretty good this time kiddo.” He chuckled out, unzipping the sweater and pulling up his pain white shirt to revel cans of sodas stored up in his rib-cage. “ oh man, i feel like a fridge.”

“ YOUR FATS AS ONE!” Shouted the bitter flower.

“ ehh, what can I say? i’m big boned, and your thin as a twig.” While the golden flower howled out in rage, Frisk gave their dunkle a great hug before helping take out the cans and passing them to each scout member. While the rabbits drank their sodas and chatted to one another in the back, Kidd and Sans stood by the table’s sides, Sans being dangerously close to Flowey who was placed next to Frisk. Only reason he stood at that side was because he didn’t want Kidd to get bit or anything. Snowy and Kidd stood next to Jeremy, Kidd's his flexible limber tail wrapping around his own can, taking sips.

Jeremy’s hands fussed together as he looked over to the skeleton and flower. He seemed to enjoy the company of monsters rather than humans. Sans’ attention was caught as the young boy watched him nervously and shyly… He kind of reminded him of Asriel… Kind, sensitive, and extremely shy. “ sup kid? do I have something on my sleeve?” He asked casually.

Frisk peered over and frowned slightly, “ Yea, there’s some ketchup right there.” They pointed over making the skeleton look down.
“ oh shit, so that’s where that drop went…” He shifted his pupils around before sucking at the small spot on his blue sweater, making the four kids laugh from the sudden reaction while Flowey stuck his tongue out.

“ OH GOD! WHY?! WHY DO YOU DO THIS?!” He screeched out, his stem leaning away to get away from Sans.

Sans stopped and shrugged, “ cuz’ i’ve gotta’ ketchup on things that get on my sweater. hehehe. but really, what’s up kid?”

Jeremy scooted so he was hiding behind Frisk,” O-Oh s-sorry sir. I-I was just erm, wondering how you an-and that pretty flower are connected to risk as a fa-fmily.”

" PRETTY-" Sans cut off the flower quickly.

“ aww, it’s all good kid, don’t stress about it. i’m their dunkle. a dad like uncle, and the guy who rooted them on from the very beginning.” He gave a smile to Jeremy, making Frisk rub the back of their neck from being mentioned.

Flowey gave a bitter glare. “ You sure it’s not because you dunked them and wanted to uproot me so I could suffer?”

Sans quickly put a hand over the flower’s mouth who started to quiver in rage, trying to yell and bite at him. “ anyways, the flower here is… is….uhm” San’s other hand tapped the table nervously. " he's a... what's the word kiddo?"

“ A MISTAKE!” Came the ungrateful tone of a boy-scout who stood there as the other scouts in his troop set up their table. The boy looked slightly older than the others, though it seemed their scout leader was too busy setting up to notice the audacity of one of the boys.

The boy walked over with three others, backing him up. The boy squinted as is gaze viewed over the odd group out, “ Your in our spot! We’ve been here before you guys ever saw the sun!” The three others went into a mocking tone of ‘Yeeeeeah!’ in agreement. Flowey and Sans’ eye twitched from the crude statement.

One boy from the table walked over to see what all the hubbub was about. Their eyes traced and scanned over them until they saw Jeremy, “ Yo, Jeremy, I thought you wanted to be in the boy-scouts. Why are you in the mosnt-erm girl-scouts?” It seemed this one kid refrained from being too rude.

“ O-Ohh, uhm… I-“

He was soon cut off by the eldest stuck up scout, “ Because he didn’t qualify, because he was too scared to be the only one without areal family. Instead he just pretends his mom is really his mom and hides under that stupid ugly purple sweater. Why the purple man? That’s a girl color.”

The fellow human started to descend into his sweater, the hoodie flopping over him to hide his shame, thinking he was at fault. Before Sans could react, Snowy ruffled his cold feathers and cawed at them while Flowey seemed stunned for some reason as the boy mentioned family, and for Frisk and Kidd to soothe Jeremy from sweater town. The quadruple rabbits hopped on over, standing up to the four alongside the angered bird. “Y-You l-leave my friend’s friend alone! Y-You big bully!”
“ Move out of the way chicken boy, I’m not done talking so you guys get out of our spot.”

“ It’s anyone's spot!” Snowy flapped his small ice laced wings. The four rabbits took a step foreword, only to flee away into the back where they originally were as the four boys started making noises of wolves, snakes, hawks, and dogs. Sans’ eye carefully watched the boys, his left ye glowing a shade of blue for backup if he had to dunk somebody.

“ No bird brain it’s ours!” The leader of the little shits pushed him forcefully which made the armless dinosaur child hop to.

“ Y-YO! STOP THAT! If you want to pick on him, you're gonna’ have to-to go through me!” After watching Undyne and Papyrus for the longest time he wanted to be just like them. But when Frisk refused to be men to him back once he begged them too, he felt so bad. To make amends he went up against his very own hero, boosting up his confidence to a new extreme. Whenever Frisk was bullied at school when he was around, he would jump at the ready with determination lingering in his eyes. Fisk could handles themselves, he knew that, so when it came to anyone else, monster or human being picked on he thought of the brave trio doing what was right and just in the world.

However… Rarely did anyone fight back, mostly for anyone who did would get called out on for hitting a handicapped child. This older kid however shoved Kidd down, falling over and smacking the table with the back of his head. He yelped out which got Frisk to stand up and shoved their chair down to rush to his aid. In a blink of the eye Sans popped up right between the two, his hollow eyes stared at the kid with a large menacing grin, “ congrats, you just pushed down someone who can’t even push you back… kid-os to you buddy…”

The boy snorted into a scoff, “ A comedian huh? What are you gonna’ do about it? So what if you’re a teenager, I don’t care.” Sans gave a small cold glare, being mistaken as such due to his short stature.

“ okay kiddo, i tried being nice, but it seems you reeeeeaally want a B A D T I M E-“

“ MAX!” Called out an adult male who ran over to his side wearing a larger scout uniform. The boy rolled his eyes, ignoring the older human. “ I am so sorry sir. I was busy setting up the table with my other scouts. Erm, are you their scout leader?”

Sans’ white shining pupils came back as they looked up to the other team leader, his malicious grin lowering down to his casual smile, “ me? hehehe, nah, she went to go take care of something. i’m watching the tykes while she’s gone.”

“ Ah, right. Substitute-erm… May I speak to you?” Sans shrugged before the man looked over to Max, “ And you stop that mister!” The ‘well-behaved’ child scoffed, turning his view away while the scout leader and Sans went over to the table. Meanwhile the normal active boy-scouts invite the other group over to chat too and possibly share snacks they had. The rabbits cautiously made their way over to find the rest of the boy-scouts were kind humans like Frisk and Jeremy, and were very interested to talk about various things to become friends. Snowy and Jeremy helped Kidd over, the orange lizard kept admitting he was okay, smiling wide with a toothy gap that he got because he kept tripping so frequently… along with a casual light black eye. Frisk went to bring Flowey over so they could chat, as his eyes spied on the four incredibly insensitive kids of the large group. With a pat from Frisk, they left with his pot, pulling him up to go talk and be there for their friends.
The two older males sat down, the scout leader chuckling nervously, “ Look, I’m sorry about Max, but I’m afraid he is right.”

Sans’ raised his non-existent brow, “ what? that that kid with the purple sweater was right to be scared, since that little snot thinks kids who are adopted don’t have a real family? because, hehehe, if that’s the point your trying to get across… what’s your name again, P A L?”

The scout leader gulped seeing a faint shimmer in the monster’s eye, “ Oh! N-No! No, no, no, no, no! I-I didn’t catch that part at all! I-I meant, that well… This is our spot is all. I’ll have word with him later abut that however. I-I’m Patrick, by the way.”

Sans relaxed in his chair, cooling down from the sudden aggression, “ sans. sans the skeleton. hehehe, sorry about that buddy, kid rubbed me the wrong way is all. Tough you might want to restrain that kid a little more. but going back to the matter at hand, the girl-scouts have a right to be here just as your group does. i mean, heh, they both work for the same school.”

“ Well, yes. But you see, it’d be better if… They were to split up, you know, cover more ground.”

“ this was the only other place that’s nearest to our houses without being called onto about ‘loitering’. hehe, people can be so insensitive these days, huh? and look, their all having a nice time.” He calmly put out his arm from his blue pocket to raise his bony hand to the children who were having a nice time with one another.

“ Yes, yes… But… My group has been here… Longer than your group, so with them coming over really messes up things.”

“ how so?”

“ Well… First off, we have regulars every now and then. They wouldn’t know your group. Uh, some people are having a hard time adjusting. And well, frankly they might scare customers who just want to sop inside the store…”

Sans blinked a tad, furrowing invisible brows as his smile shrank down, “ … are you saying, we shouldn’t be here because we’re monsters?”

“ NO! Nohoho! … Well, yes, but don’t take it the wrong way! It is only for the best and your groups safety is all!” Patrick gave a false smile. After all the resets, Sans could decipher when a smile was pure or not. Well, except for the bitter flower, but that was a different story all together.

With Frisk, Kidd got to tell the well behaved scouts about Jeremy’s parents relationship and how they owned their very own pizzeria since the poor kid was too shy to tell them. He smiled as he gained the courage from watching Kidd speak boldly to talk about the place. The children listened in awe to Jeremy, while Frisk stayed back slightly to keep an eye on Max and his cronies.

Since Patrick was busy discussing things with the short skeleton, he took this time to walk back over instead of standing away like he was told to. The other three didn’t follow, not wanting t break more codes than they had. Frisk’s head shot up, hearing shoes come over. They whipped their head around holding onto the clay pot to see Max standing there staring at them with a hardened face.

“ Aren’t you that one kid who barely talks? Don’t you know how to talk?”

“ Yes.”

" Oh good, now I don’t have to keep asking what you're saying. So what’s up with you hanging around these weirdos? You seem more stable than Jeremy.”

Frisk frowned, “ You mean the monsters?”

“ What part of weirdo do you not get?”

“ They're not weirdos. Their my friends. And that skeleton is my dad slash uncle.”

“ Oh, so you are like Jeremy… So your moms human though right?”

“ Nope. She’s Miss Tutorial, the history teacher..”

Max’s slightly kind approach started to go downwards, “ Oh… More monsters… Great. Yeah, okay, I GUESS that’s okay, but don’t you ever wish that one kid who freed the monsters, just... didn’t?”

Frisk gave a very concerned look, furrowing their brows, “ Uhm… You mean me?”

“ Wait… You were the one?!” The smaller child nodded, making the boy give a dirty look, the ‘charming’ talk was now over. “ No wonder you're in the sissy gi-scout squad! I mean-Are you even a guy?!”

Flowey had enough, he much rather not want to hear this dumb-ass yelling, “ Hey. Cool it.”

Max took a sudden step back, “ Did that flower just talk?!”

Frisk held onto the pot closely, “ Yeah. He’s my brother, so please stop harassing me.”

“ Tch, what’s a tiny little flower going to do? Oh nooooo, the buttercup is angry~! I have to watch out for my sister-or brother-or-or whatever you are you freak.”
Flowey lurched forward, vines crawling out to push Frisk back or wrap around their arms so they wouldn’t push him. The flower’s eerily cartoonish smile grew wide across his face, “ Golly, you just don’t quit do you? You really are an idiot, huh? Picking on people smaller than them. Hehe~! Your just a cowardice little bitch.” He said in a snide tone, getting a small, ‘Flowey…’ from Frisk.

“ Okay, fine. My favorite past time was plucking petals off of dumb little flowers anyways!” Max snatched hold of Flowey’s golden petal before Sans stepped in, or rather to the side. A blue hue of mist surrounded the two, forcefully making Max’s hand free to separate the two.

“ frisk, go get the others, were going to wait until muffet and undyne to get back so we can go.”

“ What? I-I’m sorry! I tried to hold him back-” The child clutched onto the angry flower’s pot.

“ no, no. it’s not because of him, for once. it’s because, apparently we’re not welcome here…” He muttered out, watching Patrick shooing the girl-scouts from the boys, making the two species upset.

“ Ha, told you!” Max stuck his tongue out in triumph, only for Sans and Frisk to ignore him.

But the flower on the other hand… Vines shot out from the pot’s dirt, slithering to the boy-sout’s table at a rapid speed, smashing it into two. Before anyone could react, the flower’s head formed into the devious maniacal and psychotic look Frisk had seen as he gave his speech about being the god of this world. Fangs stuck out as a ghastly smile covered his face, a slithering tongue dangling out while his eyes turned pure black with large white saucers viewed the boy. “ I WILL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF THIS WORLD AS YOU HUMANS HAVE INFLICTED ONTO US EVER SINCE WE HAVE TRIED TO PAVE PEACE WITH YOU! WE HAVE LEFT ONCE BEFORE, BUT NOW NO MORE! PERHAPS IT IS YOUR KINDS TURN TO BE BURIED DEEP IN THE BOWELS OF HELL, PLEADING FOR THE WARMTH OF THE SUN ONCE MORE! CRYING OUT INTO THE COLDEST OF NIGHTS TO BE FREED AT LAST, ONLY TO HAVE SOME IDIOT GET ONTO FOR BEING DIFFERENT, WANTING TO BANISH YOU BACK DOWN THE PITS OF THE NEVER ENDING TORMENT THAT THE WORLD IS MADE UP OF!”

Flowey sat there in a small crib like structure that looked more like a cage, his roots rustling under him in his pot. A paper was taped onto the front of the structure reading out, ‘ Gay baby Jail’. Frisk had only put it there to be cheeky, and well Sans was too lazy to move it. The small child walked over and sat down next to it, breaking apart a bi-cicle, handing one to the flower through the gap. A vine wearily took it as he slowly started to suck on it. “ It’s sea-salt blueberry… Hope you like it.”

“ … It’s nice… Thanks…”

“ Did you have to flip Max into the air like that?”

“ I caught him before he hit the concrete…”

“ Well yeah… But…”

“ I just don’t like people picking on you because they don’t understand…”

“ I know… But it gets you into trouble.”

Flowey sighed, “ Yea well… Not doing something can get you into more trouble…”

“ Hmm? How do you figure?”

“ … It just does…” Flowey looked away remembering far too well why.

Chapter Text

A brand new day was set forth for the young goatly prince aided with his ever growing friendship of Sans. Today was glorious as they felt the cavern’s gales of winds flow by them in the watery location of The Underground. Sans held onto his younger brother's legs as the toddler dangled around on his brother’s shoulder, reaching out and pointing, “ ONWARD!”

“ neigh, neigh.” He smiled a toothy smirk, “ but seriously paps. hey.”

“ HEY WHAT?” The tiny bony fingers placed themselves on his brother's skull, himself leaning over to try and look his brothers in the eye as he asked.

“ oh, you’ve got some hay? why didn’t you say so.” Sans’ made a cheeky little grin as his pinprick pupils viewed up to see his brother's unpleasant face. Papyrus gave a disappointing and aggravated response to the other skeleton, slowly sliding back to how he was sitting originally.

“ ASRIEL?! HOW DO YOU PUT UP WITH HIM?!”

The white furred monster snickered to himself, covering his snout with a paw, “ I'm not quite sure myself. I think it might be because he’s so good at getting everyone’s goat.” The prince bared a sly smile as his teeny fangs poked out before them.

“ THAT’S IT! I DON’T KNOW YOU TWO ANYMORE!” Papyrus yelled out, flailing his arms up into the air, just not having none of it today. Of course this only made the older monsters laugh from the adorable sight of the peeved toddler.

Eventually the trio had made it to the old turtle’s store. Undyne had asked for a bit of help since she had plans with the dorky lizard for later, and wanted to be done with what the elderly monster needed. Of course, she couldn’t simply say no to her hero, even if Gerson had given her an opportunity to not help out and just take the day off. But the gilled girl was too deep in her honor for the mighty warrior and refused. Which was fine with the three others, hey had no issues with helping out at all. Asriel liked to think of it as an adventure more than an opportunity. And honestly… Today would be an adventure…

“ Ah, there you three are! Wahaha!” Gerson called out seeing the children walk on in. He slapped his rough and scaly kneecap as he laughed out to greet them.

Undyne’s fiery red hair could be seen poking out from behind the counter like a shark’s fin. Two finned clawed hands slammed down onto the counter, pulling their owner up who had been crouching down to mess with something, “ THERE YOU GUYS ARE! ABOUT TIME! Alphys found a new movie at the dump and wants to watch it with me latter! So let’s hurry it up!”

Sans rolled his eyes, remaining well composed and not in a need of urgency, “ hey, hey, chill out. water you expecting from us three? to rush over here with the 'current' situation?”

The blue toned fish gave a looming glare to the playful skeleton’s banter, putting up a finger, “ Don’t start sassing me Windings…”

Thankfully the elderly warrior came over, setting down five boxes of various sizes. He patted his hands together from a small job well done and smiled t the children, “ Here we go youngins’! I be needing you all to take these packages to the village!”

Asriel tilted his head, letting his floppy ear dangle about in the air, “ What village? Snowdin?”

Gerson then put his fist onto the sides of his hips to let out a hardy laugh, “ Wahaha! No, not this time my prince. I be needing these babies to be delivered to Temmie Village!”

Undyne’s one working eye cracked wide open, her attention snapping to her mentor, “ WHA-WHAT?! YOU WANT U-US TO GO THERE?!” She yelped out looking petrified… Which was new to Asriel and Papyrus. They had never once seen the mighty girl stutter once, let alone sound like she was cowering for her very life. The sensitive monsters gulped as if thinking they were going to go to Hell and back.

“ Ah, I knew you’d be like that Undyne. That’s why ya got your friends here to help ya! So gone, the lot of ya!” He gave out another boastful laugh as Undyne begrudgingly lifted up two of the largest boxes.

" CAN'T YOU FIND SOMEONE ELSE?! Pleeeeeease!" Undyne practically got on her knees and begged.

" Wahaha! Sorry, but Gerson says to go do this, and that'll be it for today." He winked to the frowning fish.

She scowled bitterly, “ Ugh… You owe me for this Uncle Gerson.” She sighed tediously as the others helped, following her along, hearing a chuckle from the elderly monster from behind their back.

As the three followed her, Asriel shuddered as chill ran down his spine, “ Wha-What's Temmie Village?”

“ The most worst place in all of The Underground. Where every moment being there causes torment and undeniable suffering for the malicious monsters that dwell there in the pit.”

Both Asriel and Papyrus’ jaw dropped down as they followed long, fearing and regretting what they had volunteered for. However with Sans, only chuckle, “ jeez… didn’t know you were so poetic.”

“ SHUT UP BONEHEAD! Anyways follow me.” Her fins flattened against the rough scaly surface f the fish’s face as she led them down one of the glowing mushroom filled rooms. The whole area was pitch black except for some mushrooms and crystals that let out a shimmering glow of blue. The lit up path in the mossy and dark grass was only used as a puzzle for humans, making them get confused on what path to take, while monsters didn’t need to do so, even if the sign said. They went to the very border of the large cavernous room, Undyne letting out a pain and annoyed groan before putting her boot through what seemed like the hard blue walls from the other rooms in The Waterfall. Her bright red galoshes like boot went straight into the wall as if she was walking inside of it like a phantom. The two younger children gasped at the phenomenon while Sans looked relatively surprised.

Each one walked through the invisible wall of the caverns to see a very large open area with houses all around… Well, more like cardboard box houses little kids would make. There seemed to e many monsters outside chatting and doing various things, except one thing was off by a long shot… All these monsters looked the same. Each was the size of Papyrus, a light blue-white colored furred bodies, blue sea foam green type of hair in the same style, blue shirts, and two sets of ears. One pair being floppy much like a hound or Asriel, while the other pair poked out like a cat’s. The most noticeable thing were their adorable faces and the way they waddled around on all our paws.

There seemed to be something within the air… The sound of harmonizing yet derpy sounding music. Asriel and Papyrus looked around to find an acapella of the monsters wearing red striped hats, singing in vocals as a theme for the small village. Just then one of the many same looking monsters dashed over to them, only to slid to a halt, falling on their face and getting back up with a now smooshed and flattened face. “ hOI! I’m TEMMIE! Welcomb tO TeM Village!”

Undyne groaned, “ Look we're just here to drop off these boxes-“

“ OHhhhhHHHHHH! U hab BoXENS! TeMMIe go git Grampa TeMMY!” The odd little monster winked to them, turning around and sprinting away leaving their face there with the wink. The other three monsters aside from Undyne took a step back from the winking face that was stuck in mid air. Thankfully the body ran back, reattaching it’s face back on, “ GramPAH TeMmY will see shortly can waitz!”

Undyne sighed, dropping the two boxes under her arms, sitting on top of them and laying back, “ I’m taking a nap, you guys can go do… whatever, I don’t want to be here right now.” She said as she rubbed her temples, allowing Sans to take the other two away so they could examine the odd village.

“ hOI! I’m TeMMIE! It noice TO meet U!” The small Temmie vibrated at an exhilarating speed in the same place. While Papyrus chased a gaggle of the Temmies nearby, having the most fun with the goofy monsters, Asriel and Sans tried interacting with the anomalies called Temmie.

Sans rubbed the back of his neck bones, not really sure how to interact with them. It was so weird, these little things were throwing him off his casual calm groove. He had no idea how to remotely approach them into conversation. “ erm… hi. i’m sans, and this is asriel-“

The Temmie gasped, inhaling a large volume of air, making itself puff up before closing it’s mouth. The small cat-dog like hybrid began to float away like a balloon from so much excess air. Asriel and Sans watched it float away until it opened its mouth to say something… Only or it to swivel around in the air like a deflating balloon, crashing into a wall. “ … What just happened?”

“ i…. i don’t know…”

Asriel scooted over to his friend, concerned, “ Sans. I’m scared.”

“ so am i buddy… so am i.”

As they continued to look around, they came across one Temmie hacking and coughing horribly with others watching intently. Asriel soon disbursed from his friend's side, running to the wheezing monster, picking it up and proceeding with the Heimlich maneuver. Sans noticed the prince running off and soon went after him. The Temmies that had been staring at their choking friend kept staring at were they were before they even noticed them being picked up. Finally Asriel gave out one last hard push, making the Temmie hack out a hairball of clumpy and matted wet fur. “ Whew!” He let out, holding the Temmie in his arms.

“ woah, shit, you two okay?”

“ I-I’m fine. Wh-What about you Temmi-“ Asriel’s cheek was smooshed up against his face by a paw from a long starched out looping arm of the Temmie he had just helped out. “ … I think she’s good.” He replied awkwardly as the group of monsters watched the rather irregular large clump in the middle of their sitting circle.
One Temmie’s paw streaked out like silly putty, whirling around in different loops to reach the fuzzy clump of mucus, saliva, and fur. Sans quickly slapped the paw away, making it retreat, getting caught in a tangled knot, “ hey, whoa, don’t touch it!”

The other Temmies began to help their comrade while the rest stared at the hairball, vibrating in a rapid motion. Sans and Asriel both let out a squeak as they saw the hairball begin to wriggle around. Before too much longer, the hairball sprouted out four tiny paws. It got up and waddled around as if it were stuck in an egg, until… POP! A Temmie’s head had popped right out from the hairball, blinking to investigate it’s new surroundings. All the others yelled out, “ hOI! I’m Temmie! What’s U’re NAmE?!”

The newly hatched Temmie puffed up her cheeks until her face changed from a light blue like white to a dark blueberry color of blue. Finally it gasped out and screamed, “ hOI TemmIE! I’M TEEEEMMIE!”

As Asriel put the coughing Temmie down, it ran right to the newly hatched monster and gagged up a shirt for it. Afterwards they all started cheering and spouted nonsensical gibberish.

“ … Did we just see the miracle of life?” Questioned Asriel.

Sans’ eyes sockets were black and empty as a black hole, “ … we saw something, that’s all I know. not sure what it was exactly, but i can defiantly say, it was not a miracle…”

While the two were frozen in confusion, suddenly out from no where seemingly came an egg, pelting the young prince in the back of the head, making him yelp out. Asriel and Sans both turned around while the fuzzy goat paws wiped the yolk off from his fur, Sans scowling around for whoever had thrown the small object. Then came a voice Sans knew well enough, “ Well, well. Didn’t know you’d losers would be here. You do know you’re both in MY territory now. This is my home turf Sansy boy.”

Another Temmie waddled over to the two friends with a wide smirk across his face, fully aware of what he had done, like a little shit. Sans glared down at the runty looking Temmie, “ …bob.”

Bob gave a chuckle, “ Why you guys in my place?”

“ because bobby boy, we’re delivering something, like G O O D Samaritans do, unlike taking petty orders from some jackass who split apart Grillby’s guild.” His eye flashed a dangerous blue warning sign to the out of place Temmie.

Asriel, being the kind sweet little thing e was knelt down to Bob. He would never do this if the other members were around, but if t was just one and who was significantly smaller than himself, then it wouldn’t be so bad. He gave a friendly smile and put out a paw, “ You know, you don’t have to follow orders from those guys or whoever your leader is. You’re your own monster, you should be free to express your own self instead of following to one’s expectations.”
Sans’ pupils scanned the prince, the small speech making him and Bob shut up. After a few blinks of processing what just transpired the skeleton tilted his head, “ whoa dude… where’d that come from?”

The goat giggled up to him, “ I have to know this kinda stuff if I’m going to be king some day. So what do you say Bob? Can we be friends?” Bob however looked at the white soft paw and back to its owner in a dilemma and crisis. His expressions changed from uncertainty, to hurt, to confusion, to anger, to sad, then back to uncertainty. With a small whine and the twitch of one of his cat like ears, he glared coldly at Asriel, his paw slapping away the other monsters, making the prince recoil and rub his hand, which in turn made Sans give a threatening pose.

“ SCREW YOU! If you're going to be king someday, that means I’ll just have to follow orders from you! And I'm not gonna’ be working under you, you little bitch!” Bob barked out, growling and hopping from anger. Asriel looked pained as tears started to sting his eyes. “ What? Are you gonna’ cry, crybaby?! Crrrrrry! Go on! CRY!-“ Before any further, something clasped onto the back Bobs neck connecting to his shoulder, making the dog-cat hybrid instantly shut his mouth and slump over onto his face, much like the Temmie greeter.

A bit after words as Temmies poked Bob who mumbled in a passed out state, the eldest of the group of four sat in a small quaint little shop sipping some tea that was placed on a cardboard box table. A Temmie sat before the three at the end of the make-shift table. They didn’t look different at all aside from their stripped shirt that went from yellow to blue, while another Temmie nearby who had… half-haphazardly poured the tea vibrating away, sweeping up the humble shop. The one that sat and sipped their tea looked at the three and smiled contently, “ Temmy sorry aboot Bob. Bob might bEE going throo fazee.”

“ Erm… thanks temmie-“

“ No, no, mE Temmy!” It chuckled out, stretching out it’s arm into a black hole which led to here-oh, there it is.

Y
d888b d888b
ooo 88888 88888 ooo
d888b Y88P Y88P d888b
88888 '` `' 88888
Y8P' .od888bo. 'Y8P
.od888888888bo.
d888888888888888b
88888888888888888
Y8888888888888P
`Y888P"Y888P'

Temmy grabs hold of the letter Y and lowers the rubbery arm out from the hole, “ I’ Temmy, wit a Y. I am grampa of all tems! And dat is Temmie, moi assistant.”
The one who was sweeping gave a large smile and waved over, “ hOI! I’m TeMMie!”

Sans tilted his head, unsure of the Temmie Leader who broke spoken language but seemed to be as smart as Bob did. “ so uh… you’re their grandpa?”
Temmy nodded his head rapidly while his face stayed put until he stopped. He grabbed a staff and pointed it to a large wide canvas of a single Temmie either riding or just nearby a large serpent like dragon monster. “ Tem use two bee up on sure-face. When hoomins banish monstars, Tem settle down and make family!”

Undye gazed at the painted canvas, or was it sewn? “ Uhm… What’s up with the dragon?”

Temmie dropped a cup, it shattered all over the floor as they all gazed at her aside from Grandpa Temmy. She chuckled nervously, backing away. “ UHM… Tem go… Go gIT dustpans!” She scurried off fleeing them, only for the children to notice the dustpan had been next to her.

Temmy then spoke up after taking a long uncomforting sip of his tea, “ Ahh… Tem gits scared when ppl talk about durgin. Dat durgin was Tem’s bestest friend. His name was Semi. Semi and Tem foight in war. We waz a beast out dere. A BEEEAST!” He said in excitement putting his stubby paws n the table before sitting back down with his top ears flattening down. “ Butt… Hoomins slay Semi. Tem waz all byself… So lonely awawawa… “ He let out a sad whine as he made the odd noise. “ Semi always want two settle down n’ habe grandkids. Tem made promise dat Tem would habe grandkids n’ celebrate his burfday… Tem miss Semi.” He pawed at his cup in a depressing manner before looking back up at them, smiling. “ SO SORRY! Tem git emotional at toimes. U all habe noice day!”

Asriel raised his paw, gaining the elder’s attention, “ Uhm, s-sir what about the boxes?”

“ Temmies already took care of boxens.” He smiled and waved the three good-boi as they left the store. Once outside they found several Temmies around the brand new Temmie with a make-shift cardboard box house, making the new Temmie vibrate intensely before all the others joined in.

Undyne’s jaw popped open, stupidly astounded, “ … So inside these boxes were just…”

A Temmie popped out from Sans’ hoodie, making him get startled and fall back as it hopped out with ease, “ YE! INSOIDE BOXES WERE….. BOOOOOXENS!” The strange creatures celebrated all around as Asriel helped the skeleton up who was still a bit stunned.

Sans quickly called out for his young brother to find him waddle over with his brown coat at the seams as I it was stuffed like an overflowing suitcase. “ paaaaps.” He said with a smirk, Asriel watching the event unfold, giggling quietly as the toddler patted his almost bursting coat.

" YES?! I’M READY!”

“ paps…” Sans said in a smug manner, Papyrus not fooling him one bit.

“ …”

“ paps, c’mon dude.” Papyrus gave out a defeated groan and unzipped the bulging coat, letting Temmie after Temmie hop down and waddle in front of the smaller child. Asriel watched the seemingly never ending count of Temmies. Sans was taken back from the amount, trying to figure out how he held in so much, “ what the heck?! there’s like fifty in there! t-how even?!” The scientifically nerd tried to reason with logical intelligence, only to be stumped by impossible feat.
“ Uhm… twenty-eight actually.” Said the prince who had watched each Temmie pop out, now blocking the children’s path. Undyne at this point was fed up with the monsters that maintained impossible physics, snatching up both Asriel and Papyrus up over her head as she scooted the Temmies out of the way with her boots.
“ OKAY THAT’S IT! SHOO! BACK! FUCK OFF!” Papyrus made a small squeak as Undyne lifted him up with one hand, also while picking up Asriel who let out a frightened bleat.

Finally she got out from the village and put the two down panting harsly. Sans who seemed to pop out of nowhere handed her a cup of water which she generously took, gulping it all down. Asriel seemed confused on how the cheeky skeleton got there since last he saw him, was back with the Temmies blocking the way out like mindless pigeons or turkeys. He didn’t ask r the moment after seeing the what the Temmies were capable of.

Undyne crushed the cup and groaned in irritation, “ NEVER… AGAIN!”

“ agreed… let’s just pretend this never happened.” Sans said as he rubbed his forehead.

Asriel picked up the small toddler and smiled as his tail shook, “ I don’t know. I kinda like them.”

Undyne stared blankly an wide eyed to the prince, “ Wha-How?! What?! W–“
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“ why are you here buttercup?” Sans asked the nervous golden flower who sat there in the dirt with the counter made up of cardboard sat between the two. From what Sans had gathered so far, was that maniacal flower he constantly remembered was working at the Tem Shop, probably to pay some type of debt he assumed, because nobody sane would willingly work with the hyper little hybrids.

“ I-I uhm… T-TEMMIE COSTUMER HELP! PLEASE!” He called out rather desperately as the smiling skeleton continued his rather ‘subtle’ threatening glare down to him. The striped shirt Temmie vibrated over and past the two. “ Te-T-Temmie?!”

“ SoRrY FLIOWey, Tem habe lunch brick! tOIME for Tem Flakes! Tem comb back wit foob for U! bOI!”

Once the strange monster left the small store, Sans’ eyed the quivering flower with a harsh glare. He just knew the flower was behind his ever-constant nightmares from the resets that occurred. But seeing the loathsome flower quiver behind the counter did nip at his soul. “ i’ll ask one more time B U D D Y… why are you here? Are you hurting the Temmies, cuz’ well yeah their annoying, but they still got a right to live. so, what’s the reason damnedelion?” He asked with an aggressive tone flowing from his grin. Again seeing the flower sake so badly, made him feel horrible, but he had to remain determined and rough to get some answers.

The trembling flower scrunched back, his stem leaning into the dirt as he for once gave a terrified face to the skeleton. The flower shortly after shaking started to whimper and cry out for help, “ He-Help! Please! I-I didn’t mean it-Yes I did-NO!I-I don’t want to hurt anyone! I just want t-t-to be accepted! I’m worthless, I just want to FEEL SOMETHING! ANYTHING!”

Sans took a sudden step back, uncertain if the flower was being genuine or just lying through is teeth. The thing was in shambles as it curled up on itself. All the crying and screams got attention from several Temmies nearby the store, poking their heads in to see what the buzz was about. Sans felt eyes stare at him, turning around to see an eyeful of Temmies watching him from the store’s curtains. Their faces weren’t the ones Sans was use to seeing, or anyone else for that matter. Half seemed to be on the verge of tears while the other half had their faces in a twisted look to seem like they were glaring to Sans. It was difficult for them to put on these faces since Temmies were naturally peppy.

“ uhm… h-h-hoi?” Sans chuckled nervously before one more face popped in, that being Bob. Sans rubbed the back of his neck bones as his eyes met the eyes of a disappointed Bob. Who looked incredibly unimpressed. “ oh, heya bob… what’s uh… what’s up?”

Bob kept silent as his eyes skimmed past the skeleton and onto the weeping flower. “ So… You guys still expect more from us, huh? Making us have our own tiny village and leading tracks away from our humble village wasn’t enough”

“ w-wait, what-no, no, no! bob, it’s not about your village-“

“ Nnnnno of course not. It’s if we find someone in need of help, you just want to drag them away from us, because we’re too… ‘Special’ to help out anyone.” Bob said in a low tone. The only problem with Temmies weren’t that they were annoying. It was that they were so bizarre and annoying that most if not all monsters avoided them. In order for Bob; the only down to Earth hybrid, wanted to make a phone call, he’d have to walk outside his own home into the darkness of the caverns.
“ look, bob, i just wanted to ask him why he was here, it's for your own safety-“

Suddenly the enormous pack of Temmies slowly crept into the store keeping their heads low, walking past the skeleton and in front of the counter, starring up to Sans. Sans was taken aback by how the derpy little hyper fluff balls of idiocy started to form up and stalk to him slowly. “ Doom-on-you! Doom-on-you! To your type, your magic, your clan be true! Tems be true! Doom-on-you!” They all spoke in unison like one entity.

‘ Jeez, It’s like a Hivemind… Hehehe, Hoivemind…’ Thought the skeleton as he backed away and out from the store. He scoffed to himself, pulling his hoodie over his head, “ okay fine… don’t say I didn’t try and warn you all…”

A handful of days had passed by since Sans’ little skirmish with the Temmies. He was actually on his way to make amends and to give a peace offering to the mistreated monsters and to apologize to the golden flower even if the back corners of his mind screamed no to him. Along the way as he carried a bag full of treats, he noticed a rather large group of monster tourists that lived mainly in The Capital, one of the busiest and populated towns in The Underground. Snowdin dwarfed immensely in comparison to the city. But every now and then, he’d get to glance at tourists from the area as they traveled from Snowdin until they were back home. Whenever they came into Grillby’s, it was a nice occasion which lead the flaming cook to earn extra gold, while the punk rock hamster would tend to leave, not wanting to engage in anything remotely near the ‘city-slickers’.

As the lazy skeleton followed far behind the group, his eyes noticed something bright being waved around for attention. There in the middle of one of the darker cavern areas sat a lone Temmie with the golden flower, waving around a misspelled sign for anyone to visit the small village. It seemed that the Temmies had even given Flowey a blue and yellow stripe shirt. He seemed to really be trying to help as his vines picked up the sign with the Temmie still clinging onto it.

The skeleton got a sudden chill go down his spine, akin him get near the large cavernous area, without being noticed. Flowey spoke up to the flock of monsters, “ Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey the flower! And this here is my friiiiend~” He lead on while the group paused to watch the two odd tiny monster’s antics.

“ hO! I’m TeMmIE! Plz comb two awawa-our village! U can meet Tem and Tem and Bob, and-and lotsa things!” The happy hybrid flopped all over the sign the clearly misread ‘ 2 Tem Village’ with an arrow finger painted on. The crowd of monsters looked at one another before going along their way to ignore the smaller ones. “ U-Uhm, T-Tem Village d-dat way! OvR there-Pl-Plz…” The lone Temmie whined as she was ignored, the richer monsters having finer tastes than going to the small village comprised of boxes.

Flowey put the sign down and dug under into the soil, popping up in front of the crowd, “ H-Hey! Come on! We're not bad! Please, j-just visit them?! T-Their… Their so lonely…” A small handful of the more rowdy and rough monsters pushed the flower aside while the ones who avoided eye contact kept moving, doing their best to ignore him.

Once again Flowey popped up right in front of them, “ Come on people! Don’t be this way! Everyone deserves some company, right?!” One didn’t care about the two smaller monsters and kept walking, “ HEY! I’m warning you…”

“ Ohoho, well, la de da~! Seems like I should listen to the almighty flower! You guys go on up ahead." A hog like monster snorted, weaving his hoof like and through his Mohawk. It didn’t take long until the easily frightened, snobby, or weakly to move along while a group of thugs surrounded the flower.

" Okay... I tried being 'noice'" Flowey's eye twitched from all the aggravation of any monster denying company with the lonely misfits called Temmie. " Don't you know in this world. It's 'Hoi or Good-Boi'?" He said as his beady eyes enlarged into a hollow stare with two white pupils staring up at them while a malformed mouth and jagged teeth came up abruptly onto his face.

Since Sans was out of range, he couldn't see the large warning sign of the flower while those idiots had their backs to him. It only took a moment before screams rang out from the brutes of the group as vines skewered them, strangled them, or wrapped up their limbs, snapping them in half. Sans jumped out from his position and ran over to the chaos, seeing the lone Temmie actually run to the village in fear. They normally just waddled or vibrated to a direction instead of actually running unless they were playing one of their various silly games which made the skeleton all more worried. And to add things up the Temmie caught a glimpse of Sans before retreating.

While dust began to spread all over the ground of the cavern, bones pierced through the cloud of dust and dirt aiming for the flower. Flowey saw the pierced tipped bones launch to him and quickly shielded himself with a wall of vines. After which then spread out to swipe at the skeleton who dodged them but still received a hit here and there.
- 10/480
- 10/470
- 10/460
This continued all until a bone managed to slice a petal from the violent flower.
- 50/6000

The gold flower recoiled from the sting, " Grrrr-ENOUGH!" He snapped out, thick vines shot out from the ground, snatching up the skeleton. Sans struggled and wriggled around and tried teleporting away. but the vines seemed to be made up of magic to allow him an escape. " I just wanted to help! Ju-Just this once! But I keep being denied to do anything right! Do you know what it's like to be lonely-T-To have no one else there for you?!" He shouted hypothetically. Before the dangling skeleton could converse with him the flower continued. " OF COURSE NOT! You have you stupid brother! And the Temmies have each other-I don't even fit into this world anymore! I-I'm going to kill everyone besides the Temmies! They at least accept me when no one else would! Annnnd I'm starting with YOU~!" Flowey cackled out as the vines tightened their grip.

Thankfully for Sans, without wasting a Gaster Blaster, an audible slice was heard echoing through the area. The vines dropped, dragging the skeleton down with them. Sans groaned as he collided against the hard ground before sitting up and seeing what saved him. Behind a newly cut stem sat Grandpa Temmy with a sword made of pure Temtantium. He had come from Temmie's warnings who hid in the village. The small monster had decapitated the vile flower who somehow held on for a moment. Temmy looked down to him, " Tem sorry it had two bee dis way. Tem will bee sad againz just loike Semi. Semi was two hurt two heel. Tem had to mercy killz." Temmy's upper ears lowered as he frowned, for once not being so goofy and cartoony.

Flowey gasped out as his vision began to fade out, " I-I... I just... wanted... t-to-"
-------------------------------------------------------------

" Help out? Seriously Frisk?" The stubborn flower glared to their 'friend/sibling'. Frisk nodded cheerful as they carried his pot around the small games and events the Temmies had set up around the field that was used for small markets and events of the town. The old warrior, Gerson had banded up with the Temmies to make up a fundraiser for better things to help Frisk's new school. Speaking of which the elderly turtle saw the human with their family and walked over with his cane.

" Wahaha! There's the lil' tyke! Glad you all could make it to The Temraiser~!" He sang out as the eldest Temmie sat on his shoulder with a smile, both patting Frisk on the head, ruffling up their brown hair to make the child giggle.

Undyne loud out her boastful voice, “ WHY WOULDN'T EE?!” She yelled out so enthusacticly, happy to see her old hero.

“ Wahaha! Why hello there to you too Undyne, good to see you again ya lil’ whippersnapper! King Fluffy Buns, Miss Toriel, Alphys, and erm… Who are these two again?”He asked as he gave Papyrus a poke with his cane.

“ NYEH! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND THIS IS MY BROTHER SANS-PL-PLEASE STOP POKING ME SIR.” Papyrus yelled out, his only vocal volume stuck onto talking loudly.

As others gave their regards as the turtle did for them, they scattered off to help any Temmies or children, Toriel knowing quite a few of them as they were in her class. Gerson kept poking the taller skeleton as the older brother and Frisk watched, thoroughly entertained. Gerson looked over to Sans, his smile faltering a touch, “ Ahh Sans. Ah, yes, yes. I remember you. You use to come to my store to help with Undyne and brought this little tyke with you.”

“ I-I’M NOT LITTLE-NEH!” The pokes continued, as Sans gave a slight nervous smile.

“ oh wow, you really remember me huh? sure had a shell of a time back then.” He mentioned as good memories lowed by his thoughts.

“ Mmm… Yes they quite were. Ohoho, I remember you, your brother, and Undyne helping me with various things I asked of. But then… Then you stopped coming by. You and your little friend-urgh blasted old memories, what was his name again-“

“ must have been someone else cuz uhh, it was only me, paps, and undyne back then.” He smiled casually as the child listened in, curiously.

“ I could have sworn you had another friend… but what do I know, right? Wahaha! Me and Temmy need to go around and check in on some events, so go on and have fun yungin’s.” He said before slowly walking away, finally taking the cane away from Papyrus.

Papyrus huffed lightly and rubbed his bones, “ JEEZ HE SURE CAN POKE HARD. NO WONDER WHY UNDYNE ALWAYS LOOKED UP TO HIM. ALSO SANS, DID YOU JUST LIE?”

“ nope.”

“ HRM. I COULD HAVE SWORN THERE USE TO BE SOMEONE ELSE WITH US UNLESS IT WAS ALPHYS…” He pondered, squinting in deep thought, “ OH WELL, BEST NOT WORRY ABOUT IT FOR NOW. I’M OFF TO GO HELP SET UP, YOU THREE GO ON AND DO WHAT YOU FEEL!” He gave a big grin before leaping away.

Around an hour later after everything was completely up, many people had finally showed up. Sans walked around with Frisk, keeping an eye on the ever aggravated plant, “ man… I can’t believe the temmies actually put this stuff up together, let alone plan this. must have taken them two months or so-“

“ Actually only twenty minutes, which is a new record Sansy Boy.” Came a voice nearby the trio.

“ well lookie here. sup bobby boy?” Sans asked as they walked over to the one of the two intelligent Temmies who sat on a stool near a small pen of Temmies with children petting and hugging them.

“ Not much, oh hey there kid.” Frisk smiled, petting Bob’s cheek almost making him fall of his seat purring at the small scratches. Thankfully he caught his grip and pulled himself up avoiding his cat instincts to flop over onto the ground. He gave out a small chuckle,” Hehe, nice to see you again too.”

Sans looked up at the sign that was horribly misspelled, saying ‘ Peteming Zuu’. “ hehehe, nice pun.”

Bob happily rolled his eyes ignoring the chuckle from the other while Frisk knelt down next to the fencing then looking up to Sans with a puppy dog face. Sans noticed them as Bob welcomed in some paying customers to let their small boy in to pet some Temmies. “ sup kiddo?” He asked, Frisk pointing to a barrel that read ‘ Tem Flakes’ on it. “ aww, kid, you can pet them without an flakes-“ Frisk gave a sadder look as they held onto the angry flower’s pot. Sans eventually caved in and sighed, “ your killin’ me kid, your killin’ me. hey bob, how much for the flakes?”

“ Tch, hey, that kid saved us all, it’s on the house-just don’t over feed them though.” Frisk’s silent mode went to a small gasp of happiness, taking a small handful of he sugary looking flakes and holding their hand out in one of the fence's gaps.

Flowey groaned as he watched several of the annoying hybrids bounce to the fence and scarf up the treats from Frisk’s hand, making the child giggle from their and being let with a slimy water coating. They watched the Temmies frolic around as they saw the small boy who just came in walk to a Temmie. The Temmie hopped up into the air, floating there and vibrated itself to the young child took pictures of their child. The boy squealed out and ran to the fencing, holding up the hybrid monster, “ Mom! Dad! Can I keep her?!” He asked, his parents declining it, but still thought it was adorable since the Temmie as a living thing. The child shrugged it off and snuggled her for the time being as she made a squeaky toy sound. However it didn’t last as she then broke out into small red bumps, “ hOIves!”

The young boy, thinking he had done something wrong, panicked, and was almost into tears. But before doing so Bob grabbed a microphone and spoke into it, “ Congratulations! You found Hoivey! You earn a special prize!” The crying child held Hoivey with a confused look spread across his face. Hoivey then began coughing and wheezing before hacking up a life-sized Temmie plushie with no wet coating around it at all. The child put Hoivey down as she stretched her arms, grabbing it and giving it to him, smiling brightly behind her cluttered red face. The crying boy soon stopped his tears, seeing as she was fine, the bumps deflating. Bob lounged himself on the fencing, “ It’s so nice to see kids be so happy. It makes us Temmies feel better than ever.” He sighed in bliss.

Sans watched the events take place, smiling softly, glad to see the humans actually enjoying the monster’s company, in different ways. As the three departed from Bob, Frisk and Sans both noticed a teenager picking up a Temmie and chucking her. Sans glared to the teen harshly, only for Frisk to put a hand on him, pointing away where the cat like dog monster had been flung to. The teen was actually throwing the Temmie into a target sign which let loose, making another Temmie drop into a large encasing full of water with soap in it. The Temmie in the water saw around as a volunteering human took her out while a monster dried the Temmie off. Two more volunteers knelt beside the thrown Temmie checking up on her as she waddled around dizzily with a large smile. Once after checking to see if she was hurt or not she applauded the teen along with others before climbing onto the sitting panel in the encased water like structure. Another volunteer handed the teen a few Temmie-Fun-Bucks to purchase something the Temmies had found. Above the water dunker read out, ‘ Gib Tem Baths!’.

Sans blinked a bit, “ well then…”

“ That’s a fucking stupid idea.” Flowey uttered, receiving a light non-harmful bop on the back of his head by Frisk, “ HEY!”

As the three sat at a picnic table, enjoying the foods Toriel and Papyrus helped out with the Temmies, Sand and Frisk enjoyed their lunch as Temmies continued their small booths with people and monsters touring around. The two happened to overhear a few parents, humans and monsters alike comment good things on the small fundraiser led by Gerson and Grandpa Temmy. It made the skeleton be in a comfortable position, knowing the two races could get together making things better for the world. “ ya know kiddo… i gotta’ hand it to you. a year ago, i would have never thought about actually being happy for once. but heh, here we are.”
“ You mean for years…” Flowey said bitterly, getting a sudden shush from Frisk.

He looked about viewing the heartwarming scenes around them, each one helping one another. He started to wish his old friend and father were here to see the world be in a better place. The small child noticed him stare off into space, catching sight of a something gathering up at the bottom of their dunkle’s eye socket. Frisk put their food down, frowning for the moment, “ S-Sans?”

Sans snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to view the concerned child, quickly wiping away anything from his eye sockets with the soft blue sleeve, “ hehehe, sorry kiddo. was just thinking about something-“

“ You're not happy are you?”

Sans stared to the child, slightly shocked as that was the first thing they assumed, “ no, no, no. no, kiddo. you’ve got that all wrong. honestly, ever since you showed me the half of the reset button, i’ve been at peace.”

Flowey butted in, “ Then the fuck you going on about you big crybaby?!”

Sans glanced at the flower, his smile turning into a harsh smirk, “ wouldn't you like to know weed. but I can’t tell you since your being so hypocritical.”

“ How so?” Flowey scowled.

“ hehehe, you've been a weeping willow recently, i think you're the crybaby.”

Flowey’s expression changed drastically as he twitched one beady eye, “ D-Did you just… Call me… A CRYBA-“ Before he could finish and get into a demonic like state, his pot was suddenly pushed over, “ AHHH WHAT THE HELL?!” He looked over to see Frisk had accidently knocked over the pot with their elbow. They seemed to be staring at something in fear. “ FRISK WHY DID YOU DO TH-at?” He calmed down as Sans used the pot back up and view where the child was staring.

Incoming to the fundraiser’s entrance walked some of the PTA members with their children, made up of several parents and teachers. This included Sugar, several teachers and parents Toriel knew, a couple of men who normally backed Sans up when he was there when Toriel couldn’t be as they found him hilarious, and of course… The head of the PTA, being Max’s mother, with her dorky husband and two ladies who backed her up on any shit she pulled. All the while Zack was put in the very back, alongside the Snowdin Inn owner who had children herself. The group split up to take their children to some activities and to observe how the fundraising was going.

As Sans watched Max run off to possibly cause havoc, he eyed Patrick bumping into the old mighty ex-king while the leader of the PTA and her two associates made their way to the table. Thankfully Toriel had noticed them, along with Gerson and rushed over to the table. “ kiddo, go hang out with undyne, i don’t want that little shit kid to mess with you.”

Frisk nodded sadly as they reached for Flowey’s pot. “ I’m staying here. Go on ahead. I’ll be there in a few. I just want to know what’s going on. I'll behave.” Frisk sighed lightly, smiling as they shook their head, waving their hair in the wind. They knew Flowey some-what not really cared about them as they patted him on the head before rushing off to Undyne and Alphys.

Before Toriel and Gerson could get to the table as well as the other group, Sans gave an intrigued look to the flower who was glaring at the tree humans making way over. “ what’s with you all the sudden? i thought you didn’t give a shit about frisk.”

“ I don’t! But I give a shit if someone's giving them shit! Their mine to mess with!” He lied out, hissing at the skeleton.

“ ehh, whatever waters your roots.”

Once they all got to the table the main leader, gave a snobby look to the three and half monsters, “ Ah, you must be Mister Gerson.”

“ That I am ma’am. Are we doing something wrong?”

“ Mmm, no, but I would like to inform you to let the district know when your planning something and let us know in advance”

The turtle’s gaze shifted into confusion, his good eye sticking out, bemused, “ Erm… We did. A week ago.”

The lady turned over to one of her friends, “ Donna, did you get his forums or not?”

“ I thought I did, guess they must have slipped away somehow.” This gave Gerson the thought that it dint just make it, but rather was ignored since the girl-scouts had posted up fliers in the school.

“ Right, just don’t it happen again Mister Gerson.”

Gerson’s eyes squinted to the women, “ … Right. I’m going to go check up on Temmy, so if you’ll excuse me.” He explained and excused in order to not get bitter at the women.

The leader of the three looked to Toriel, “ As for you Miss Tutorial, I hear your holding my dear little Max back in your class.”

“ Actually, I am not Linda. He doesn't turn in his work and more than often picks on the other children. I offered to tutor him, but he says he needs to be at home right after school. Perhaps you could let him stay so I may help him-“

Linda out up a hand quickly, “ No, no, it’s fine. I’ll just talk to him about it is all.”

While Linda and the motherly goat chatted in a tension like way, Zack, Sugar, and two of the fathers came over nearby, standing at a tree next to the table, chatting, but mostly listening in. But just encase the two monsters need some back up, they kept a short distance for support. Sans mumbled out, “ you don’t hear me asking why the monsters have to be in the back of your group…”

He was soon cut off as he caught himself, staring up to see Donna and the other woman. His casual smile covering a frown, “ hello helen. donna. still up to putting hell-in earth i see.” He got a chuckle or two from the group nearby.

Helen sighed a bit, ignoring them, knowing far too well that when Sans was there to replace Toriel, his snarkyness was through the roof as he always opposed Linda’s opinions, letting other parents notice how bad she was with them, especially when it came down to the discussion of monsters. Sure Toriel stood her ground as well, but Sans took it to a new level since he really didn’t put up with anyone's bullshit anymore, and not having to worry about losing a job at the school.
“ Hello Sans… Keeping an eye on bullies recently? Or just kids that cause your child problems?”

“ is there a difference? i often watch over other kids, not just mine. honestly, do you watch over who your kids interact with, or only the monster ones?” He asked as his smiled widened.

“ Are you trying to call me out on something?”

“ oh no, no, no… just that you come off as a racist. but that isn’t new. right carlos?!” Sans asked out to one of the fathers who was more tan than the others. The man gave a look to Helen, waving. Helen waved back awkwardly as her gaze went back to Sans with a glare.

Before the two could start up again, Frisk ran over to their dunkle holding a small medal linked to a ribbon with a Temmie paw print on it, “ Dunkle Sans! Flowey! Look! I got this or beating a big race the Temmies were holding!” They smiled brightly, panting from their run. “ The other’s got stuff too, even if they didn’t win! One of the Temmies began hacking up things for them!”

Sans chuckled, patting Frisk atop the head, “ hehehe, congrats kiddo, sounded like a really tough race. go get something to drink with alphys, you earned it.”
Before Frisk could whisk away back to the couple in their family, Donna gave a roll of her eyes, “ I’m sure it wasn’t that difficult, I ran two miles just yesterday.” She scoffed quietly, making the small child frown and clutch the medal closely before walking away.

Sans watched Frisk walk to the couple, receiving a hug from Alphys after looking so upset, with some advice from Undyne, like how she would give to her scaly partner. Sans’ normal smile faded down a bit Thankfully or rather unfortunately he wasn’t the first to snap at the woman, and instead someone else did for him. “ That’s bullshit and you know it. If you did, you’d have lost more pounds than your letting on there.”

Sans’ attention sapped over to the two women as they gasped, Donna’s cheeks burning red, “ Who said that?!” Her eyes narrowing around the area before Helen tugged at her arm and tilted her head to the flower in confusion, unknown if it was the one making the ungrateful comment or not. “ Huh? A flower?” Flowey looked up at the two with an unimpressed look written across his face. “ Ohh, another monster…”

“ uhhh, i wouldn’t get to close to him if i were you donna…” Sans pointed out, but at the same time did want to see Flowey's interaction. The women examined the golden flower who soon put on his innocent smile.

Flowey’s apperance changed into a deformed and demonic look with gnashing teeth as he shouted out, “ HAIL SATAN!” He blurted out making t two woman jump back, nearly falling over.

A gravely yet sophisticated voice boomed out nearby, “ I TOLD YOU ALL, IT IS PRONOUNCED ‘ SA-TEEN!” The two women look in pure horror as a large red tinted horned monster with a malformed skull with teeth jutting out, hooves, and a long winding forked tail swooped around behind it. The only thing about the monster that stuck out from his black hallow eyes were small glass he adjusted, a black necktie, a grey sweater vest, and a bible underneath his massive arm. He walked by the small group, waving to the skeleton, “ Hey Sans.”

“ sup satine?”

“ Oh nothing much, just finishing up helping Gerson and the Temmies with some final adjustments.” Sans peeked around the large monster, eyeing a group of raggedy looking teenagers dressed in black.

“ what’s with the linkin park cosplayers following you?”

“ Oh… ‘Them’… Don’t mind them, their just my ‘followers’.”

One of them spoke out, waving his hand encased in a black glove, “ Will you overthrow the government and share to us loyal slaves your dark arts yet?!”

The hulking red monster groaned, his hand running down is face, “ For the last time Tony, no. Just for that, we’re going to help clean the Roland McDolan house before we help volunteering at the humane, non-kill shelter!” He called back out to his ‘followers who grumbled, one punching Tony's arm saying, ' Man, way to go!' and followed him past the table.

One girl scoffing as she exhaled smoke from her cigarette, “ Man, I thought the ruler of all darkness would be crazy about whores, bloodshed, chaos and virgins and just run rampant like a non-conformist.”

“ Yes well, it takes one to know one…”

“ So wait… Which one am I?”

“ … Ju-Just get into the damn van Lulu.” Satine rubbed his temples as he lead the rebellious teenagers of anarchy away.

“ Look big guy, I’m just saying you need to get a hold of your plant.” Patrick said to the mighty king.

The goatly king stroked his golden mane of a beard, “ That is much easier said than done. He has a mind of his own, he can thing for himself, much like your child.” He took a swig of fruit punch Toriel and Papyrus had made.

“ Hey, hey. My little champ, Max can restrain himself. Toriel just doesn’t see it.”

“ Hmm… I’m sure she hasn’t…” Asgore grumbled to himself, normally not being one known to become bitter.

“ Well, fellow teachers such as myself need to watch each other’s backs. Speaking of which, she could be doing considerably better if she wasn’t a-“
“ Monster?” Asgore raised a brow.

“ Ohoho, no, no. Well… Maybe a tad-But it’d be better if she wasn’t… well you know, a female. She could be doing much more productive things like cleaning or cooking-“

Asgore’s powerful hand crushed the cup he held with ease after hearing the statement. “… Excuse me, but are you saying that women shouldn’t have jobs?”
“ Look, I’m just saying that they can’t pull more effort than us hardworking guy can.”

Asgore’s eyes started to turn into a threatening glare which was highly unlike him, “ You do realize that us monsters had to read how human rules have changed in order to live here right? So, being human, you should know that women DO have a right to such things, as well as voting, correct?”

“ Well of course! It’s just that… Well they try so hard but always mess up in the end, so why let them try if they're just going to hurt themselves.”

“ No one is perfect. No matter how many times you tell that to yourself, you will always slip up somehow, someway. But you much rather have them stay at home like quarantined outcasts.”

Patrick folded his arms, giving a look, “ No, I’m not saying that at all… Here, here’s an example, your child over there. Look at what their wearing. Do you think a woman picked out those clothes for them or a man? Because, knowing women, they wouldn’t dare let their child wear a get-up such as that.”

Asgore blinked slowly, having been fed up with the neighborly chit-chat, “ Mettaton! Someone is being a nuisance to your new outfit for Frisk!” He hollered out, backing away so the feminine robot could charge right over to stop and wiggle his finger.

“ EXCUSE YOURSELF DARING! But you did NOT just diss on my niecephew like that!” He snapped his fabulous metallic fingers to the man.

Back with Toriel, she and Linda were still going at it, “ I just don't understand how you all expect to rack in enough money for this fundraiser. We, the PTA handle it much wonderfully ourselves.”

Toriel huffed, “ Oh, so that's why this fundraiser has a hundred dollar lead?”

“Look Toriel. We both know you mean well, but how can you when your kind are taking up jobs?”

" You mean the jobs one whose skilled at or ones that were looking for hire but didn’t have enough people? Because I’m very well aware of such things Linda. How did you deal with minorities before?” As the two mothers squabbled a bit, Linda had finally had enough o it and called over her group, which was basically jut Patrick, Helen, and Donna. Toriel had then called over her family while the flower continued to threaten the other two women.

“ FUCKING FIGHT ME HELEN!” Fowey screamed out in a fit of rage. Sans had to scoot the pot away from the overly-pissed flower threatening the two women.
Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for everyone to get there, Linda scoffed, “ I still don’t see how we can benefit from your kind Tori. We’ve done well without monsters before, so what can you all really help us out with?

Toriel’s snout scrunched up as she glared harshly to the stuck up mother. “ We can accomplish many things. I teach history, Alphys has a major in genetics and technology, Undyne is with the police force, Asgore is the best when it comes to gardening, Mettaton is television star, Napstablook is amazing at making music, and Sans even has a PHD! So what do you do Linda?”

“ W-Well, I deal with all the PTA meetings, own my very own restaurant as manager…” She trailed off a bit before clearing her throat as her eyes narrowed onto Frisk walking over, wondering what all the hubbub was about. “ Frisk, honey? Wouldn’t you rather be with your own kind? We all know you just use these monsters as a false security right?” Both Asgore and Undyne had to hold Toriel back from her temper getting loose at the sudden question.

Frisk looked up to the small group of humans then back to their make-shift family. It took a moment before they soon spoke up. “ And go back into the orphanage to wait another twelve years or no one to love me again? Why would I do that? Nobody wanted me then, and nobody would want me now, except for them.” They pointed to the monsters, making Toriel calm her nerves from the precious child’s discussion. “ You see this? This right here?” They waved their arms and hands to the mixed up group. “ This… This is my family.” They turned around to face the human adults, fiddling with their hands, “ I found it all on my own... It’s small and broken.” They said softly, walking over, picking up the flower’s ‘Best Friends’ pot, cradling it and smiling, “ But it’s still good.”

Chapter Text

The young toddler of the two skeleton brothers squealed happily as he rode on the prince's back who was on all fours and bouncing around like a ‘kid’ would do, bleating here and there. Sans chuckled as he watched his younger sibling have a merry time, pretending Asriel was a bucking bull while he was a Lone Star-Ranger. Papyrus was filled with unending glee as he tugged his crimson scarf off from around his neck and spun it around in the air like a lasso, “ YEEHAW! NYEHAHAHA!” Just then the prince skidded to a halt, making the toddler fly off his back and straight into a pile of soft cushioned pillows. Papyrus waved his tiny arms before managing to get back up and adjust his small cowboy hat.

While Asriel pretended to eat some grass-rather chewing on Sans’ scarf he forgot to pick up, Papyrus readied his little body, grabbing is pant and pulling them up. Papyrus then started a silent strut like the cowboys he saw on Human Televisions and waved his over-sized scarf around. Finally the toddler burst into the air, swinging the red strip of clothing around Asriel’s wrists and ankles, pulling him onto his side with a small yet hardy fall to the ground. Asrie called out, bleating like a normal animals until Papyrus climbed over on top of him and tightened the red scarf, before pumping up his tiny fists into the air in a champion like pose, “ NYEHA!”

Sans chuckled out as he clapped, applauding the two. Papyrus smiled brightly before untying the knot from under Asriels limbs. “ Wow, you're getting really good at that!”

“ JUST DOIN’ MY PART, YA…YA… UHM… YA LIL’ DOGGY PARTNER, BUCKAROO?” Asriel snickered as the younger child tried to maintain a western accent.

Suddenly Gaster walked by in somewhat of a rush, “ Alright, Sans you ready?!”

“ mmmm…” Sans hummed a bit, thinking.

“ Sans, please we don’t have time for your slow response!” Gaster panicked out to his eldest son.

“ mmmmm… yeah.” He said with a smirk, making the scientist before him sigh and pinch the ridge of where his nose would have been if he had one left.
“ Okay-My young prince, we shall be back very shortly, remember to follow my instructions just encase we don’t come back on time. Make sure Papyrus gets his nap, some well made snacks, lunch, keep him entertained, read some books if you must, do not let him wander off, make sure he gets a bath-“

Asriel laughed out at the sight of the fearsome judge being an overly-protective father, “ I know, I know! You can always count on me Mister Gaster!” He saluted up to the lanky skeleton before picking the toddler. Both older skeletons couldn’t help but stiffened their laughter at the incredibly adorable sight as Papyrus tugged on the prince’s floppy ears. “ I can look dignified holding a baby, thank you very much.” He commented before the smaller child climbed on top of Asriel’s soft white furred head, his legs blocking the goat’s sight,” Papyrus, you’re not helping…”

It didn’t take to terribly long for the two older skeletons to whisk away out into the snowy field of their front yard and vanish without a trace when Asriel looked back to say one last goodbye wave. He looked about at the front door, puzzled as to how the two vanished so quickly. It was made apparent Sans hadn’t told him or Papyrus yet as the small child shifted his tiny eyes around, “ WOW, THEY’RE FAST!”

“ Shoot, no kidding. So Paps, what do you wanna’ do~?!” He smiled with his tiny fangs poking straight out.

After a while of playing games, talking, a movie, and lunch, Papyrus seemed to go downwards into nervousness or rather not being himself. At first Asriel thought he had been doing something wrong, being a horrible babysitter that worried him deeply. “ P-Papyrus?” The young monster looked up as he poked he shuffled his feet, not getting a word out. He looked rather upset, which the prince had never seen before, well aside from being picked on, which Sans dealt with swiftly. “ Uhm…I-I’m sorry, b-but am I doing something wrong? I’m really sorry, I mean this is the first time I’ve babysat all by myself and-“

“ HUH?” Papyrus’ concerned gaze morphed into a shocked one before he smiled brightly, “ NO, NO! YOUR DOING GREAT! IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME, NYEHEHE!” Asriel’s fur seemed to lower as he heard the other, calming down from any type of stress. He smiled softly, he always thought the baby bones had an adorable laugh.

“ Then what is it? You know I’m here to help you out.”

“ WELL…” Papyrus looked down, avoiding eye contact or looking like a saddened dog that got punished. His tiny skeletal fingers fussed around with his bright red scarf, “ I’VE BEEN HEARING NOISES IN THE BACK OF THE HOUSE. DAD AND SANS WON’T TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT IT AND WON’T LET ME GO IN THERE. I TRIED TO GRAB AN EXTRA PAIR OF SKELETON KEYS DAD HAS IN THE SHACK JUST ENCASE SANS NEEDS TO GO IN THE BACK. I ALSO KINDA NEVER GOT ANY FEEDBACK FROM WHAT HAPPEN WITH SANS IN THE SHACK.”

Asriel let out a silent sigh as his thoughts made his spine shiver from the ‘shack incident’. “ Mmm, nothing really happened, he was just working on something that made him tired.” He technically didn’t lie, he told himself. The training was something Sans was working on, so it wasn’t a lie. “ But what could be so important that they won’t even let you go in the back… Hrm. Well… Ya know, those two won’t be back for a while, so how abut we-“

Papyrus gasped out, “ THAT WOULD BE BREAKING THE RULES! A-A-AND WE COULD GET INTO TROUBLE AND-… WHY ARE YOU SMILING LIKE THAT?”

Asriel rubbed his furry palms together as a thought came up. It was odd for him to actually be a bit devious, but that might have been rubbed off by hanging around Sans, Undyne, and Grillby. “ What if we play a game then? You let me know if I get warmer to it or colder. We wouldn't’ actually be doing something wrong. And besides unlocking that back room could be the prize.”

Papyrus scrunched up his tiny face to think to himself, the face staying there for quite a bit of time before nodded, “ OKAY!

As the two went out and to the shed, Papyrus hid behind Asriel’s leg, shivering a bit, “ You okay Pappy?” He asked in a soothing tone, petting Papyrus' skull gently.

“ H-HUH?! YE-YEAH… IT’S JUST I’VE ALSO HEARD SOME STRANGE A-AND WEIRD SOUNDS COMING FROM THE SHACK YESTERDAY. WH-WHAT IF THERE’S A-A… NOT A MONSTER, CUZ WE’RE MONSTERS… BUT YEAH! A BIIIIIIG MONSTER!”

Asriel chuckled, patting the toddler’s shoulder, “ Oh, we’ll be fine.” Honestly Asriel didn’t want to go into that damned shed again, but he had to endure it for Papyrus’ sake. “ There’s no giant monst-“ He quickly cut himself off once he opened the wooden door, stepping in, closing said door and turning on the light reveled a monumental sized skull like structure sitting there in the middle of inside of the shed. The large skull had enormous hollow and black filled eyes, rubbery wires jutting out and into it on the sides, and a large gaping maw that looked to be side-ways. The two boy clung to one another and screamed out before Papyrus’ screaming lowered as he noticed the creature not to be moving.

Asriel however was still screaming out in a high pitched bleat of horror. Thankfully Papyrus tugged at his sleeve, making him come back to reality. Boy was he glad no one was around to hear him or see that a younger child was braver than him. “ IT’S NOT MOVING. IT CAN’T BE DEAD, RIGHT? IT’S NOT DUST.” Papyrus pondered as the two slowly crept to it. Papyrus waddled over to the behemoth metallic skull and poked it, “ IT’S NOT ALIVE, I THINK?”

Asriel deep in a breath as he followed closely behind still quite shooken up. “ Hmm… Wait, actually I think this is the thing Grillby asked one tie n truth or dare. He asked Alphys about a giant monster eating things, but it turns out it was just a machine.” He knocked against the metallic plating, creating a low rumbling echo.

“ WHAT FOR?”

“ Don’t know. Not even Alphys knows… Your dad must have brought it here to work on it.”

“ WELL NO BIG MEANY STUPID SCARY SKULL IS GONNA’ STOP ME! LET’S HURRY AND PLAY THIS GAME SO I CAN MAKE SURE IF EVERYTHING'S OKAY IN THE BACK! I DON’T WANT SOMETHING TO ACCIDENTALLY BLOW UP IN SANS OR DADS FACE AND I WON’T BE ABLE TO HELP!”

Asriel patted the skeleton's shoulder softly, “ Hey, hey, it’ll be okay.”

“ O-OKAY…” Papyrus ushering seemed to slow down. “ ALSO THAT BIG THINGY IS CREEPING ME OUT.”

“ Least I’m not the only one.” Asriel remarked as he stared at the blank dark hollow eyes of the odd machine. Thankfully it wasn’t hooked up to anything and it seemed wires led out from the very top to something surging with power. Asriel figured it might have been powered by some type of battery in a ceiling at the labs, so the two wouldn’t have to worry about setting the monstrous thing off. Then came Papyrus leading Asriel around the shed, avoiding the large machine in the middle.

“ COLD. COLD… CHILLY…OKAY WARRRRRMY. WARM. WARMER! N-NO COLD AGAIN! WAIT! HOT! HOTTER! WHY ARE STANDING THERE, YOU'RE ON FIRE!” Papyrus squealed out as Asriel watched him flail his tiny arms, holding back laughter from the cute site. Asriel looked over at a table among other science looking things Gaster must have put back after Sans’ training. The goat carefully opened a compartment from the smooth steeled table and pulled out a a golden looking skull shaped key with a red ribbon around it like a necklace. “ YUSSSSH!”Papyrus cheered out with a determined face.

The two carefully went to the back of the cozy home, Asriel grabbing a fallen stick from one of the many trees with fir leaves still all over it. The goat whisked it around in the snowy ground to cover up their small footprints just encase. Once the two got to the door Papyrus stood up on his tippy-toes, inserting the key and turning it around in a jiggling motion. A soft click rang out in the quiet around them and Papyrus slowly opened the door. The two went in, locking the door yet again and turning on the florescent lighting above them, shining down like the lab or a hospital. Inside was a medium sized room that seemed to be stretched out with all sorts of scientific ting about. Studies, books, equipment, blue-prints, and a rather large sheet huddled in the furthest corner.

The curious toddler waddled around, trying to find something that seemed to make the odd noises he heard, but couldn’t seem to find anything. Same as the young prince whose eyes became fixated on the blue prints on the counter table built into the wall. He scanned over them, but couldn’t understand the foreign language on them. It was like a special code in symbols, each explaining a small factor of the main objective on the blueprints. Some illustrations of the white chalky outlining went from large tubes, to the skull machine, the barrier, the core’s power, a type of machine with a clock, and to a portal.

As Asriel examined the sketches, Papyrus soon grew bored and decided to doodle on some blank paper, making a gift for his small family. He drew out himself, Sans, and his father, all smiling together and holding hands as much as a stick figure could. He showed Asriel who praised the childish drawing, giggling at how proud the younger monster was, holding it dearly with a huge smile.

Just then, the two gasped out as the door’s handle twisted, mumbling heard from outside the door. The door swung opened and Sans in a white lab coat and goggles strolled in, curious to how the lights were on out didn't question it, shrugging it off thinking he or his father forgot to turn them off. He went to the table, placing various things, then bending over to retrieve some of the cluttered pages on the floor from his dad, but stopped. The skeleton eyed the paper Papyrus had drawn on then looked back , scanning the room. His eyes searched high and low until he noticed a small bit of movement under the lumpy sheet in the corner. He gave a gentle smile o the sheet and put the drawing into his coat’s pocket. Once he picked up the other papers, putting them back onto the table in a nice organized stack, he turned around, nearly falling over from the sudden surprise.

Gaster stood reading a paper or two, “ jeez dad.. scared the hell outta’ me. i told you, i’d put up the stuff and get the big doofy machine in the shed.”

“ Yes, yes I know. And not to worry, I got it already. I’m just reading over these new files before I put the R.E.S.E.T. up… Speaking of which.” With a snap of his skeletal fingers, a large odd cylinder machine with a display on the side jutted out with buttons appeared in the middle of the room.

Sans watched as the older man put the files on the counter table and headed to the sheet. He quickly ran over in front of him and spread out his arms, “ wait, wait! here, let me get it! y-you used a lot of energy getting that big machine here and back, and then bringing back this thing!” He smiled wide, nervous, knowing full well if his dad saw anyone in here but Sans, he’d flip.

“ Haha, oh your such a good assistant, but really, I’m fully capable-“

“ but I just lazed today, come on, let me get it!”

“ Sans, really you don’t need to. Besides, when we get back to the lab, I can get onto you of what needs to be done, making sure you don’t loaf around-“

“ aww, come on dad! puhleeeeease! ju-just this once!”

Gaster’s charismatic smile turned sour, wondering what had gotten into his son all of the sudden. His eyes narrowed, “ Sans… Are you hiding something?”

“ nnnno.” Sans said… You know, like a liar. Gaster’s hard shelled scientist started to creep out as he lifted one and, making Sans be levitated by a purple mist. “ hrng! d-dad!” Gaster walked past his son and carefully moved the sheet to see-
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“ Those idiots…” Grumbled the golden flower as his stem stuck out from the icy ground, his eyes keen on watching the two skeleton brothers go about their day happily… Well, technically Papyrus, while Sans faked it. He was getting good ever since Flowey-well Asriel had saw him last. “ Pth, who needs them. 'OH I HAVE THE BESTEST SIBLING IN THE WHOOOLE UNDERGROUND~!'” He nastily said out to himself. Then went to mimic the shorter brother, “ 'hehehe, bro you're so cool. i’d do anything for you. unlike that one kid.' ' WHAT ONE KID?' 'oh, no one. just some crybaby who can’t help anyone-GRAAAH!” Flowey snapped out in pure rage, a vine quivered over to wipe away something in the flower’s eyes. Finally gaining back his composure, he sighed, laying down in the snow as he watched the peppy young skeleton run off to set up his puzzles and japes. All while he spotted the shorter older brother pretend to sit there until the other was gone from sight and finally got up, walking into the back of the house. Flowey inhaled a deep breath, preparing himself for his next actions, which excited him since he never did this before, but also scared him for being so new and strange.

A month went by as Flowey and Sans established a working relation and peace treaty in order to fix the machine that had ruined so many lives, and s much time. The two weren't really on friend terms even if Flowey had to put up the act to not upset Papyrus, further irritating Sans to not want Flower’s help at all. The two were the only ones who truly knew about the machine where as Alphys and Undyne merely thought it had been destroyed since the ‘Core Incident’. Papyrus might have remembered, but ever since that rock fell upon his head, his memory became fuzzy and hazy of what had happen before and during the events. Flowey had gone without harming a single monster thus far even if Sans still didn’t trust him by checking his LOVE.

Truth be told, Flowey did somewhat, well not enjoy, but thought of the odd company as a safety blanket, though the skeleton was still wary of the flower, given the past tings he could recall from previous resets. But during this run, the flower tried his hardest with the brainy skeleton to finally fix and patch up the machine. Eventually Sans managed to drag his chubby lizard friend from her own chambers of depression to help with it. After some explaining from the skeleton and flower, Alphys hopped too, making sure everything would run smoothly this time. And finally it had been rebuilt and fixed up to date, now with some needed and superior technology.

The day they finished it, Alphys collapsed, passing out into a peaceful slumber from working so hard on it. The other two however were just too eager and transported it t the core, courtesy of Sans’ teleportation technique. There, in the middle of the dead of night Sans made sure all was well while Flowey connected the source of power from the core’s power that lit The Underground with energy, plugging it into the machine at a low percentage. With the core charging up the machine and preparations in order, the two stared in awe and yet dismay as they recalled upon what this thing had done to them both, altering their lives forever. “ welp… here it is. i-i can’t believe we did it…”

“ Y-Yeah…” The two sat there n silence, watching it charge up.

“ he-hehe… i-i’ll finally get to save my dad. we can finally go with his original plans, whatever that was.”

Flowey frowned a tad, “ W-What about Asriel?”

“ … i’m going to break off being friends with him the day before the incident. it’s… it’s best he stays away from me.”

Flowey’s face scrunched up bitterly, “ You still blame him, huh?”

“ huh? no, no, no! well… just a teeny tiny bit. a-and besides he got over it a month later and found his real best friend and sibling. hell, maybe dad could do some tests on the human, find a better way to free us since azzy was to light-hearted to go through with it.”

The flower’s roots twisted around themselves tightly, visible vines that poked out like arms curled on the ground. Sans tilted his head to view the suddenly moved flower, “So… you rather break his heart to keep him safe until he finds the fallen human… j-just so scientists c-can take them away and-and do tests on them? LE-LEAVING HIM ALL ALONE AGAIN?!”

“ hey, cool it there chili pepper, i’m just doing what i think is right. i mean, yeah he’ll be all alone, but he’ll get to see the world out there and rule over some of it one day. but yeah, leaving him alone might be what’s best for the greater good, righ-“ The world around Flowey went dark, Flowey sighed lightly before pushing the bright red Reset button.

Again he tried t fix it up, but only became enraged as Sans kept his same remark. Flowey losing his control and brutally slaying the skeleton. Again, he reset after that carnage and was shocked to hear Sans tell him, he would stay friends with Asriel and help him out. Even going as far to stop him from going through Chara’s plan.

“ come on flowey, maybe this time we can fix everything. we can do it together.” Sans said gently as he knelt down, extending is bony hand to the golden flower. This was what Flowey wanted… Right? Then why was everything spinning around. Memories collided against his mind painfully, visions of what had happened in the past now intertwining with the present he saw before himself right now. His stem moved back, he couldn’t get the vivid images that were ingrained in his mind. The sights, the screams, the choices. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t go through with this. He was to scared, to cowardice, he was just… too much of a crybaby.

Reality seemed to suddenly pour in as Flowey looked up seeing vines hold up a weak and dyeing Sans who gasped out slowly for air, even if e didn’t need it. Flowey gasped and backed away as his tiny stem could, his true face coming out from its hardened shell. “ I-I.. S-Sans! I-I didn’t mean to-I! I really! I didn’t mean to do this! I just wanted to help! I-I didn;t mean to!” Asriel cried out. This was one of the few times where h never really meant to hurt anyone, but had by accident.

Before Asriel could beat himself up, Sans gave a small soft smile, chuckling, “ hehehe… well that explains why you knew about this stuff… if i had known it was you. i wouldn't have let you be with me before i-i went through. m-makes sense why you f-flipped out… remembering all that stuff… you j-just kinda babbled on to yourself. you're just scared. th-that’s okay. i had a feeling this wasn’t going to work out. but, m-maybe… in the future w-we can be friends again?” He said, petting Asriel’s cheek before disintegrating into a cloud and pile of dust.

Asriel soon reset and laid in the garden of his ever going hell to a starting point into the world. He watched the daily dew of the water that had been poured on the other flowers and grass drip down. He was so close, but Sans was right. He was too scared to actually go through with it, much like Chara’s plan. He had only ever tried to actually fix the machine three times, that being his last, know that he fully understood he just couldn’t go through with it. He curled up to sleep off the horrid feeling dwelling deep inside him, thinking of better times. Times before ‘The Core Incident’. The times where he and his old friend put together the-
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“ BEST FRIEND BRACELET!” Exclaimed the overly happy skeleton to the young child. He showed off the bracelet that he kept hold on for all the years of being in The Underground. “ I CAN’T EXACTLY RECALL HOW I GOT THEM, BUT EVEN MY LAZY BROTHER, ALPHYS, AND UNDYNE GOT SOME! SO FRISK! SINCE YOU WERE MY FIRST FRIEND-WELL BESIDES FLOWEY OF COURSE, AND HAVE DONE SO MUCH FOR ME, I HERE BY BESTOW TO YOU, THE OTHER FRIENDSHIP BRACELET!” He smiled brightly, kneeling down to the couch where the human sat, sliding the smoothed rocks onto their wrist. He then flipped his wrist along with Fisk and put the two larger center stones together, making a heart symbol that had been carved onto. Frisk suddenly threw up their arms, throwing them both over the tall skeleton’s shoulders to give him a tight loving hug.

Papyrus soon did the same to the small child while Flowey sat on his usual spot on the coffee table, along near Frisk sat the skeleton’s older brother who watched the two, feeling touched. Flowey however rolled his beady eyes, making a gagging look and turning around harshly to avoid seeing the sweet sight. Once the skeleton let to go do something, possibly his turn for doing the dishes, Frisk looked over to Flowey frowning a tad. They leaned over to scoop him up, drawing him back as they fell back into their spot leaving off the warmth from their body. The gradually grumpy and annoyed flower turned around to snap at them,” What?!”

“ S-Sorry. I didn’t know he was going to do that. You know that your my best friend though, right?”

Flowey scoffed, “ Tch, please, spare me your thoughts of ‘friiiiendship’!” He spat out in a mocking one. “ I’m fully aware that Papyrus is your best friend, Kidd is your crush, and I’m…”

He trailed off once he noticed Frisk hadn’t changed their face from mentioning how they enjoyed the monster child’s company, but instead grew a smirk when Flowey referred to himself. “ Well? What are you then~?” The brunette snickered quietly, receiving a snarled glare from the tiny flower.

“ … I’m your sibling. Not your best friend.” He mumbled out.

Frisk gave a concerned smile, holding up the clay pot, “ You can be both. I wrote ‘Best Friends’ on this for a reason-“

“ NO!” He suddenly screamed out, making the lazy skeleton shoot up in attention as he was only mildly listening in, more interested on what he was watching. He started to settle down after Flowey lowered himself into his pot, almost ashamed. “ I-I mean… Look. There’s differences between friends and family. Friends will do almost anything for someone they care about, but friends… Well, friends can break apart.” He said quietly, thinking the skeleton couldn’t hear him. Sans went back to leaning on the sofa’s emerald arm to watch his show, or at least pretending to do so. “ While family, especially siblings. They don't have to agree on something to be connected. But if one of them does something bad… The other can’t forget about it, pretend it never happened, or just fill in that hole. They’ll always be connected to the person, no matter how many times a family removes hem. They’ll always be there in your family tree. Now yes, you might do anything for me, but I wouldn’t for you. And if we broke apart… That’d be like Sans leaving Papyrus. So we can only be family... I-I don;t want to be alone again... I mean, I don’t agree on most things with you, and if I do something bad, I’ll still be there no matter what. You understand?”

Frisk sighed, nodding sadly before they held the pot close to their chest trying to simulate a hug. Frisk really did want the perpetually pissed off flower to have a friend. But after what he had gone through, Frisk could understand him not wanting one, aside from him not being able to care. They put the clay pot back onto the small table and looked over their new bracelet. Their attention then drawing onto their dunkle who had the sudden feeling the kid was looking at him.

Sans’ pupils shifted over, low and behold, his hunch of the kid was right. Sans casually swerved s skull around with his typical smile, “ sup kiddo?

Frisk pointed to their bracelet then to Sans, “ mmm… sorry kiddo, too lazy to try and read ya right know.” He closed his eyes, the perpetual smirk still in place as he put his arms under the back of his skull, resting n the couch’s arm. He had a feeling the nosy kid was going to start with the questions, and Sans found it easier to deal with them by avoiding eye contact.

Frisk let out a small groan, watching the cheeky skeleton do this to them. Again, yes Frisk could talk pretty well, but didn’t like to that much growing up, seeing as there normally wasn’t anyone to talk to at the orphanage since they would constantly have to wait for more children to come in. “ Dunkle Saaaaans." They whined out, " You big butt.”

“ excuse you, i do not have a big butt-“

“ YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE AN ASS!” Shouted the aggressive flower, only for Sans to ignore him.

Frisk shook their head before continuing, “ Papyrus said you got one or two of those bracelets. If you have one, then where’s the other? I'm pretty sure you have a friend somewhere who has the other one?”

Sans kept his smile on, now making it cover up any real emotions like he use to, “ eh, i might have given it to grillby or my pet rock. i use to ask paps if he wanted to have the other one, but he was persistent to get a friend, much like the flower said. can’t really remember who i gave it too, if i did anyways. think it got lost or something over the years. but that’s in the past, so why bother?”

His eyes snapped open as he heard buttons of a phone being pressed, quickly sitting back up to see Frisk with their cell phone Alphys had updated them with. Frisk looked directly into the skeleton’s surprised eyes, pretty proud at themselves for catching him off guard for once, “ Don’t worry, I’m just going to call Everyone until I know who your friend was-“

“ kid, please don’t.” His tone went serious.

Frisk’s triumphant smile soon faded away,” Huh? Why?”

“ look… it’s in the past okay? just… let it go. just keep smiling and go forward, for me.” Sans’ smile had turned into a worried one, along with his voice shimming down into a somewhat hurt tone. Frisk bit their lip, they utterly hated when Sans looked like this or sounded like this. They put away the cell phone as thoughts of the first thirteen runs played over in their mind in a loop. How they couldn’t control themselves, being dragged along by Chara’s spirit, or rather the left over repression of anger and hate. The horror, pain, and sorrow that Sans splayed across his face always tore up Frisk on the inside " whew… thanks kiddo. Don’t worry me like that.” Frisk nodded, sighing slowly, frustrated that they weren’t going to get to know about their dunkles past… yet again. “ i’m gonna' go get a soda, you want anything kiddo?” Frisk nodded, pointing to him then their self, “ got it, soda for you too-“

“ He-Hey! What about me?!”

Sans’ tired eyes went to the flower, “ hehehe, yeah sure. i’ll fetch you some water.” He said before he slid off the couch, heading to the kitchen.

“ H-HEY! I CAN DRINK AND EAT YOU ASSHOLE!” Flowey growled out as the skeleton let him, not responding.

But now that he was gone, it was time for Frisk to try and crack another mystery. “ Flowey?”

“ Ugh, what now?!”

“ You said you had a friend aside from Chara, who was it?”

“ Why the flying fruity fuck should I tell you?”

Frisk soon hopped off the couch, kneeling down to the table with a determined look, “ Because you can tell me anything. Or do you want to end up like Sans who keeps his tracks covered, Asriel?”

Flowey’s breath hitched, whenever Frisk would say his true name, he couldn’t ignore them as easily. It was only when they were serious, and the child still kept the promise of not letting anyone else know who e was deep down. “ I hate it when you use that against me.”

“ I know, and I’m sorry. But it’s the only way I can figure things out.”

“ Yeah, yeah, I know. I can’t tell you their name, cuz' it just pisses me off. An-And... I’m not ready to. But I will let you know that… They died a long time ago…” He said, lowering is stem down. Sure he meant it in a metaphorical way, but he much rather not mention that detail to Frisk.

“ … D-Dead, dead? Or… Dead to you?”

Flowey’s beady eyes lifted themselves sadly to the human, “ That’s for you to determine.”

Frisk puffed up their cheeks slightly, kind of frustrated by not getting a real answer, but they knew to push the flower since they were the only ones Flowey could actually count o. And with that slight build of trust he would sooner or later open up to them, much like other things, unlike the quirky skeleton. “ Can I at least ask what they were like?”

“ Fffffine! Jeez your persistent. Anyways, they were sweet, brave, a-and so happy.” He started to recall what seemed to be some of the best times off his short life, a genuine smile spreading across his face, “ We use to do everything together. It was just us l-like it was meant to be. I-It… It was so beautiful. Never felt more alive than when I was with them. We took life to a whole nother level-“ Since Flowey was remembering so much, it was now the best time to ask him one last thing.

" What happen?”

“ Hehehe… They left me… I was all alone again. Then I met Chara. I-I thought they could fill up that hole. But…” Frisk quickly stepped in, petting the flower’s head as his memories started to fill up with the terrible ones that happened afterwards in his fragile mind. “ I don’t want to talk about them anymore…”

“ Shh it’s okay, you don’t have to Flowey. Here how about we move on. You’ve given me enough information… Say, do you want to get back at dunkle Sans?”

Flowey sniffled before looking to them with an odd twist on his face, “ Wha-“

“ I know you two don't like each other and Sans hasn't told me literally anything about himself. So, do you know anything about him? Any dirt?”

Flowey’s frown soon sparked and perked up into a sinister grin, “ Ooooh, now this is interesting, where did this come from?” He cooed out.

“ Let’s just say I learn from the best.” Frisk giggled, giving a small wink to the flower. They knew how to get onto his side, being sneaky and stroking a bit of his malevolent ego always did wonders.

“ Oooohoho~! ‘m flattered. Heh, what a wonderful idea. Now where to begin… You remember that machine in the back of his house, you saw it right?” Frisk nodded intently, “ Well… That machine was actually meant to be-“

“ or not to be? but then again, seeing as you’re a flower, i thought you wouldn’t mind bees.” Chuckle Sans who seemingly came out of nowhere, being rewarded a small screech from the other two. His gaze set intensely on Flowey as his left eye flashed a warning sign of bright blue.

“ I… I was just telling Frisk.. About-“

“ don’t even try it pansy boy.” He waggled his finger to them both, “ you seriously need to start budding out of other people’s business and keep to yourself, much like you do with everyone but frisk. sorry to break it to ya kiddo, but you can’t trust him, he's constantly lying.”

Frisk soon looked rather disappointed, “ But I can’t trust you either.”

“ k-kid, that’s not what i meant-“

“ No, no, it’s okay. I understand. I shouldn’t have asked or pushed you both into certain things. Maybe… Maybe it’s best I don’t know certain things. I’m sorry. Never-mind what I said Flowey, it’s not important. Just… Just have to keep smiling and move forward.” They gave a small hidden smile to Sans, not wanting to make him feel guilty or anger him from Flowey’s aid. “ Just please don’t get mad at Flowey, I asked him first. It's my fault, not his.”

The short skeleton looked away, shameful of himself for suddenly pinning the blame on the flower, but also not wanting to upset the child, “ ah jeez... you’re killin’ kid, you’re killin’ me. i’m not gonna’ get angry at you…” Frisk looked up at him remorsefully, “ ooooor the daffodil.”

“ Golden Flower!” Flowey corrected him.

“ right, whatever. uhm… here.” Sans said as he passed the young human two cans of soda. “ i’ll be right back, need to go see if paps wants one or not.” He said quietly as he got u and left the two. Once he got into another room, he quickly stood aside by the wall where the two couldn’t see him. He kept silent to listen onto the two before moving on to actually check upon something before returning to his spot to watch his show with the others.

“ So now can I tell you?”

“ No. I don’t want to know from behind peoples backs anymore. And I rather you not get into more trouble.” Frisk remarked, sitting back into their spot on the sofa with a loud sigh flowing out from them. “ I don’t want to think about it right now. I’m sure he'll let me know when he’s ready, like you did.”

“ Frisk! He’s never going to open up to you! He hasn’t in years! Hell, he hasn’t with anyone-“

“ Then why did he get you a soda instead of water?” Flowey’s yelling ceased as Frisk asked him this. “ He’ll open up eventually now the resets have stopped. He doesn't have anything to hide now that he can finally move on. I… I just need to wait until he trusts me.”

“ Fine! Whatever, have it your way! But I must ask, do you really not trust him?”

“ Of course I trust him. I only said that I didn’t because I was panicking.”

The flower gave out a huff of bitter frustration before a chuckle replaced the annoyed noise, “ You really are an idiot.”

“ Takes one to know one, considering I learned it from you.” Frisk said quickly, making the Flower burst into a small it of laughter as this was his twisted type of humor.

“ Oh! Touche’ you bad kid you!” Frisk joined their ‘sibling' with some small chuckles and passive-aggressive banter that was more of just poking fun at one another rather than being too serious. The tension finally passed, Sans moved himself away from the wall, stuffing his hands into his pocket and heading off to the upstairs. He thought about what Frisk had said… They actually trusted him. Maybe he really could open up to them. Apparently Flowey had, and he was the biggest pain in the ass in the whole house. It had been a while since someone besides his dear brother actually put that much faith into him. Sure Alphys knew him somewhat well enough, but that didn't necessarily mean she trusted him that much. The only other trust of that extent was Asriel. And Sans had let the future prince down. And now with a new life without pretending to care and finally express his true emotions slowly, he might actually be able to tell the child who had done so much for him and his brother.

As he entered is room, closing the door behind with his pinky fuzzy slippers he would often wear inside, he let out a content sigh. He told himself that if someone finally trusted him that much like Papyrus, then he would let them know. But not right now, the moment would have to wait. But until then, he knelt down to his bed, lowering himself down and reaching a pile of old dirty socks no one dare to touch. He shifted it about in the pile until it came across a sleek and smooth metal. With a small gin, he retrieved a key and went over to a cabinet within his table, sliding the key in to open the drawer. Inside the compartment sat a shoe-box that had seen much better days with dust fathering up on the top of it.

He took the small box out, placed it onto his lap as he sat on the edge of his raggedy mattress. He hesitantly stared at the box which had a ice of string strewn around it in a nice tidy knot with the words ‘To Sans’ nearly faded under it. He carefully unwound the sting and lifted the lid, placing it on his side on the cushioned bed. Sans' eye were drawn to stare down directly into the old worn out box where lay an old photo of him and the young prince happy as could be while various lights and rides were visible in the background. The box also contained an old VCR tape that was unlabeled, a long forgotten dried up flower crown made up of various flowers, and an old dusty bracelet. The mournful skeleton snapped his fingers, making a better kept bracelet appear laying next to the lid. He picked it up and examined it before gently picking p the old one from the box. San made the two larger stones clack together, forming a carved in heart symbol. “ hehehe… my best friend.” His skeletal and cold fingers clutched the bracelets tightly as he held them up to his forehead so is blue sleeved arms could hide away the pained look, only letting his sad broken be seen at the sides.

Chapter Text

The young prince paced around in his colorful room, kicking around a small toy about. He paused suddenly to look up his bed, sighing “ Okay guys… What should I do?” He asked with a determined and highly motivated look. Unfortunately all he got were vacant blank stares of his toys that lined up all over the mattress, each smiling or just staring out into space with little to no personality at all. Asriel stayed silent for a few moments before putting out his furry palm and slamming his other hand as a curled up fist into it, “ Yeah! You're right! I should go over a-and at the very least give him something! Even Mister Gaster won’t stop me, y-yeah! I can do this! I can pull this off!” He exclaimed out to his band of toys, running off… Only to come back. “ Wait… What about mom?” Again his only answer were non responsive from the stuffed animals he often had his tea parties with. His floppy white now ear twitched, eyes glancing over at a smug looking pig looking creature, which made his victorious smile falter down, “ Darn it Keith! Why can’t you be more optimistic?! O-Or at least change your name. Please? I’m embarrassed to hear that say it. Boris, try that.” He gestured to stuffed toy, again only silence came through to him.

After a few minutes, Asriel had gotten a piece of cinnamon-butterscotch pie, wrapping it up carefully and putting the treat into a small backpack, which he then strapped himself with. Once it was secure he opened up his window and waggled his poofy stub of a tail and pounced onto a tree in his father’s garden that resonated within the castle walls. His small claws dug into the bark to keep himself from sliding downwards, quickly landing on a sprung up sturdy branch “ Sorry Misses Hopewell.” He apologized to the old giant oak, patting it softly before venturing beyond the bricked up walls.

A knock came from outside Asriel’s door, his mother's gentle voice coming through the wood, “ Asriel~? I know you took some of that pie. Now, I’m not angry, but please, can you ask before you grab some dear?” She asked. A moment later, Toriel opened up the door as she found no response from her son. Her eyes grew narrow as they located a lump under the cozy blankets on his bed, making her chuckle a bit. She made here way over, kneeling down and putting a hand n the blanket, shaking it softly, “ Asriel honey. Did you get a belly-ache agai-“ She froze as she went to remove the blanket that was actually covering up all the soft toys hiding under. She blinked a few times before looking around the small tidy room, seeing the window had been left open. Once the queen got to the window’s sill, she looked about, noticing some of the bark on her husband's tree had been chipped off slightly from what may have been the work of small claws. She quietly chuckled to herself, smiling, “ Oh Sans honey… You have a most chearesid friend.” She didn’t want to get angry at her son. He would have never done this before, he always stuck to the rules, but fighting off those rules just to give a friend a gift even if their friend’s parental guardian denied him to come over for a week, made Toriel’s soul flutter. The young skeleton must have been desperately important in Asriel’s life, making him get out of the house and have fun, as well as encouraging him to be brave just like Toriel had wanted him to. It also reminded herself of her old rebel days where she disobeyed her father just to see Asgore. She respected Asriel’s decision and wouldn’t dare tell Gaster.

Meanwhile at the skeleton’s decorated house, brimming with bright lights that showed off light yet dazzling colors, held the eldest brother of the two skeletons. Gaster said he needed his help, but the stubborn skeleton wouldn't budge at his father's command. Even being stubborn enough to levitate the unsuspecting scientist in a blue glow, shoving him out from the sibling's room. Gaster was back into his fatherly mood, instead of the equally stubborn or gruff side he let out in battle some times. As long as Sans watched over the rambunctious toddler, he could skip the day to work. Sans sat alone in the shared closet of his brother, tucking himself in the corner behind clothes that hung off from a rack. He was in ‘Sweater Town’ at the moment, tucking himself away, clutching his knees as his legs hugged against his chest. Hiding away any light with the thanks of is blue knitted hoodie, burying is face into his knees. If only he knew how to teleport with other people, Asriel wouldn’t have gotten into trouble. Sure Gaster scolded the younger skeleton, but only momentarily as he explained he was making sure everything was okay in the secret back of the house. However for the young prince… Gaster had gotten onto him furiously, saying that he should know better, not to go snooping around in people’s work, and all that jargon. Sans let out a soft sigh before the closets' door creaked open, Papyrus waddling in to grab a movie from a small shelf.

Papyrus tilted his skull to watch his brother’s moping and quickly picked out a film to put in downstairs. He would after he did one more thing. That being, to try and move his brother from looking like he was in a harsh session of a timeout.“ SANS?”

Sans responded by sliding his arms into his sweater, rocking back and forth slightly, “ sans isn't here right now, he's in sweater town right now.”

Papyrus smiled sadly, “ DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT?”

A small whimper or groan was heard from under the soft sapphire colored sweater. “ SANS… YOU NEED TO COME OUT SOMETIME. HRMM… I DON’T UNDERSTAND, YOU NEVER DID THIS WHEN GRILLBY COULDN’T PLAY WITH YOU.”

“ it’s different…”

“ WELL NO MATTER! COME ON, WHERE’S MY COOLEST BROTHER EVER?! COME ON, LET’S GO CHEER YOU UP WITH A MOVIE!”

Sans didn’t sound sad anymore, but slightly annoyed. He couldn’t stand to get angry with his kind brother and instead went into a defense system he figured out a while back to keep Papyrus away. He slowly slumped onto his back, his arms going through the sleeves once more as he watched his brother. Sans stayed there like a slug, it was his only known defense against Papyrus without hurting his feeling. Papyrus managed to shove Sans to the closet’s entrance, pushing on his back as Sans stood there not fighting back and seemingly going limp. “ CAN’T YOU GO ANY FASTER?!” Papyrus’ small irritated yelling caught an idea in his older brother’s mind, thinking back on how to actually win this. By doing absolutely nothing.

Sans put the back side of his skeletal hand against his forehead, swooning dramatically, “oh no, gravity is increasing on me!”

“ NO IT’S NOT!”

Sans then went back to being a limp noodle, “ is too paps, same thing happened last week.”

Just then his weight finally gave out for the smaller skeleton who was now under his others back with his upper torso and legs dangling out from the sides. “ YOU ROTTEN BROTHER! YOUR BUTT IS CRUSHING ME! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO ACT SO WEIRD?!”” Squealed Papyrus as he squirmed around under the sweater of bones before finally clawing out from his position, “ FINE! I’M WATCHING BOOTY AND THE BEASTY WITHOUT YOU!”

Sans lay there on the smoother carpentering and chuckled, “ hehehe, you said booty.” Papyrus raised his tiny hands over his head letting out a loud groan before making his leave out the room, slamming the door in frustration. Sans smiled slightly, his brother’s constant screeching normally cheered him up since the other knew Sans would never do anything or say anything too terribly harsh and was more of just a little smug monster. Papyrus would calm down within a few minutes which was nice. He was never known to hold a grudge, not even against a bully. Now back to the matter of being upset yet again. His brother was right, he never got like this when Grillby got in trouble and couldn’t see Sans, so why did it feel so different…?

Before he could think about the complication any longer, he heard a small thunk at the back of the closet… Which had a window oddly enough. Sans often thought the monster who built this home for the dear doctor must have been his first home. Sans walked over to the window as more thunks echoed out in the slim room. In a instant his eyes noticed something hit the window, making the same noise. It was too fast to see so the skeleton walked closer, pushing up the window’s sill, only to have a snowball hit him. The snowball made him tumble onto his back, his hand clutching where the powdered clump of snow ht him. He sat up to examine the snowball to see a small rock hiding in it. With a small growl, Sans snatched the rock up and headed t the window to throw it back at whoever hit him. However… Once he saw who had thrown the rock laced in snow, his anger quickly vanished, “ a-azzy?”

Asriel waved from the icy field before noticing a rock in Sans’ bony hand. He gasped out in fear, “ O-Oh my goodness gracious! I-I-I’m so sorry! I-I didn't know that was in one of the snowballs!”

Sans gave his casual smirk, relaxing thoroughly from the fact the goat hadn’t even noticed picking up a rock by accident. Then again, Asriel wasn’t really one known for doing that type of thing. “ it’s fine dude! –but, seriously what are you doing here?! my dad told your folks that you weren’t to come over for a week!”

Asriel clasped his paws together behind his back, his fuzzy toes pushing some of the snow away as he looked down in shame, “ I-I know! Bu-But I really miss you! I-I just wanted to know if y-you were doing okay! I’m r-really, really, super sorry!” He looked back up to his friend who had sad yet happy smile plastered on his skull.
“ aww dude… that’s. heh, that’s so sweet of you” Asriel felt himself blush a bit, his gaze returning to the ground. “ aw c’mon, don't be so ‘baa-shful’!” Sans hollered out, making the prince start up a giggling fit.

“ O-Oh right! I wanted to give you something an-and tell you something really imorta-“ Asriel’s words crumbled away as he saw a slim shadow appear, overcasting his own. He gulped and slowly turned his head around to see an upset and annoyed looking Gaster. Asriel scrunched his arms to himself, shifting his eyes in various directions, “ H-oh g-g-golly… h-howdy mis-mi-mister Gaster…”

The doorbell rung out through the house mixed with a castle, Toriel’s ears perking u to catch the buzzing noise. She cheerfully took off her oven mitts and strolled to the front dear humming merrily. But once she opened the door, the sight before her was not one she wanted to see or was expecting. There at the doorway stood the scientist, a glowing violet aura holding her small runty son by the scruff of the back of his shirt's neck looking defeated. His eyes ran up to see his mothers and instinctively curled up like a punished animal before waving awkwardly, “ Ho-Howdy mom…” The purple mist dissipated into the air, dropping the prince on his feet. He slowly rose up and shuffled inside, rubbing his arm, “ S-S-Sorry… I’ll go in the time-out corner…” He mumbled sadly as he ragged himself to his room and sat in a corner. Asriel was only punished for… Well not much since he stuck t the rules like Papyrus would, but ever since he messed up a handful of times in his past years to now, he’d always remember the horrid time-out corner.

Toriel meanwhile looked up to the scientist crossing her arms, “ Gaster… He only wanted to see Sans.”

“ He was near the back of the house, how do we know he wasn’t trying to break in again? And besides, your child should have some discipline for snooping about in other people’s properties.” The thin skeleton pointed out as Toriel rolled her eyes.

“ Gaster, I know my child. Sans has been the only other kid to actually pull him out of his late blooming and shy shell. I’m not sure what you’re working on that is so important, but I can reassure you, my child has no care for it.”

“ It doesn’t matter, I don’t need any of the children near it! It could be unstable!”

“ Then why don’t you move it to the lab Wingdings?! That way my child can spend some time with a friend?”

Gaster rubbed his skull, “ I had only brought it to the house so I could make some adjustments! Now please, discipline your child. I’m not telling you what to do as a aren’t but he should know not to mess with certain tings-“

“ WINGDINGS!” The queen roared out, catching him off guard as mighty hands were placed on his shoulders. “ My child doesn’t care about your machine, or your little experiments. He was only doing what he and your smaller child was right. They only went in there because they care about you and Sans. And yet here you are, not allowing Asriel and Sans to not see each other as punishment for a whole week?! I know your children aren’t as soft as mine, but this is really tearing him apart.” As she continued, making sure Gaster listen to each and every word that popped out from her mouth, Asriel in the meantime huddled up in his corner.

As that was taking place, the older childish prankster sat there on the green sofa in a rather grumpy an sour mood which was rare for his young brother to see. Papyrus scooted over, receiving a stare from Sans rather than a glare. “ I KNOW THIS ISN’T FAIR. A-AND I TAKE THE BLAME. AND FOR THAT I’M SORRY.”

“ heh… paps it’s okay-“

“ NO IT’S NOT! I GOT YOUR FRIEND IN TROUBLE! I SHOULD BE IN TROUBLE! YOU SHOULD GO SEE HIM!”

“ can’t… dad will get upset again”

“ NEEEEEEEH! BUT I FEEL BAD! THERE MUST BE SOMETHING I CAN DO TO HELP-“ He stopped to pace around in front of the TV and couch, kicking around the small rock that had been thrown in by accident. Finally he stopped and gasped out, placing his tiny hands on his cheekbones, “ SANS! SANS! I- JUST HAD A THINGY! YOU KNOW. THE THING IN YOUR HEAD THAT GOES VROOSH AND WOOSH AND THERE'S LIKE A BIG LAMP LIGHT ON AND SOMETIMES FLICKERS!”

“ you mean an idea?”

“ YEAH! THE MIND THINGY! WHAT IF… YOU SNUCK OUT TO GO SEE AZZYRIEL?! I CAN COVER FOR YOU!”

“ ehhh, I don't know paps-“

“ AWWW COME ON! HE DID IT TO SEE YOU! A-AND HE'S SUPER SCARED TO DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT! JUST LIKE ALPHYS!”
Sans blinked silently as he thought about it. Now that was true.

Asriel knew he wasn’t in trouble according to his mom since she looked shocked and upset when she saw him floating there like that and hadn’t said thanks to the scientist who dropped him off. But his still felt bad by breaking an adult’s rules. He sniffled a bit and thought to himself, “ … I hope he doesn’t put on extra days to keep me away…” His fuzzy feet fumbled with one another as he curled up against the wall letting his floppy ears dangle aside his cheeks sadly.

“ why so blue? i like you when you're more of a bright pink around the cheeks with your white fur dude.” A voice spoke to the prince making him bleat out and scamper under his bed in instinct, only to poke his fuzzy head out and bear his tiny fangs out in a threatening manner since he was in a fairly bad mood. However his intruder stood there and snickered as he rested his hand inside the over-grown pockets of his prized blue sweater, “ wow… that’s almost as scary as paps trying to be threatening to bullies who pick on burgy.”

Asriel’s cheeks flushed from embarrassment and a bit of anger, but soon shrugged it off, crawling out from under his bed and practically tackling his friend to the wooden floor. “ Sans what are you doing here?! I thought-“ His snout was closed off as Sans swiftly clammed it shut, looking around in fear

“ shhhhh! not so loud. i’m not sure if my dad's around or not.” He gulped before unlatching his friend’s muzzle who rubbed it a tad.

“ S-Sorry!” He quietly shouted in a hushed whispering tone. “ What are you doing here?!” He continued his soft yelling.

“ because you traveled all the way to my house just to tell me something. and if not, you had to have rode the riverperson’s boat again, as i know how much you fear it. you really did something stupid, heh like me and grills. but also brave, knowing you could be caught at anytime. yet you still came." Sans gave a gentle smile, making the prince fiddle with his paws, unable to not smile himself.

“ O-Oh golly… Th-Thanks. But how did you get here so fast?”

“ hehehe depends… how did my dad get you here?”

“ Riverperson.”

“ ah, he must have so he could scold you along the way. Meanwhile… i can do this.” Sans grinned, snapping his bony fingers, vanishing into a small puff of blue mist. The prince gasped and looked about for his cheeky friend who gave out a chuckle from behind. Asriel’s floppy ears perked up slightly, still with them dangling around his head as he turned around, making them swing along. He saw his skeletal friend relaxing, sitting on the edge of his comfortable bed with a wide smile spread across his face. Asriel’s eyes grew wider as he walked over to sit next to his friend in pure awe.

“ Whoa… How did you-?”

“ teleportation. just gonna’ tele-bout-it now that it’s one of my magical abilities.” He gave a wink.

Asriel’s eyes glimmered in astonishment, “ So cool!”

“ hehehe, thanks azzy. but seriously” His smile turned as he got into a more serious tone, staring at the prince’s colorful eyes, “ what was so important to run all the way over to my house to tell me?”

“ O-Oh! R-Right… I uhm… I-I just… I wanted to know-well you see and uhh...” He trailed off slightly before seeing Sans’ raise an invisible brow, drawing his curiosity, but also smiling from how flustered the goat was getting. He took in a deep breath before shutting his eyes tightly, “ I wanted to know if you’d like to accompany me to The Underground’s Festival that’s being held in Snowdin! I couldn't wait another day to ask!” He shook as he kept his eyes shut, scared to be refused, but more afraid of embarrassment since he was starting to enjoy San’s company ever since the daring kiss. His small body started to quiver as there was no response, until Sans put his hands on Asriel’s arms. Asriel slowly opened one eye to peek out and see how the other was reacting.

Sans gave him an actual genuine smile, “ asriel, calm down. of course i’ll go with you. how could i not? you might be the prince, big whoop. i might be your judge, oh well. it doesn’t matter, we’re friends no matter what! and nothing! will ever change that!” He gave a proud and determined smile, cracking the mold Asriel did his best to hold up and maintain. It was one of the rare few times Sans called him with his real name instead of th casual ne he stuck with. Asriel started to sniffle as Sans let go, raising his arm to his eyes to wipe away happy tears.

“ Th-T-Thank you so much!”

“ hehehe, it’s what friends are for-oh! by the way. i got you a little something~!” Sans winked as the other calmed down almost immediately, still with some stray tears sliding down his fur. Sans then pulled out a cold to touch rock that looked more like a large pebble and dropped it into the young prince’s palms.

Asriel tilted his head in utter confusion, “ It’s a rock… I-Is this a skeleton thing?” He looked back up to Sans who couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

“ n-no, no, no dude! it’s the rock that was packed in the snow you threw.”

“ … Sssso?”

“ so, i figured since you found it and normally there aren’t any actual small rocks in the snowy parts of the underground, to give it to you. a pet rock to keep you company when i’m not around, kinda like a memento to remember me by. and besides… i think it can use a good friend instead of being left in the snow all alone.”
Asriel immediately held the stone to his chest to keep the chunk of Earth secure. And with Asriel’s gentle and nurturing side popping into play, he pretended the rock was more than an inanimate object. “ A-Aww poor thing! I-I’ll take good care of it Sans!” He smiled brightly, petting the rock like it could actually-
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Feel something… Anything… Anything but these negative emotions that could be felt since they didn’t depend on love. The gloomy gold petaled flower sighed longingly as he rested his limp stem and head on the frosted ground. This further upset the thin and lanky frame of the skeleton who looked over to him. Papyrus frowned, extremely worried about his small friend, thinking of the flower as being weak and fragile. Papyrus sat beside te glum flower and wracked his knuckles together, making a small soft rattling noise, “ FL-FLOWEY? A-ARE YOU OKAY?”

Two beady eyes that were full on no emotion looked up to the skeleton the back away, avoiding direct contact. The flower gave a diminished sigh, “ I just wish I could talk to somebody who wouldn’t you know… Talk back o-or question me. But every other inanimate object is stubborn and mean nothing to me. The only thing I have is that stupid statue at The Waterfall, but it just angers me…”

“ HRMMM… SO LIKE A GOOD LISTENER OR AS WHAT DID ALPHYS CALL IT AGAIN? OH! A THERAPIST-BUT! IT WOULDN’T CARE OR JUGE YOU? AND YOU WANT SOME SIGNIFIGANCE FROM IT… HRMMM, THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY INGENIOUS TWISTED PUZZLE INDEED!” Papyrus said, slamming his mitten filled gloved fist into his other hand. He knew Flowey didn’t like to tell certain things and didn’t really have someone to let it all out to. The helpful skeleton volunteered the flower to tell him, but apparently it was just too difficult. Papyrus would normally open to him or Sans, so this was quite the pickle. Papyrus snapped his skull up and slammed the mitten glove into the other again, making a small thwump sound break out the silence. “ I KNOW! IT MIGHT NOT BE SPECIAL TO YOU, BUT IT IS SPECIAL TO MY BROTER, WHICH IN TURN IS SPECIAL TO ME, WHICH CAN BE SPECIAL TO YOU!”

Flowey gave him a brow thinking he had gone into one of his moments of having an idea, only for it end horribly or Papyrus had finally gone to a whole new level of idiocy. “ What…?” He asked in an unimpressed monotone voice.

“ SANS’ PET ROCK! SANS SOMETIMES TAKES IT FOR A WALK AND TALKS TO IT ABOUT THINGS THAT ALWAYS SEEM TO GO OVER MY SKULL! I’VE EVEN TALKED TO IT SOMETIMES WHEN SANS OR YOU WEREN’T AROUND! IT IS A VERY GOOD LISTENER OF PROBLEMS, AND IT NEVER JUDGES YOU!”

Flowey’s need for wanting to talk to something, soon grew into wanting to remember the better times the pet rock made him feel when Sans wasn’t around. Sure it wouldn’t make him happy, but with it, his memories of the good past would flow his mind, maybe flooding some pain away.

The shorter skeleton of the two brothers made his way downstairs before letting out a loud yawn as he raised an arm, making some of his back bones pop. With a small smile he lazily rued his eye sockets and turned over to the small table that held his joke books and quantum physics. He opened up a drawer of the table, pulling out a rather small collar and a red leash. The skeleton looked over to the larger table at the other side of his home’s first floor to give a warm smile to his beloved pet rock. However, the collar and leash both fell to the purple and aquamarine carpet with a small jingle. Sans walked over to where the piece of Earth normally sat with some candy sprinkles over it to see it not be there. Thankfully his younger brother happen to stroll in with a big smile on his face. It was erased soon after he saw his brother’s expression. Sans had hollow eye sockets and a sight frown, which was difficult for him to put on due to the permanent smile. “ SANS?”
Sans looked over to his brother with the hollow and emptied eyes, “ paps. someone stole my pet rock.”

“ OH! OH, NO, NO, NO! DO NOT WORRY SANS, IT IS ONLY VISITING A FRIEND OF MINE BEFORE WE RETURN IT BACK HERE! AND NORMALLY YOU DON’T EVEN TAKE IT FOR A WALK-LET ALONE FEED IT! SO, WHY ALL OF THE SUDDEN?”

Sans’ pupils started to appear back where they belong, his stress decreasing, but still remained somewhat relevant. “ just… just had a dream was all. and for some reason when i woke up, all i could think of was my pet rock.” His frown soon morphed into his slick smile, though he was rather upset and worried. He lied t his dear brother somewhat. It was true he had a dream, but still lied through his teeth as it was a nightmare he needed to tell someone. Aka, his pet rock. “ so, why didn’t you tell me you were handing it over to someone for a few?”

“ WELL I TRIED WAKING YOU UP TO ASK PERMISSION, BUT MY FRIEND WAS AWFULLY UPSET AT THE TIME, AND I HAVE TO GO BACK TO MY PUZZLES AND LOOK OUT FOR ANY HUMANS. BUT AGAIN, YOU WERE ASLEEP LIKE ALWAYS! BUT I THINK IT’S GOOD YOUR PET ROCK GETS OUT MORE AND MEETS OTHER MONSTERS! I’M SURE IT’LL CHEER MY FRIEND UP!

Sans’ look grew into a mildly concerned one, “ uhm… friend?”

“ THE FRIEND NO ONE ELSE BELIEVES AND YOU JUST SHRUG OFF-WHICH IS RATHER RUDE OF YOU BY THE WAY! HIS NAME IS FLOWERY, HE’S OVER BY WHERE YOU FOUND THE INFERNAL DOG WHO KEEPS STEALING MY BONES. IF YOU LIKE, YOU COULD GO VISIT HIM. I WOULD BE SO HAPPY IF THE TWO OF YOU COULD MEET AND BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED!” He smiled brightly to his older brother who was screaming internally. But he couldn’t be mad at his brother… Not anymore.

Flowey rested his tired head on the smooth stone, closing is eyes to listen to the soft droplets of water from the small cave’s ceiling, watering the echo flowers down below. His mind was in a haze, better times fueled it, making him forget about his now painful existence of hell. Again, he wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t sad either. Being next to his old pet rock made the pain of the present was away, making room for better times of when he and Sans would laugh and play together as friends. He smiled sadly as he longed for the past. Just then, he felt his stem and leaves grow stiff as if something was pinning him in place. Is eyes snapped open in shock, fear, and rage. He saw the new owner of the pet rock a few feet away from him, using is magic to pin the flower and slowly pulling the rock from under him. Sans’ was kneeling down as he reached out for his magic to levitate the rock over to him, only to catch the flower’s now enraged eyes to stare at him. “ uh-oh…” The skeleton was harshly snagged by a vine that quickly twisted itself around his ankle and flung him into the cavern's blue wall.

-20/480

Sans gasped out, his breath being knocked out of him…. The vine let loose as his magic did in turn. He fell to the rocky ground and started to pick himself back up, only to get sight of about five vines towering over him, preparing to drill down into him. As the vines slammed down, they were bent about by a shield of bones blocked their target. The vines slithered back, only to wail on the bones until they broke. However once done, the vines only slammed into the ground. Flowey’s breath hitched when he saw Sans was no longer there, a small thin vine wrapped around the rock and held it next to his stem. The flower quickly looked about or the skeleton, only to get a sharp ended bone slice right through one of is petals, making him yelp and clutch the rock tighter.

-1000/6000

As Flowy recoiled from the sudden pain, vines sprouted up and flung wildly at the air, hoping to hit their target. One vine managed to find Sans, slapping him away from the plant.

-20/460

Sans tumbled away from the flower, quickly getting up and sending an army of piercing bones. The flailing vines soon stopped and directed themselves to the bones. Bone and vine clashed together, some shattering bones, and some splitting the vines. Several of their attacks slipped by each others attacks, landing a low to the two monsters before both attacks started to slow down and eventually stop. Leaving Sans at 250 HP, while Flowey was suffering at 2900 HP. Sans had certainly gotten stronger… Or he was fighting with more force due to the simple piece of stone that met a great deal of importance to him while Flowey hadn't prepared for any of this to have happened. The two stood across from the other, twenty feet away, panting heavily from the firing attacks and being hit with a few blows. The skeleton gave Flowy a devious grin and vanished, leaving behind a faint mist of blue. The flower readied a thorned vine right below himself and closed his eyes to sense the magic in the air. Suddenly he turned around, the thorned vine striking up and against a rather longer bone with a pointed end like that of a spear. Sans held it down with his hands, pushing on the vine, while the vine pushed back as Flowey’s stem backed itself to the dirt.

The two kept up their strength, Sans trying to now slam the bone to possibly choke out the flower, while Flowey had to concentrate is single vine to shove Sans away from himself. “ just give me back the rock, and i’ll leave you alone weed. that’s what you like right? to be alone when your not bothering my brother?” A warning of blue flashed out from his left eye as he stood his ground.

“ Fuck off! You wouldn’t understand a thing about being alone! This rock is the only thing that helps my pain fade away!” Flowey snapped, baring his sharpened teeth.

“ it’s my rock, not yours.” Sans said, concentrating as well from not being slid off and skewered. At this rate he wouldn’t be able to summon a Gaster Blaster.

“ No it isn’t! It’s the prince’s! It’s…. MINE!”

“ no, he gave it to me! why do you want it?! haven't you made my life more tan hell already?! why do you want to take something so dear to me away?! do you find it that fun to ruin people’s lives you little sick freak?!”

“ Shu-Shut up! You're not the only one it means so much too!”

Sans glared at the equally pissed flower, both of their pupils locking onto each other. “ i know it doesn’t! the only ones it means anything to is me and asriel! not some stupid daisy who enjoys torturing everyone’s lives for kicks!”

“ You don’t know anything about the prince you stubborn bonehead!”

“ yes i do! i fully know he’s dead and he’s N E V E R coming back, all because of-of! of that damn H U M A N!” Sans yelled out in a mix of anger and sorrow. Suddenly Flowey gave way and stopped putting up a struggled, catching the skeleton off guard since Sans wasn’t expecting him to actually stop. The flower quickly burrowed under the door before Sans and the bone could topple him. Sans groaned, sitting up, clutching the bone like spear, looking around for the pessimistic plant. He did however notice the smooth rock was left bind and right next to him, which surprised him, he would have thought the flower would have dragged it with him. Just then, the dirt in front of Sans rumbled, making him prepare his spear. Flowey emerged from the ground, and had the sharp tip miss his face by just a couple of inches. However… Flowey’s menacing face had long faded, now replaced by one that seemed cold and unemotional. Sans’ lowered his weapon slightly sensing no more of the flower's magic in the air.

The flower’s eyes turned empty, not even flinching from the spear being so close to him. “ Don't talk that way about the human like that…"

“ what does it matter to you? that little bitch took my friend away-“

“ NO THEY DIDN’T!” Flowey snarled out, tears starting flow down his cheeks, making the skeleton ponder why mentioning the fallen human got him all emotional in a bad way. “ YOU DID EVER SINCE YOU LOCKED HIM OUT OF YOUR LIFE!”

“ hey, i’m not the one who came up with the stupid idea to go to the surface, getting him killed! only an idiot would make a plan like that!”

Flowey’s growls went softer and finally silent before a painful looking smile stretched across his face, tears still running down. “ Hehehe-Hahah-AHAHAHAHA! Your right! AHAHA! O-Only a-and idiot would plan that! But-But-Hehehe, know what’s even funnier than that?!” His maniacal laughter started to ease into a mix of a crying fit, making Sans rather unsettled. “ F-For-For… FOR SOMEONE TO ACTUALLY GO THROUGH WITH IT WITH THEM! THAT MAKES THEM THE TRUE IDIOT! AHAHAHAHA!”

Sans’ anger rose up gain,” hey! areiel wasn’t an i-“

Flowey soon cut him off, “ NOOOO! YOU’RE RIGHT!” His psychotic laughs finally cracked down into a blubbering sob, pleading for help, “I’M SUCH AN IDIOT!” He swung his stem down as he wailed out before turning his head back to Sans. His face starting to morph into his true form slowly, “ I-I don’t need my pet rock! I don’t need my parents! I don’t need Papyrus! I-I-I don’t need C-Chara! And especially don’t need YOU! I DON’T NEED ANYONE!” Asriel screamed out before a the glowing reset button appeared to his side.

Sans finally acknowledging the old face reached out,” W A I T, A Z Z Y!”

The world was peaceful as fresh dew drops, slid off the fellow flower around him. Flowey or rather Asriel curled up in his starting place, lowering down to lay there, repeating over and over, “ I don’t need any friends…” His mind was being constructed back together, recovering slowly from his mental breakdown of Sans and the-
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“ PET ROCK?!” Flowey screeched out in an ungodly manner from his razor like teeth, small vines flailing madly out from the dirt in his clay pot.” YOU’RE SERIOUSLY GOING TO LUG THAT FUCKING THING ON A LEASH WHILE WE'RE WALKING?!”

Sans smirked as he held up the smooth stone he kept for many years, “ hehehe, no. it’s way too old for that type of treatment. well, that and it can't slide on dirt like it use to with the snow.”

Frisk ran over to their dunkle, hopping up and down, pointing to the smaller rock that sat on the table in an aquarium fully decorated, sprinkles scattering around. “ oh yeah, almost forgot. wanna’ carry the little guy?” Frisk gasped out happily and rushed past the small wagon Flowey into. Frisk carefully hopped onto a stool and reached in, picking up the smaller rock with extreme care as if it were a baby animal. Flowey watched the inane act and simply rolled his beady eyes as the mighty king put a hefty basket into the wagon next to the grumpy flower.

Asgore took in a deep breath and exhaled in a cheerful manner, “ Alright, everything is ready. Let us venture forth to the wonderful picnic area I found!” He said with a joyful and booming voice. With that the three headed out the door and started to walk away from their house and eventually to a street, getting on the peaceful side walk, passing by houses that were sprung up on the other side of the road.

Asgore pulled the small wagon with ease while Sans followed alongside carrying his cherished pet rock, as Frisk held the smaller rock on their head. After so many runs with Sans putting a hotdog on their head, they were finally wonderful at balancing things, and besides that, the rock’s bottom was rather flat. “ Golly, it sure is a nice day to feel the breeze, see the sights, smell the flowers~!” Asgore smiled.

Flowey started to groan from the petty speech from the king, “ Ugh whatever… Hrm, you know, it’s surprising. I thought you’d be too damn lazy to even have the audacity to carry the stupid rock.”

Sans kept on his smile, one of is calmed closed eyes opening lazily to look to the flora trying to harass him. “ hey, it’s been through quite a bit there buttercup. sides, i’m not ‘that’ lazy.”

Flowey shook with anger from being called the flower that basically ruined his life. “ Then why prey tell… DO YOU HAVE A STUPID LEASH IN YOUR POCKET?!” Asgore and Frisk both sighed, trying to ignore the screams of rage.

“ well I don’t want it running off when we get there, what kind of owner do you take me for?”

Flowey stared at him, his mouth a gaped, but with no words being forced out until, “ … I-IT CAN’T MOVE! The only rocks that move was that one in The Ruins and the one at The Waterfall-ARGH! Okay you know what-fine! Whatever! I take it no one ever questioned you taking the thing for a walk in Snowdin.”

“ funny thing actually. no one ever did. and yet they kept questioning that one rabbit…”

Frisk poked into the conversation, “ But they were just walking their baby brother right? What’s so wrong about that? It’s not like he was her pet rabbit or anything.”

Flowey smacked himself with is tiny leaves before going into yet another groan. “ Frisk… That’s WHY they questioned. Either they asked because they thought he was a pet, or they were into some really weird pet play type of thing.”

Frisk tilted their head, making the small stone slide off to the side, only to be caught by their palm and put back in their hair again, “ Wha?”

“ It’s when people treat other people like pets.”

“ Like… Pretending? Like when I pretend to be a goat to make mom laugh?”

“ Nnnno… I mean as in a se-“ Sans quickly teleported right next to the wagon, covering the flower’s indecent mouth with his hand, his eyes fading into the back of his skull, while the king let out a loud sigh of relief.

“ aherm, right… uhm S O… gore-man? you were saying something about uh birds chirping, flowers blooming?” He nervously chuckled, while Frisk was kept in the dark about what Flowey was going on about. Flowey on the other hand growled I irritation from the skeleton and tried moving around to bite him. In which Flowey amazingly did, making the blue sweatered skeleton pull back his hand immediately.

-1/15

“ ow, damnit, you little snap-dragon piece of shi-“

“ AHRM” Asgore coughed loudly, interrupting his former judge. Sans stopped and held his finger while a blue aura made his rock levitate and follow alongside near his shoulder.

“ hey kiddo, this look infected to you?” Sans showed the child, making them shake their head.

“ heh, that's good, now I won’t have to de-‘sin’-fect it from the sin flower over here.” He chuckled, making the other pacifists give a small laugh.
“ That was horrible an you should feel bad.” Flowey spat out, his face scrunching up from the horrid pun.

“ oh you mean like how you feel all the time?” As Sans and Flowey got into another side argument, Frisk otherwise was happy. They were glad to see Sans’ HoPe finally go up after the monsters were free. It only started to go up from its 1 HP stupor after Frisk had shown him the half of the reset button. Sans was finally beginning to become his old self, become happier, and heal his small strand of HP. Then again… Frisk didn't know Sans’ old self. They knew e smiled and seemed somewhat chill and upbeat to mask his emotions which were now starting to break out from the shackles Sans ha contained them in for so long. It was a slow process, but it was happening either way, which made the child smile.

“ What are you smiling about my dear Frisk?” Asgore asked as the other two continued on in the background, slightly muted from the other two as they blocked them out somewhat.

“ O-Oh! Uhm uh-The…. The flowers! Yeah! They look really nice today.” Frisk gave the large monster a small smile, not really wanting to pulls Sans into the nice talk as well as bringing up the past.

“ Ohoho, I certainly agree on that!”

Flowey happen to hear and soon butted in, “ Their all hussies! They all sleep together!”

Frisk’s attention turned to the gold sentient flower, shrugging, “ Well duh, it’s called a flower bed for a reason.”

This made Sans burst into a fit of laughter. This in turn made Frisk and Asgore join in the contagious laughter while Sans carried on, wiping away a tear. Asgore chuckled along,” Oh my, that’s the happiest I’ve ever seen you Sans.”

Sans’ laughter turned into coughing before the snickering commenced, “ o-oh! oh my god! that was classic kiddo! that was t-the best ahaha i’ve heard in such a long time! ahahaha!”

Frisk’s smile slimmed down, “ But it’s true.”

Flowey snarled up from hearing the skeleton’s laughter, “ NO! I mean they sleep together! As in, NORMAL FLOWERS reproduce by cross-pollinating with each other! GOD! Read a book!”

Frisk then went into puzzled mode again. Their orphanage only covered basic things, but nothing dealing with plant life other than a seed goes into dirt, needing water and light. “ Wait… What 'IS' pollination?”

“ Ugh… It means that pollen is transferred to the female re-“

“ OH GOSH! LOOK AT THAT, WE’RE HERE ALREADY WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!” Asgore irrupted the flower’s little ‘biology’ lesson, soon distracting the innocent child’s mind with the spot for their picnic that they could share with their ‘dads’ in a way.

Sure Sans was their dunkle, but the first part meant dad, while Frisk would call the monster king dad in typical manner. However when they went out wit both of them, they would call the two their dads, often confusing some people, making the two monster embarrassed, and normally making Flowey throw a hissy fit for some reason. Frisk suspected it was because he thought of Asgore as his father for now and didn’t want to be associated with Sans in any way.

They three set up a large checkered blanket under a tree that shaded over them With a snap of the finger from the mighty king in his purple cape, without the golden shoulders on, and sporting a pink shirt underneath, a small force field glowed around them to keep bugs, dirt, and any other particles that made the air feel weird. Frisk looked out upon the hill they settled on, seeing other picnic groups nearby with kids playing, adults talking, and teens setting up a movie to show when evening grew close. Flowey rolled his tiny eyes, “ So why did we pick this shitty spot? We could have moved close to everyone else and actually have people to talk to!”

Asgore knelt down beside the flower, gently putting his palm on the back of his stem and stretching out his arm, giving a soft smile, “ On the side of this tree. When the sun hits that ridge over there across the lake, just right… Something beautiful will shine our way.”

Flowey’s face kept it’s solemn stare of a angry yet puzzling mix as if the king had just told him some type of fairy tale which made nonsense but assumed it was real.
With the place set and before they got the food out Asgore sat down, patting the ground, signaling the others to sit next to him. Frisk sat beside the large king, holding onto Flowey’s pot while Sans sat beside the child, holding his two rocks, looking up at the sky for what Asgore had told them about. Away from where they sat, some clouds formed and made their daily drizzle, which always seemed to be an odd routine for the clouds around that side of town. No scientist could figure it out and just went with the occasional drizzle that would happen about every three days. Alphys suspected it might have to do with Mount Ebott and the magic that it concealed under the part of the town, but honestly didn’t know.

Flowey however grew more and more impatient, “ THIS IS STUPID! YOU BROUGHT US ALL THE WAY OVER HERE JUST TO LOOK AT SOME SHITTY LAKE?! AND WHY ARE YOU ALL STARING AT THE SKY LIKE THAT?! AND-AND WHY ARE YOU POINTING FRISK?! AND-And… A-And… And…” He slowly grew silent as he looked to where is ‘sibling’ pointed. His eyes spotting a large rainbow crossing over the small part of town away from them. His beaded eyes widened before Asgore took a picture of it and went back to set up the plates and food.

Frisk looked over to their dunkle, only to find him walking away, passing by Asgore, not helping him, “ Huh? Dunkle Sans?”

“ heh, sorry kiddo, it’s just a buncha' smeared up colors. i mean, yeah, it’s nice and all, but it ain’t no stars.” He chuckled, soon walking behind the tree they sat under. Frisk then looked at Flowey who seemed entranced much like Asriel was back when they last met. Thankfully Asgore was too busy while Flowey had his stem’s back to him. Only Frisk could see the pained expression on the crude and cold flower’s face.

“ … Frisk…”He squeaked out quietly. The child held him closer and pet put their hand around his stem before he laid his head down on their leg staring at the rainbow. “ … Please don't leave me.”

“ I won’t. I promise.”

“ I don’t want to be a flower anymore.”

“ I know…”

Back at home, Frisk chilled out with the plant who seemed a bit out of it since the event earlier today. They often forgot that the beautiful rainbows overhead only made the flower calm to a point. It did relax him immensely afterwards, but he would also feel rather bad afterwards. It was a mix of bad and good, complex yet simple like the concept of yin and yang. So the two watched some feel good or better yet comedy anime with Alphys. Alphys hopped off the couch to go retrieve the next DVD CD from her room, letting the two sit there in silence. Frisk, being quiet as usual, and Flowey to mellowed out and sad to say anything.

That was until a soft melody filled the air, making Frisk search from where the song played from. They carefully picked up Flowey who instinctively spat out, “ Frisk! … Show me where that’s coming from.” This song seemed to snap him out, which was good but also bad. He wouldn’t be sad now, but he also wouldn’t be calm. Son the stripped wearing child peeked into the room nearby the stairs to see Sans sitting with his back against the wall on the floor, with the two rocks out of the aquarium. The short skeleton had a guitar out, strumming the melody and singing along to its tune with his eyes closed. Frisk made their way over, putting Flowey’s clay pot besides the rocks as the two listened to the song Sans focused himself on.

“oh, someday i'm finally gonna' let go. 'cause i know there's a better way. and i wanna' know what's over that rainbow. i'm gonna get out of here someday. someday. now my brother went to undyne 'cause he wanted friends and all. i'm still hangin' round cause i'm a little bit small. i had me a machine, it was low and sleek and black. someday i'll turn it back on and never look back. someday we’re finally gonna let go. 'cause we know there's a better way. and we wanna' know what's over that rainbow. we’re gonna' get out of here someday. we’re gonna’ get out of here someday…”

Sans’ eyes lifted open slowly to catch the two new additions to his tiny crowd. He put on his casual smile, “ oh heya kiddo, didn’t notice you came over to listen to me sing to my pet rock.”

Frisk bit their lip lightly, showing concern, “ Sans? What machine? And what did you mean ‘we’? I-In your song?”

“ oh that, tch. kiddo it’s noting anymore, it’s just some crap i wrote over the normal song from when i was younger. it’s just stuck with me instead of the usual lyrics. the machine was a toaster i had, and ‘we’ means me, paps, and my rock. speaking of which, sinflower, did you enjoy my rock ‘n roll?”

Flowey gave a cold glare back to the smiling skeleton, “ First off, no. Second off that whole spiel about a fucking toaster and ‘we’ only referring to Papyrus and your crumby rock is bullshit and you know it! Frisk don’t trust him, he’s literally lying through his teeth and that shit eating grin of his!”

Sans’ smile simply grew before the child in the middle could respond, “ says the guy who lies constantly and betrays you at the end. now stop shouting so much, you’re scarring my rock.”

“ Shut up! This rock doesn’t judge anyone for anything! Unlike you!”

“ hey… i ‘use’ to be a judge. Not anymore. Just smile and move forward already. let go of the past-“

Flowey’s pot began to clatter against the table-top with fury, making Frisk run over to him, making sure he didn’t do anything to drastic, “ LET GO OF THE PAST?! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT SO EAILY WHEN YOU, YOURSELF CAN’T LET GO OF IT?! Here you are, singing a fucking song abut the past!”

Sans’ calmly faltered is smile, his eye giving a quick blue flare as a warning side to not cross him. “ hehehe, no. it’s just a song i sing, i don’t sing it because it has to do with the past. it’s all i know that i my pet rock enjoys.”

“ IT’S NOT YOUR PET ROCK!”

“ yeah it is. someone gave it to me.”

“ It belonged to someone else first!”

Sans’ pupils vanished, making Frisk lock up with an unsteady presence. They always hated when Sans would make that hollowed face. “ well, they handed it over to me. i have complete ownership of it. it’s mine to care for, and my responsibility. if my friend was here, i'd give it back in a heartbeat, but they aren’t.”

“ FINE! Then I’m taking back my rock!”

Sans’ pupils soon came back, as he rolled them and chuckled, “ hehehe. you’d rather have your rock not have any friends. that’s pretty messed up. and besides, you can’t take back something that doesn’t belong to you.”

“ What? B-but you just said-“

“ apparently i wasn’t clear on that. i apologize. i said, 'if my F R I E N D was here, they could take it back.' however you… you can’t just take it back since you gave it to me.”

“ Well why the fuck not?!”

“ simple. you can’t take it back, because you’re not my friend." He turned his attention to the worried child, " sorry to break it to ya kiddo. but unlike everyone else. i’m never going to friends with this little warped sick freak.”

Frisk could only frown before silence fell upon them all. That was until something sped across the monster and human’s faces, crashing into the wall with a loud crack. The two looked over to find the wall with a large crack from the impact of the pet rock, that was now shattered into two. San’s smile vanished as his pupils sunk back into the empty sockets. He looked at the broken pet rock that meant so much to him, falling into silence. He didn't even reply to Flowey. Instead the skeleton stood himself up and left the room, silent. The shy nerdy lizard ha just witnessed the traumatic event ad dropped the DVD’s case before rushing over, “ W-W-Wait! Sa-Sans!”

Frisk swiftly stuck their arm out to block off their nerdy friend from following Sans, shaking their head sadly. “ it’s best to leave him alone. Why does that rock mean so much?” They asked as Aphys scuttled over to the broken stone which surprisingly had some quartz or gems it, filled with all sorts of colors.

She shuffled back to Frisk frowning, “ I-I-It w-was given t-to him by-by someone special from what I-I heard. I-I’d love to tell you, but if I said anything, Sans would figure it out and w-w-would become distressed.”

" He really doesn’t want anyone to know about his past, huh?”

“ Y-Yeah. He-He has his reasons. I-It’s not because he doesn’t t-trust you, o-or doesn’t like y-y-you. He’s just insecure of s-some things and just-“

“ Scared. Yeah, I know.” The said as their hand rubbed against their other arm in an odd manner.

“ I guess I’ll just go put this in the l-lab or somethi-“ Before she could finish her statement, a thin vine grew out to block off the scientist and surprise Frisk in the process. The two looked over to the plant who seemed pained.

“ A-Aphys. I’m only going to ask this once but… P-Please, fix it. I can never fix what I break. It's what's wrong with me. S-So, please?”

Alphys was extremely shocked at how the cruel flower was pleading for her help. With a gulp, thinking it was some ploy, she hesitantly turned to Frisk who gave a sad smile, letting her know it was fine. “ I-I… O-Okay.” She said before shuffling off.

Frisk rested their arms on the table to hear from their sibling whose stem tipped foreword, drooping his head. “ Go help Alphys. Take the rock’s rock to go see it’s friend please. J-Just… Just leave me. I need to be alone.”

Chapter Text

The two friend’s were back to back, quite literally as they pushed up their backs against one another, staring at all who surrounded them, San’s white shirt pressed against Asriel’s stripes, making the colors clash while his sweater was tucked around his hips.“ There’s so many! Are you sure about this?!” Asked out the white fleeced prince as the skeleton against him shifted his eyes, assessing the situation they were in.

“ think you can handle the fifty guys on your side?”

“ I-I can try.”

“ well, good. Because the only way out is our way. Let’s go!” Sans called out, rushing to his foes, summoning a fleet of bones, jousting them up into the air to rain down upon the enemies, making the tumble to the ground in an instant. Asriel put his paws together and started to rub them against one another, creating a flame that eventually engulfed the two paws. He then skillfully threw the flames at his side of enemies, melting them down in a fierce manner. Eventually the two held their ground, scouting to see if they had missed one. By the looks of it, they were done with their extensive battle, finally drawing it to a close. The two fell over into the soft ice imprinting their shape, panting from all the work up. The things that surrounded them now were either meted down or crushed snowmen that varied in all different shapes and sizes. “ and so, the heroes of the great snowman war against two was won! oh man… that was… awesome!”

“ Haha, yeah! Thanks for helping me build all of them!”

“ pth, no problem dude, sides your magic is getting a lot better.” Chuckled Sans, sitting up to pull the goat like monster up, both grinning from their magical exercise.
“ HA! You two goobers think that’s awesome, you should fight against me!” Yelled out a gruff voice from the other side of the snowy clearing of the woods. Undyne stood there against a tree proudly, sporting her usual eye-patch, black beanie cap, gloves, and her darkened yet somewhat poofy shirt to make her resilient against the constant crisp air of Snowin. Out from behind the brute fish, came Doggo sniffing the air toughly as he focused the ground with his cane. Before the skeleton could respond to his two fellow friends, a snowball was hurled right at him. In turn, he conjured up a one, making the snowball split into two halves and dunk into the snow around them.

“ Wow, you’re getting really good Sansy!” The four looked about for the unknown voice and were soon greeted by the fiery monster with his casual get up, except with gloves and ear muffs. Grillby dropped down onto a thick bulk branch so he could continues his descent by swinging off from it and landing on the ice that covered the entirety of the ground.

Both Sans and Asriel got up, going up t meet along with the other part of the small group. Sans gave a wink and smiles, making a clicking sound through his constant grin, “ you could say i'm boneified to become a judge.”

Grillby rolled his eyes under his sunglasses… If he did have eyes that is. Giving an invisible smirk as he shook his head, the cool flares wove around as he did so, “ Heh, yeah, yeah, don’t get too much of an ego boost there.”

“ A-Anyways, what are you g-guys doing here? Not t-that there’s a problem with that, t-the more people the merrier!” Asriel finally spoke up to ask the three.
The prince immediately regretted his wording as Undyne threw a blue scaled arm around him, giving him an assault of a gentle noogie... Or at the very least, TRYING. " Ah, we just wanted to see what you weenies were up too is all!”

Doggo’s tongue flung out, licking his chops,” Ooh, weenies! Grillby could you cook up some later?!” He panted in his dog behavior, waggling his curled up tail of black and white.

Grillby sighed, “ Ya' just HAD to get him started.”
The fish soon let go of the helpless prince who gasped out, “ Oh hush! You’d do it anyways!” She gave her gleaming grin of teeth, knowing the sentient fire being wouldn’t turn down a meal if asked.

As the five headed back to town to fry up some water sausages, the short skeleton seemed to stop. His pupils shifted around, making the young prince considered, and travel back to his side. Grillby and the other two halted their progress, looking back at their friend sensed something in the air. “ Hey, what’s the hold up?" Asked Undyne.

Sans feverishly looked about, “ something… doesn’t feel right. i’m not quite sure, but something’s a little off in the wind.”

Grillby cocked his head to the husky,” Right, cryptic bullshit. Doggo sniff it out.”

Doggo took in a large whiff of the air, retreating his head sharply, going into a coughing fit, “ Mace body spray, rancid nachos, and lots of hair gel!”

Sans’ suspicion was confirmed as he felt something headed their way. His new training was to sense magic in the air, and now with this, he quickly stood before Asriel, summoning up a shield of bones, managing to shatter chunk of ice into pieces. Asriel let out a bleat as his protector gave out a warning flash from his eye from habit. “ come on out you sleazy no for good punks!”

The group turned to where someone strolled over to them all, making the ground underneath them have a crunching sound as the ice underneath was crushed. The hugs that came over were of course Frostdrake, Glyde, Baron, and Bob. Grillby gave out an irritated groan mixed with an angry growl, walking over to be in the way of them who were heading to the group. The other four stopped as they saw the fiery lead monster, who then cracked his neck and knuckles somehow without actually having bone nor cartilage. “ Been a while since I’ve seen you mooks around here.”

The cold skinned avian snickered, “ Heh, same to you Grillz. Finally off from being punished to work at your grandparents rundown diner?”

“ Depends… You still out here, leaving your poor mom, dad, and baby brother?” He raised a flaring brow to the bird.

Frostdrake’s feathers ruffled up, puffing him up to look more intimidating, but all failing in turn, ”Sh-shut up! Man! You use to be cool! Stop hanging with these wimps and come back!”

Grillby slammed his foot down, at the very least making Asriel and Baron squeak in fear. “ And start licking ‘his’ boot?! Hell no! I created the club and all ‘he did was whisk it all away from me! You know, you use to be cool as well, but looks you’re just an errand boy!”

“ Hey, I’m nobody's errand boy!” He started to hop about, further fluffing his feathers up in frustration.

“ look, this has been exhilarating and all, but we’re not really in the mood, so could you just piss of already?” Sans asked, or rather commanded as he gave off a slight blue spark in his eye, making the other group recoil.

“ Yo dude, what the hell was that?!” The hamster with a messy Mohawk called out, squeezing himself behind Frostdrake and Baron.

“ hehehe, a warning sign, now go back running to your boss.“

As the argument carried on, Asriel sighed along with Doggo as the other three kept up at the smack talking at the other group. While the mutt was too busy listening to the rants, the shy prince became bored of being in the back doing nothing, his eyes wandering around. However, his attention then focused solely on one thing he just now noticed. “ Sans! Your sweater!” Asriel gasped out, making the other four stare down to where Sans had tied it up. San’s breath hitched, his pupils fading away as well as he smile that seemed almost impossible to remove. He was suddenly going into a panic attack as he saw nothing around his hips but his pants.

“ Wow, not such hot shit anymore, huh Sansy boy?” The two group's attention traveled up to another monster standing across from them at the side. The monster seemed to be around the same height of Asriel, maybe even a little shorter but not by much. It had a rather odd shape of a saucer yet a large lump, presumably it’s head poked out, it’s squinty eyes pulled far away from each other, somewhat pinkish and orange skin, a constant gasping mouth, and possibly pimples on its face. The monster breathed rather heavily as if something kept it from breathing naturally, making a constant wheezing sound that would make anyone feel uncomfortable just being near the damn teen. The only other problem aside it’s appearance and unsettling noises was that it held San’s sapphire sweater with two noodle like arms.

“ AH FUCK!” Undyne screeched out. “ Not you!”

Asriel became more than mildly concerned, “ W-Who is that?”

Grillby stepped on over, the sparks and embers now crackling with anger as the flames on his body grew. “ Jerry…” He said with the utmost yet restraining rage.

Jerry chuckled as his group of bullies joined his side, “ Oh please, don’t get too 'hot-headed' Grillby. You’re in my woods now.” He snorted into another chuckle.
Sans gave an excruciating pained face from the pun, “ aw…. dick.”

“ I’ve heard you all have been messing with my guys. Is that true Frosty?”

Frostdrake bounced up and down, flapping his wings, “ Yeah! It’s true Boss, they been picking on us ever since that new kid joined them!”

Jerry’s eyes narrowed even more as he potted out Asriel, “ What? The fluffy one? He hardcore or something that they would mess with you guys because of it?”

“ No way! Kid’s a total pansy mamma’s boy!”

Asriel’s face turned from concerned to rather hurt, muttering, “ I’m standing right here. I can hear you…”

Jerry then coughed and hacked, making the prince all more uneasy, “ Anyways, don’t care. Sansy boy, I’ll give ya back your tacky sweater if you and or Grillby finally join us and ditch these losers."

Sans glared at the odd monster,” do you think i’m that desperate? i’m not the one who goes about picking on kids who come into the woods stealing their coins, toys, an food like a petty thief.”

While Grillby on the other hand seemed far more angry, “ Exactly! And I’m not taking orders from the likes o you! Frost, Baron, Glyde, Punky, Bob! You use to cool and nice! Stop letting this asshole control your lives!”

Baron blinked and nodded, “ Yeah okay.” The others stared at him, Frostdrake having his eyes behind the sunglasses locked onto the dumb as rocks seahorse. “ O-Oh…. I mean no way!”

Jerry started to wave the sweater about, “ Looks like I keep this then. Wonder how much grease it’ll take to burn this up at the bonfire?”

Sans’ gasped almost painfully as the hard headed fish stomped her boot to the ground, cracking the ice,” I WILL BREAK YOU LITTLE MAN!” Before she could stomp over to punt the despicable monster Glyde swooped over getting in her face. “ OUT OF THE WAY FLY BOY LEAST YOU WANT TO BE BEAT UP BY A GIRL AGAIN!”
Grillby’s flames seemed to cool off, placing a rubber gloved hand onto her shoulder, “ Undyne no! That’s what they want. We’re better than them. We don’t go around beating up anyone into submission.” A frustrated cry of anguish and anger was let out by the feisty fish, knowing it was true. It was best not to get into a fight, showing who the bigger group was.

Jerry pondered to himself, mumbling, “ Break… Hmmm, pounding… Know what bimbo, I like your gumption! I’ll hand over this rag I you beat us… But not in a fight. We’ll see who really is the better team. Even though I already know who.” His four stumpy legs waddled him over, putting down a noodle like arm into the ice, waddling backwards to draw out a line. After that he scuttled back to his posse and tossed the sweater at the line still with a hold of it. Sans automatically snatched the other end o his beloved sweater to pull it from Jerry, only to have the other monsters join their leader and tug at the sweater.

Sans’ bones started to rattle with anger before noticing his friends joined up behind him, taking hold of the sweater. Not too far afterwards the two groups began to tug and pull the sweater, neither letting down. Jerry smirked as a small aura glowed around his minions, boosting them up a bit, which in turn made the other group having to pull harder. Except by this point Doggo’s pointed ears began to twitch, “ Guys! Let go, it’s starting to tear!” He shouted out, letting go of the blue cloth. The others ten let go, falling back on their backs as the mischievous team fell back clutching the sweater.

“ Ha! You guys are so worried about it ripping that you stop?!” Snorted Jerry, “ Well looks like I win! And know what the best thing about clothes? Is that their amazing napkins. Bob!”

The small devilish Temmie gave a proud smirk and seemingly out of nowhere handed Jerry some nachos. Again, being a Temmie, Bob was able to make some odd rules on physics not apply to him, thus getting the food from nowhere. “Thaaank you~!” Jerry smiled before obnoxiously eating the chips and laying the cheese all over the once blue sweater by his hands and mouth.

Undyne gasped out, “ Awww, that’s going to staaaaaaaain!”

Sans’ made a small squeak which was the first any of the others besides Grillby had ever heard. Grillby knew this noise too well. It was the noise Sans gave out when he felt sad, lost, or hurt. Being good friends, the skeleton would often open up to the older prankster. The noise made Asriel’s feel like shattering from how pained and sudden it was. He had never seen Sans like this. The only extremity he saw was anger in his battle against Gaster, hell, even when Sans and Asriel were forbidden to see each other as punishment, the skeleton wasn’t like this when he snuck over to Asriel’s place.

Asriel stood up with a determined face to do what was right, he then crossed the line and pointed to the others, “ In the name of the king of the monster, I prince of the monster, Asriel Dreemurr COMMAND you to give back that sweater now!” He said it somewhat of a booming voice much like his father, which made the others stop their joking.

Jerry glanced over and linked a few times, “ Frosty, what's up with fluffy?”

“ He’s uh, the ‘prince’.” He scoffed out. “ But honestly he's just a mega wuss and crybaby.”

Jerry nodded before looking to his food then back up to the angered prince. He cracked a smirk and threw the food at Asriel, making the other fall back into the cold snow, yelping as gooey hot cheese singed him.

“ HOLY SHIT ASRIEL!” Undyne jumped up, along with the others, rushing to his side. The others threw the box off from him, removing the chips and pressing some snow to his face to help clean off the cheese and burns he suffered.

“ oh my god, are you okay?!” Sans asked, dropping is worries of the sweater wile Asriel began to have tears sting his eyes as he whimpered from the scalding cheese.
Jerry and the others soon laughed, “ What? Are ya gonna’ cry now?! Go on, cry baby, cry for me. Come on! CRRRRY! Ahaahaha!” Jerry began laughing in the most annoying way possible along with snorts, as Asriel began to cry, only to cease it. Then deep resonated in Asriel, making his kind and gentle demeanor snap. He barred his tiny fangs and teeth and stood up.

“ a-azzy?” Sans asked before Asriel charged over to Jerry, jumping on him and actually swiping down at the older monster with his small claws. Making everyone gasp by his actions, Frostdrake ran to his side to shove him off, only to a clawed uppercut and fly back into the snow. Undyne watched the sight before her and cheered Asriel on, while everyone else was either scared to approach or stunned. Sans however ran over and pried the prince off from beating on Jerry, “ azyy! a-azzy, stop! Stop it now! a-azzzzy!” He yelled out, struggling to hold him back. “ A S R I E L!” Asriel then stopped, Sans’ yell finally getting through to him, making him look at what he had done. His hands held Sans’ sweater while stained with cheese and some mellowed pink substance. Grillby ran over to help, along with Doggo as Asriel whimpered, breaking down into tears. Undyne ran over, picking up the fragile prince, all of them leaving the other group as Jerry sat up and sniffled a bit, rubbing his new gashes.

“ HOLY SHIT! HE DID THAT?! BWAHHAHAHA! Nice goin’ princey!” Troggle howled in laughter.

Grillby’s father sighed, “ Thank god I called Toriel…”

Asriel sat far away at a booth with Sans rubbing his back from the breakdown. As Undyne told the older monsters, Asriel looked to his friend, tears covering his face.
“ azzy it’s okay, really. you did what you thought was right.”

“ Bu-B-But I’m going to be king someday. I need to take care of my people, n-n-not hurt them. But wh-when I saw him do that… I-I just-I-“

“ shhh, calm down… if it means anything… thanks for getting this back. it means a lot”

Asriel sniffled, “ I-It does?”

“ heh, yeah. my dad and paps bought this for me, much like how me and dad got paps his scarf.” He smiled gently to his torn up friend.

Just then, the diner’s door swung open from a swift kick, Toriel barged in worried. “ Asriel?!” She looked about, spotting him out, rushing to him and putting her paws on his gently. She looked far more concerned than angry, “ Oh my! My child, are you okay?!”

“ Mrmm… -I’M SO SORRY MOM, PLEASE DON’T PUT ME IN THE TIME-OUUUUT!” Asriel burst into more tears. His mother scooped him up and swaddled him, rocking him.

“ Shhh, shh. No, no, it’s alright. I was informed of what happen. You stood up for yourself and your friend. It’s going to be just fine my child.” She hushed him down to where he began to cling to her and cry into hiccups. Her gaze went to the skeleton, a warm smile spreading across her muzzle, “ Sans, I can clean that sweater of yours, get the stains right out. Also, thank you.”

Sans passed up his beloved cloth, “ f-for what miss t?”

“ For being Asriel’s friend. And for being-“
--------------------------------------------

There for him. That’s what the flower kept telling himself as he as carried around on the slim skeleton’s shoulder pad. “ Now, what are you gonna’ do?”

“ DO MY BEST!

“ And how?!”

“ WINNING THEM OVER, NYEHEH!”

“ AND THEN WHAT’LL HAPPEN?!”

“ I’LL BE IN THE ROYAL GUARD!” Papyrus pumped up his mittened fist into the rather humid climate of air that was constant throughout The Waterfalls.

“ YEAAAAAAAAH!” Shouted the golden flower proudly as he continued to cling onto the skeleton’s ’armor’. In this run, Fowey had been trying to lock himself away from being the cruel and sadistic little warped monster he truly was and tried coaching Papyrus into the royal guard. He hadn’t done this before, so everything that was new excited him, much like every other different path he’d take in the resets. Even if the change was small and seemed rather insignificant, it made the flower’s being swell p with anticipation as if he actually had something to live for. He joined in as the gentle and noble skeleton made his way to where try outs were taking place, seeing a handful of monsters trying to make their way into the guard.

Three guards observed the others participating, deciding whether or not they would be qualified. One judge being a bulbous slime noticed the optimistic skeleton and turned to his two coworkers, " Hey, uhm. That guys here again."

A snort escaped a rhino like monster while a gangly frog mixed salamander peered over, " Ah geez it's Papyrus."

The amphibian quirked a brow, " Wha? Isn't that the one Undyne told us NOT to enroll?"

The rhino nodded, crossing his arms and snorting again, " Eeeeyup. Can't remember if she said reject him softly... Or reject him harshly." He pondered, stroking his flabby but strong toned chin.

Papyrus waited for his turn, finally jumping up and saluting once he was called up, " AH THAT'S ME GOOD SIRS! I'M PAPYRUS THE GREAT AND-.... ERM, WHERE'S UNDYNE?"

Normally Undyne was there to help judge the tryouts, but the blue fish was nowhere to be seen. The rhino lowered his sunglasses, looking to the overly enthusiastic skeleton, " She spendin' some much needed time elsewhere, sorry buddy." In truth, it meant Undyne was sparing with Asgore and sipping tea to relive her stress. " But, youse is here nows. So... Erm, you're Papyrus Wingdongs, correct?"

" ERM- I-IT'S ACTUALLY WINGDINGS SIR!"

" Right, right. Sure... Okay, show us what youse got." The skeleton quickly nodded as the gold flower hopped off from him and dug his roots into the soil to watch his pupil who had been training for quite a while. Papyrus grinned and conjured up many bones, tossing them about, making them shoot by, creating a line of them until they grew to a large one, and testing some out to be gravitated to the floor with his 'Blue Attack'. The other two were pretty impressed and spoke among themselves while the rhino didn't seem engaged enough.

Flowey snapped his attention from the surely monster guard to Papyrus, flailing his tiny leaves, " Papyrus it isn't enough! You gotta' use your 'Special Attack!'"

" B-B-BUT I-I'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO S-SHOW IT TO ANYONE ELSE BESIDES YOU!"

" Come on, where's the Great Papyrus I know?! Even your lazy brother can pull it off!" Papyrus watched the tiny flower give him emotional support and nodded with a determined motive. His eyes started to glow a fiery orange and two draconic skulls materialized, except for one thing that was off about them... They had two big goofy eyes that popped out making them look like the most harmless looking yet terrifying things imaginable.

The blob then shouted, holding back laughter, " Okay, we-we've seen enough!"

Papyrus smiled brightly as the Gaster Blasters vanished away in an orange mist. The blob continued, " Okay... Now what do you do if someone is in need?"

" HELP THEM RIGHT OFF THE BAT SIR! WHETHER IT BE AN ELDERLY MONSTER, A CHILD, OR SOMEONE SUFFERING FROM THE CASE OF THE BULLIES, I WILL BE THERE TO HELP!"

The blob and salamander both gave out an affirmative noise. The Salamander shifted some papers in his hand behind the table they sat at, " Okay, okay. Now... What would be your tactic to catch a human?"

" PUZZLES! THEY'LL BE SO STUCK ON PUZZLES THAT THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO PASS THROUGH WITH MY EXPERTISE! AND IF SO, I WILL DEVISE A CUNNING ROUGE TO CATCH THEM OFF GUARD. AND IF PUSH HAS COME TO SHOVE, I WILL FIGHT THEM!"

Another affirmative nod and chatter until the bulk rhino smiled, " Okay... And how would youse kill said human?"

The grin on Papyrus' face soon lowered, " K-KILL?"

" Well yeah. If there's a human going about killing monsters, how would youse do the dirty yet noble deed?"

Papyrus nervously shifted his eyes tiny eyes around, " I-I... I COULD. I COULD NEVER HARM SOMEONE TO THE POINT OF KILLING THEM. TH-THERE'S GOOD IN EVERYBODY. WOULDN'T YOU ALL AGREE? I MEAN, IT'S THE TRUTH. RI-RIGHT FLOWEY?"

Flowey's stem shuddered as he was called out into the spot, not wanting to be dragged into the conversation, " Uhm... Uh... Y-Yeah sure, sure." He looked away in an awkward manner.

The burly rhino shook his head, waving a hand through his Mohawk, " Yeah, no. We need loyal and ruthless guards skinny. So... No, youse don't qualify."

Flowey snapped to them before Papyrus could speak up, " WHAT?! THAT'S BULLSHIT! HE DID EVERYTHING ELSE RIGHT YOU FAT HIPPO!"

The rhino snarled, " Hey! My mother was a hippo monster!" The other two tried settling him down, the salamander focusing on the sentient flower.

" Erm, excuse me, but who are you exactly?" The salamander like monster popped in.

" I'm Flowey. Flowey T. Flower. I'm Papyrus' coach, that a problem?"

The blob soon poked in, " Sir, do you spar with erm... Your rookie?"

" No shit Sherlock. It take you this long to figure that out, or is your brain just gelatin loafing around in there?"

The three guards looked at one another before the salamander spoke up again, " Erm... You do know if one is a sparring coach, they must qualify to beat their coach. How many times has Papyrus beat you in a spar match?"

Flowey blinked and thought to himself, " Nnnnone?"

The hefty rhino burst into laughter, " AHAHAHA! Are you shittin' me?! Mister Bone''lot ova' heres never once beat youse?! A teeny tiny flowers?! AHAHAHA! Yeah-Whew boys! No, no... No he ain't getting in. Don't youse know Undyne had to finally beat the king in order to get where she is. We need strong monsters. Ehehehe, come back when he beats youse and changes his mood set on the killin' thing, kay?"

Papyrus looked down, disappointed and hurt with himself. He knelt down besides the gold flower, reaching down to pick him up and carry off for today. Except Flowey's buttons had been pushed far too much after so much time he had spent on the skeleton. Flowey snarled as a vine pushed Papyrus away, hateful eyes locking onto the three guards, along with any other monsters in the vicinity.

The short skeleton of the two brothers was busy doing his usual routine... Absolutely nothing, as he laid back in his chair with his sneakers on him. Which was a rare occasion considering he normally walked in his pink fuzzy slippers. But never the less, there he was sleeping on the job. He hadn't come across any costumers today and hitched a ride to dreamland. Well until something vibrated in his sweater's pocket, making him open his eyes slowly, yawning as he reached into the pocket to pull out his cell-phone. " hello?" He asked it a sleepy daze.

" S-S-SANS! OH MY GOD! SANS!" The piercing shriek of Alphys blasted out.

" chill alphs... sup?"

" I-I-IT'S PAPYRUS! Y-y-you know how he went to go join into the Royal G-G-Guard to-to-today?!"

" oh jeez, whose picking on him now? is it steve again?"

" Th-Th-That's just it! All the Royal Guard in the area-ALL OF THEIR VITALS HAVE DROPPED OFF MY RADAR!"

Sans' eyeS went blank, " ... is papyrus-"

" He-He's fine! I managed to get a read on him through m-my-my cameras, but something's blocked them out just a moment ago when I-I-I called you! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPEN! THEY WERE ALL THERE AND N-N-NOW THEIR NOT! WHAT COULD HAVE DONE THIS?!"

" ... alph, i'm a have to call you back." Sans hung up immediately, vanishing in the blink of an eye from his booth's stand. Finally the skeleton made it to where the Royal Guards held up their registration to only witness piles of dust sweep around in the light breeze. The sight made him nervous and uneasy, but he braved it, running around to look for his brother. Something slim slid around his ankle as he scouted the area, dragging him away and to another room of the caverns, " whoa, hey, what the hell?!" He was dragged over to witness an odd sight in front of him. Thankfully his brother was alive and just looked rough up... However on the other side was that damn flower with thick bulky vines strewn up out from the dirt weaving around, as one pulled Sans over. Before Sans could counter them with some bones, they quickly wrapped him and pulsed with magic, forcing him to not to teleport away. " hgrn! p-papyrus! run! i'll handle this!"

The vines swung him around dangerously close to the wall and ground of rock, " Ah, ah, ah! No you don't trash-bag! I'm teaching Papyrus if wants something, he's going to have to man up and prove it!"

" FLOWERY PLEASE, THERE'S NO ONE TO PROVE I-IT TOO! YOU KILLED EVERYONE l-LE-LET GO OF SANS PLEASE! T-THIS ISN'T WHAT I WANTED!" Papyrus cried out, shaking violently, not knowing what to do or how his friend could have done this to him and everyone else.

" Ohhhh boo-fuckity-hoo!" Flowey snapped to him, the vines squeezing Sans, making him go dizzy from the sudden rush of adrenaline, fear, and confusion of the situation.

" STOP IT FLOWEY! YOU'RE MY FRIEND! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

" Who said I was your 'friend'?! I don't have any friends! I just wanted to help out-BE GOOD FOR ONCE! But everyone has to make it difficult! Now do you want your worthless brother or not?!"

" I-I DO! PUT HIM DOWN NOW!"

" Not until you prove yourself~! Or are you just going to stand there like an utter moron?!" Sans was about to speak up, but another squeeze made him retreat his saying. He started to concentrate on a Gaster Blaster but Flowey must have noticed this because smaller vines slithered through his eye sockets, while the vines that kept a tight grip turned him around, swinging him around to confuse him on where the flower was. Sans kicked around, he hated anything going through his eye sockets, it made him feel so vulnerable and disgusted. " I'll kill him! Just to see your face when he's gone! Ahahaha!" Flowey cackled out manically to the poor free brother.

Papyrus clutched his head with his crimson mittens and snapped his eyes shut while Flowey went on as his brother suffered. Flowey soon stopped his monologging as he heard a familiar yet off whirring noise behind him. The flower turned around, every vine tensing up but also going limp strangely enough, dropping Sans to the dirt. Sans let out a small yelp as he hit the hard ground and peeked over to see something he thought he'd never see in his life. Behind the flower, hovered two Gaster Blasters with two popped out eyes looking down to it, thought looking cross eyes instead of spaced out, the two let loose their jaw and blasted the flower. . After Flowey vanished in a trail of smoke and ash, Papyrus cried out while his brother run to his side, only to have the entirety of The Underground to be reset yet again. Flowey had only snapped at them because they were treating Papyrus as if they were all-
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Bullies, that’s what the flower’s mind couldn’t let up on. As Frisk played with Snowy, Jeremy, and Kidd, the carried around the stubborn and disgruntled flower in their backpack that was specifically made to carry around some dirt in it for transporting Flowey. With the kids playing around the massive place for kids to run about and exercise off their hyperness, Flowey stay in the bag, which slightly sealed him off to where he just stuck out, careful to not spill dirt over the tubes, slides, and ball pits. The building itself was much like the pizzeria, except without the animatronics, and having a much larger jungle monument of tubes and such for children to have fun in as mats were placed all around. Sans and Undyne all the while enjoyed some o their food as they waited or the kids to get hungry before buying them what they wanted.

Undyne crunched down on a warm slice of pizza, her eye averting to her long time friend who slowly chowed down on a chili cheese dog. Sans didn’t know that there were many different variations of hotdogs on The Surface, so now he was able t enjoy the little things of life. However the skeleton seemed to zone out, staring at the behemoth of a play-set before him silently, looking nowhere in particular. “ Sans?”

“ h-huh, wha?” Sans’ attention came back in full motion, twisting his sight to the grumpy woman who tapped her small claws onto the table. He gave off his casual grin and winked,” sup? you look like you sea something fishy.”

Her one yellowed eye glared, her jagged teeth sowing from the petty joke and puns, “ Shut up. Look… Papyrus has been worried about you since yesterday. Are you okay? Cuz’ I mean, I can watch the kids if you're not, ya know. Feeling a hundred percent or anything-“

“ hehehe, hold your fins. i’m fine, really. i’m uh… just thinking.”

“ Your still upset about the rock huh?”

Sans’ pupils shifted away slowly as he looked down in shame, “ that easy to tell?”

“ Ohohoho, you have no damn idea pun-boy.”

Sans closed his eyes, sighing before his eyes opened for his white pin pointed pupils to stare back at the fish. “ just upset is all. i really shouldn’t have egged him on. but it’s so hard not to anymore.”

“ Hold up. What do you mean not anymore? It’s not like you use to know him right?”

The skeleton would have bit is tongue if it was conjured up at the moment, instead he settled on rubbing the back of his neck’s bones, “ ehh, i meant… look it’s complicated and i’m really not in the mood.” He slouched over, both sleeved arms laying right on the table as he looked more miserable and sluggish from the conversation.

Undyne nodded, respecting his need to just relax. He patted is back with a semi-webbed and hand rubbed it, knowing she shouldn’t press on the matter more, “ Ya don’t gotta’. Just rest up okay?” She was use to Alphys getting overworked or super stressed out about small things, so she would normally do his to cool her girlfriend down, and so far it seemed to work on Sans. Maybe it worked on everyone, she thought… Or it could have just been for nerds.

The group of four-or four and a half if you included Flowey soon rested in a small cage like clearing for kids to rest, filled up with soft reguerly cleaned blue mats and foam surrounding the bars. Kidd’s tail wagged happily before some younger children noticed the group and kept quiet in the tubeings nearby. Frisk seemed to notice them and wave, as the younger children slowly waved back, but quickly hid again as Kidd turned around. Frisk smiled in a warm peaceful manner and scooted over to Kidd putting an arm around his shoulder. The yellow dinosaur laughed and smiled, resting his head on Frisk’s shoulder, nuzzling up to their cheek. The group of younger children crawled out from their spot, cautious, scared and unsure. Sure the monsters had been up for a few months, but you know how kids are with stories.
The kids slowly made their way over, a small boy reaching out, to Kidd only to stop and gulp, seeing the scaly thing right in front of her. Kidd tilted his head and smiled brightly, showing a big toothy gap from falling on his face so much, and leaned over so the child’s hand was on his snout. Once they connected, Kidd’s tongue popped out, “ Boop!” The small boy giggled as the other kids came around, starting t loosen up, chatting with the two humans, hugging the ever fluffy and cool Snowy, or petting Kidd’s smooth scales.

A very young girl waddled over and sat next to Frisk noticing the moody flower, “ Pwetty.” She gasped out and reached to Flowey while Frisk was busy chatting to the others about the monsters. Flowey’s stem suddenly shuttered as he felt something poke the back of his head, he turned around to growl at whoever just made contact with him but stopped, seeing the small girl holding a bunny plushie that whose eye was missing and had a small stitch on its belly. The toy was a bit raggedy from being played with so much, but was cared for greatly. The girl smiled cutely and patted him gently unlike most kids around that age. “ Flower. Pwetty flower.”Flowey’s anger moved on as he saw the girl hold onto the toy.

The golden flower’s eyes started to sting, making sure no one else saw him at this fragile moment, “ H-Howdy… Is t-that your friend?”
The girl nodded, hugging onto it tightly, “ He’s my bestesT fwiend. He’s bwoken, but that’s okay. Cause I still wuve him.” She smiled to him, admiring her bunny plushie.

“ Golly… You must really care about him to keep him around with you.”

“ U-huh! We’re the bestest friends c-cause no one else will be there.”

“ It’s okay. You'll find someone. But until then, just know that uhm…”

The giggled, moving the bunny toy to him, “ Peter.”

“ Peter… That’s a nice name. Peter will always love you, never forget that.”

Frisk turned their attention to Flowey being petted softly and smirked, “ Made a friend?”

“ Bite me…” Flowey quickly replied, moving into the small pets he got. He felt safe and secure. Not happy, but finally not pissed off or sad. Kind of a neutral feeling much like he did when his eyes shined upon a rainbow.

However the feeling didn’t last as a boy ran to the clearing, putting up his hands out side by side, “ THE BULLIES ARE HERE!” He shouted, soon running to the small girl picking her up, “ Come on Valery!” He then instinctively ran off, the small sister looking upset as she reached out o Flowey, dropping Peter behind. Kids soon swarmed the area, along with some monster children, the humans helping them run into the tubeings. The other kids soon scattered, as well as older kids around Frisk’s age, running and crawling through various tubes or hiding in the new improved magically clean ball pit. Some climbed up ropes, some latched onto a mechanism that carried the children down a soft slope, some hide behind the ropes, squeezing through the gaps from their size, and some taking off on the slides. Frisk and their crew looked about before they stood up, putting on their determined face.

“ You guys get to a safe place-“

“ Bu-But Frisk!” Kidd interjected, only for the human child to give them a thumbs up and a smirk they had caught from their dunkle. Kidd sighed and nodded, reluctantly running off with the other two. Thankfully the young boy saw them and peeked out from an upper cue that the cube was connected to. He waved them over and the three climbed up into the cube, some kids sitting at the bubbled plastic window looking down to where Frisk stood. All along with other children's in various cubes and such doing the same. The young boy that had pet Kidd whistled, having a rather hefty child walk over and lay in the hole that they had all climbed up into, to make it hard or the gang of bullies to move.

Fisk exhaled as they were filled with DETERMINATION. Then some footsteps were headed from the mats nearby, somebody was talking about which kid to mess with today. And up the ropes to the clearing came none other than Max and his three groupies. Frisk groaned an rolled their shut eyes in annoyance. Max stood there and crossed his arms, “ Well, we, if it isn’t the monster lover themselves. Fancy meeting you here. Now get out of the way, this is our turf.” The three others nodded, backing him up with an obnoxious, ‘Yeeeeah!’

“ No.”

“ No? Look Frisk, your stupid so called 'family' isn’t around this time, now beat it or we’ll beat you.”

“ Have you guys ever tried not being jerks? Be nice? Have some redeemable factors?”

The group of four looked to one another before Max glared back over, “ Pth! If people fear us, then we can get what we want easier. And we don’t give a crap if we have to Indian burn somebody. Much like I will to you, if you don’t scram!”

“ Uh, Max, watch it, they got that freak flower.” One of the friends of Max’s posse warned him, noticing the glen petals peeking out. This made the group tens up a bit, but soon let loose as they saw the young girl running back over, to grab her toy.

Max quickly snatched it up and held it. This in turn made the girl’s brother run over only to be pushed back by one of the bullies. “ Finders keepers. We’ll deal with you in a moment monster lover.”

“ Give it back to my sister!” The boy shouted out, getting up to grab Peter, only to get pushed back again.

“ Hey, knock it off! Last warning or your face will meet my fist!” The boy looked to his sister and hung his head low. Of course the girl started to cry, but he didn’t want to get into trouble. “ Glad we understand Pablo. You remember last week.” Pablo nodded sadly, rubbing a nasty bruise n his cheek. He got up to go over to his sister who kept crying her eyes out.

Frisk glared and walked over to the bully, stepping in front of Pablo, making him rather surprised. No one at this place had ever stood up to Max and his group except for some occasions which went nowhere. Flowey looked to the siblings, “ Get yourself and your sister out of here. We can take these punks on.”
Pablo nodded as he carried her sister to one of the cubes while Max put the toy down and cracked his knuckles. Then began the four trying to hit Frisk who was driven by determination, dodging their attacks with relative ease from evading the monsters for so long. Flowey didn't jump in, not wanting to cause hysteria, and besides that he was well aware Frisk could handle these chumps. The only thing he hated was when Frisk moved away to blow the group kisses as a flirt action, making them more angry and very confused.

While the fight went on, Frisk trying to just make them tired and mercy them away into submission, Kidd had snuck out, quietly sneaking to the toy to grab it. Max suddenly stopped his punches as his eyes caught the glint of something yellow and or orange. He grinned and ran over to Kidd, winding up a nasty hit. “ KIDD!” Flowey yelled out, making Frisk look over to see what was about to unfold. They quickly rolled out of the constant fire from the three gooines and jumped in front of their friend, receiving a brutal blow in the cheek from Max.

Kidd gasped out as his tail snatched up the toy, “ FRISK!” Frisk groaned as they began to pick themselves off the mat, only to have Max’s foot collided against their stomach. Kidd snarled out, but was quickly jumped by the other three. Everyone else watched to scared and too worried to help, as if they were all watching a train wreck happen before their very eyes. As Max laid into them with hits, Flowey’s patience of being quite, nice, peaceful, and promising Frisk he’d be good today went right out the window.

Jeremy and Snowy managed to evade the action and sprinted to the two older monsters, Jeremy panting and gasping as they got to the table while Snowy fluttered his icy wings rapidly, “ MISTER SANS! MISS UNDYNE! FRISK’S GETTING BEAT UP!”

“ WHAAAAAAAAT?! NYAAAAGH!’ Undyne screamed, dashing off to the tunnels and such before… Getting stuck, “ NYAGH! I’M TOO BIG! SON OF A-“

Sans trotted by, at a fast jog, “ keep an eye on these two and get unstuck!” Before he could crawl into a tube, kids poured out, screaming in terror from something. “ shit.” The short skeleton squinted, searching or hi human, finally getting a glance of Kidd’s long tail whizz by behind the foamed bars. In an instant Sans teleported to the matted cage clearing, only to find Kidd having Frisk hanging onto his back, huddled in a tube nearby while the backpack containing Flowey had been dropped. Flowey had long thin vines wrap around the four kid’s ankles, lifting them upside-down with the occasion of Max who had a vine around his neck. The four began pleading for mercy.

“ You idiots need to learn sooner or later, if you keep hurting others, SOMEONE WILL HURT YOU IN THE FUTURE! Eehehehahaha! Let me show you the TRUE meaning of this world!” He manically laughed out, baring his razor sharp teeth and hollowed out eyes to watch his prey squirm about under his grip. Suddenly… The surrounding and dreary faces went black for the flower…

Flowey woke up with a sharp pain in his stem, beeping filled his pounding head. He looked about to find himself in his usual pot of dirt which seemed to have just been watered. His eyes rolled around in a daze until they fell upon several blobs that were coming into focus now. Voices started to wring out about him, his sight finally adjusting as well as his hearing. He found himself in a hospital room, his ‘sibling’ wrapped up and bandaged, sitting up n their heightened bed talking to Snowy, Kidd, Jeremy, Pablo and the sweet little girl who had her toy back. The girl noticed the flower waking up and hopped over to pet him, “ Peter and me wanted to thank you mister pwetty flower.”

“ H-Huh? “

Frisk smiled, “ Still loopy from that smack huh?”

“ Wha-Nrng, what happen?”

Toriel seemed to be there sitting between Frisk’s bed and Flowey’s pot perched on a table, “ Oh my. My children, you stood up against some bullies. We’ll see how Linda deals with this matter of assault now… Anyways your both fine and will be released in the morning, but you both did the right thing-“

A calm yet cold voice came up behind Flowey, making him turn around only to feel a sting go down his stem, “ don’t give the flower too much credit tori. if it weren’t for me, linda would be calling you on more than just assault and possibly murder.” His eyes shined dangerously to Flowey.

“ Sans please… Don’t be to rash.” She sighed. The rest of the day was Frisk’s friends going home, he parents of Pablo and his sister thanking them all, the girl giving them both a get well soon card. While at night, Toriel and Frisk enjoyed some TV and movies while Sans kept an eye out on the flower who only paid attention to the get well card he had received. As the mother and child feel asleep, Sans pretended to do so as well, not trusting the gold flower who was still obsessing over the card. Flowey finally grew tired and weary, curing up around the card, careful not to bend it and looked up at it in a sad manner. Sans only had his eyes closed, and he would continue until he heard any shuffling. Of course Flowey knew he was faking his heavy sleep and hid under the card to cry softly. This of course made the skeleton curious, but not concerned or too terribly invested to find out why the little sadistic flower was crying this time.

Chapter Text

Another day in Snowdin with San having the day off was all the young white furred prince needed to hear before he crashed into his friend as he waited in the yard. Well he would have if the cheeky skeleton hadn't teleported a few inched away, making Asriel drop into the powdery ice, making him recline his head and spit out some snow. “ hehehe, to slow~.” Sans winked, getting the prince worked up in a playful manner. Asriel sat up as he gave Sans a mean glare with a devious smirk spreading across his lips, which in turn made Sans blink in confusion. Asriel slowly put his paws to the frosted ground and wiggled his tail like a cat preparing to pounce on their prey. And with that being said t goat launched himself to Sans, forcing the other to jump out of the way, “ whoa!” The prince did not let up as he bounced to the skeleton again and again, eventually making the skeleton run to the woods with Asriel following behind bouncing around like a little mountain goat chasing a fluttering butterfly. The two soon began laughter as Asriel tried to jump Sans into a tackling hug while the blue sweatered skeleton got to practice dodging and his teleportation without having the stressing factor of his father.

Finally Sans hid behind a tree, a grin spreading from cheek to cheek, holding in any giggling or chuckles he could hardly contain. A moment passed, making him worried slightly. He peeked around the bark, looking high and low for Asriel. Is worried sense started to feed and grow as his eye didn’t catch any movement until… “ POW!” The goat monster yelled out as Sans was suddenly tackled into the soft snow, both slipping onto their backs, side to side. The two blinked before looking over to the other and breaking out into a fit of laughter.

“ hehehe, you sure got me good!”

“ Well what can I say? I’m ‘as-rieal’ as you can get.” He gave a wink to the skeleton who laughed out more before sitting u with his fuzzy friend.

“ ohohoho! man that’s a good one!”

“ Hey, I learn from the best.”

“aww, dude! come ooooon! your making my cheekbones swell!” He jokingly pushed the green and yellow stripped sweater, getting another adorable giggle from Asriel.

“ You were really good at hiding dude! We should play hide and seek! I’ve never been able too before! W-Well…I have but that’s with m-my toys.” He sheepishly said, scratching the back of his neck’s fur. Sans gave him a warm smile, patting his shoulder in sympathy, remembering quite well anyone else would just let him win, probably standing out of any hiding spot.

“ it’s okay azzy. here follow me, i know a good place where i play with my bro.”

The two walked to a semi clearing wit fallen trees, rocks, normal trees, and ice monuments left there once children were bored with their tedious chipping work. Sans showed a deep cut like line in the snow that made its way around the area, letting Asriel know that anywhere beyond the line wasn’t their playing ground. That way they wouldn’t end up getting lost and freezing out in the woods when hiding. The area thankfully wasn’t too large, but not too terribly tiny for the two, so they could enjoy their games.

Over the next half hour, they took their turns, winning some rounds and losing some others. The two weren’t competitive, and once one was found, the other would smile and poke them, saying ‘Boop, found you!' If one got too tired or stumped, they would call out, letting the other know they gave up and to meet back up at the center which had an extremely wide and taller stump than the others surrounded by the snow. It was now Sans turn, closing s eyes and counting down while the prince scurried off into position. “ ready or not here I come!” He called out with a skeletal hand near his grinning face. Sans looked all about, from the trees to inside hollowed logs, to behind stumps and rocks. He scratched his skull momentarily before something caught his attention. He heard a loud whimpering yelp nearby, snapping him out from his search of a game and into a search for assistance. He took off, jumping onto a log, hopping from one to the other so the snow and slush of ice wouldn’t drag him down, “ shit! azzy! azzy?! asriel?!” He shouted out growing more and more panicked.

“ S-SANS!” The skeleton bolted past the line well knowing is friend was in some type of peril. That was odd… Asriel normally followed the rules, why would he cross the line and venture out into the woods. Or well, that’s what the skeleton has initially thought before he skidded to a halt as his shoes collided with the snow.

Asriel had seemingly been dragged away from his hiding spot and then let loose to run away from a barrage of snowballs like some sort of sick shooting game. And of course Jerry and his goons were the ones chucking them at the prince who had tripped over himself or a clump of snow and got hit by snowballs. Sans’ teeth clenched tightly, summing bones to block the further firing of the snowballs, making each smash into powdery ice. Frostdrake clucked out as the skeleton rushed to his friend’s air who was currently sniffling an putting his arms over his furry head from the speed of the snowballs that hit his body. Some snowballs began to wind up with magic for a harder hit from what Sans could sense. “ Baron you said he was alone!”

“ Oh… Uhm, uh… I didn’t see no one around him!” The buff seahorse snorted before getting slap on the back of the head by the wheezing Jerry. Sans helped Asriel up, checking to see if he was okay. Besides some small bruises the goat monster seemed just fine… Well until the pin-point pupils spotted out a small bloodied nose off the tip of his snout and a black eye.

Sans growled, pushing Asriel behind him defensively, stomping his shoe, crunching the ground below him. “ i have had it with you guys picking on him! your beef with me and grillz, only with us, leave him outta’ it!”

“ Don’t care Sansy boy! Word is, ever since he’s joined your little posse, my crews been suffering! But now that I’m back from The Capital, it’s my business to send that crybaby back to his mama and stop coming here! We gotta’ give him a signal!” Jerry yelled out, further angering the short skeleton. “ So he’s the prince, big whoop! It’s not like King Fkuffybuns is gonna’ do anything about it! We’re just kids hahaha!”

“ it’s still assault!”

“ You want assault? We can provide that since your little fish, your blind mutt and Grillby ain’t here. Two on five sounds fair!” Jerry’s squirmy arm somehow made a snapping sound, and before Sans knew it the bullies pounced. Of course, the bullies would never harm a fellow monster more than half their HP, but that didn’t mean it still was right to do so, as well as be painful. The muscular seahorse had wrapped up Sans’ arms, holding them back with just one large and while the other shielded his eyes. It was mostly because the horse was scared of the sudden eerie blue light, but surprisingly blinding him made him not be able to focus is magic, least he accidentally hit Asriel. Glyde all the while kept smacking his chest with his heavy tail, sometimes the tip spike cutting against bone. With Asriel, the green mohawked hamster and deer with the grotesque sweater held Asriel down, lifting his shirt up while Frostdrake pecked into his back, all as Jerry watched happily, teasing Sans.
With each yelp and cry the prince let out, made the skeleton grow more and more angry. He just wanted to have fun today. He was so happy earlier. He was DETERMINED.

He shook off what his calm yet strong fiery friend has said not to fight them, and teleported behind Baron quickly, letting Glyde it the seahorse. Sans loomed over them with hollow eyes as the left was replaced by the blue piercing light. A blue aura crept over the flying fish and seahorse, lifting them up into the air then slamming the two into the ground and into each other before dropping them. Bones spurred up instantaneously, whizzing in the air, smacking Punkly and Faunly far away an into the cold ground. Frostdrake stopped as he witnessed the two smaller monster get struck down. He gulped and let loose his own magic, blocks of ice being hurled to Sans who calmly walked to him, dodging each block. The fowl turn to retreat but was flung in the air with the blue magic, letting go only for a large bone to swing down, smashing him into the ground. Sans’ view locked onto Jerry who at this point was tripping away and running in a hurry.

Jerry fell onto his back, struggling to get up as the skeleton appeared before him from thin air. Sans put his foot down on the pimply monster’s noodle arm and grinned with empty vacant eye sockets, “ hehehe, you just had to turn this nice day into a B A D O N E.” Sans’ curled his bony hand into a fist, about to wind down, but was suddenly tackled away from his spot. Asriel sniffled and cried as he pushed his angry friend down.

“ S-Sans stop! Y-you stopped me before! D-Don’t do something you’ll regret! I regretted it! Don’t be like them!”

“ hrng! azzy, get off! their scum, they deserve this!” He struggled against his friend who pinned his wrists into the snow.

“ No they don’t!”

“ yeeeees, they do! now get O F F!” The skeleton’s left eyes swirled with blue malice as a bone was conjured up, smacking the side of the goat's cheek. Once Asriel yelped out and dropped to the ground, he quickly sat up, along with Sans who seemed to snap out of his rage from the sharp cry. Asriel held his cheek before moving his paw away to notice a dark red and black substance splattered all over his white fur. Sans’ eyes widened as he noticed a rather nasty looking gash on Asriel’s cheek, clipping a small part of skin and fur. The bone that sliced him had ricocheted off a tree, flying back near them, and onto the white ground reveling the red blackish liquid covering a sharp tipped bone. It was like Undyne all over again. Sans felt dizzy, disgusted with himself, and most of all… Scared. His left eye spouted blue as tears poured out the eye sockets, covering his teeth with his hands. He had just hurt his friend he promised to protect. He slowly looked around at the others who groaned and sat up sniffling themselves. “ S-Sans?” Asriel reached out to him, only or the skeleton to teleport away.

“ Sans?” Gaster knocked n the closet’s door, thankful the Innkeeper was watching over his younger son. The tall thin scientist sighed, sitting as his back leaned against the wall for support. “ Sans… You aren’t n trouble. All those young ruffians are back home. Hell their parents even raised you a bit by knocking some sense into them. It’s time they learned their place, so why are you so upset?”

A low muffle voice sniffled out from behind the oak door, “ i hurt asriel… i-i’m suppose to protect him, keep him safe. be his defender-a-and i messed it all up! he was just trying to s-stop me! i’m dangerous!”

The skeletal father sighed, sliding a holed palm across the top of his skull. While he listened to his son cry out. “ Sans… I think it’s time I told you something I really should have a while ago. But I was too caught up in work, my experiments, and you wanting to be a judge. And most of all, you participating with the DT-Pills. Do you know why I fight like I do? Like when your friend was over that one time?”

“ … you were having a bad day?”

“ I wish it were that simple, but no. You see Sans. The DT-Pills have a rather cruel side effect. When one is highly emotional, DETERMINATION from the pill is unleashed in its raw form of power, mimicking or even releasing that of a human’s. Mostly when one is enraged or pumped with adrenaline, the DETERMINATION seeps out and takes over.”

“ … so you were hopped up on pills?” Asked the young quiet teen.

“ … That’s a very blunt way of putting it, but in normal terms instead of scientific, yes. That’s what that means. Sometimes you can shake it off, but if something drastic happens, you can easily lose control if you’re not careful, thus why I was a bit… Unprofessional that one time, as well as being a bit mood swingy at times when I’m working. I get frustrated with some work and I need to fight it off. I am terribly sorry... You see, sometimes, determination is like a type of poison. It can take us over. And before you know it, it'll turn you into something ugly. ” Just then, his cell-phone buried deep in his casual pant pockets rang out. He grabbed hold of it, sliding it out… only for it to slip through the gap in his palm, “ Dammit…” He lifted the phone in a purple smoke, “ Hello? Oh, yes, yes you can come right n over. Okay, thank you, bye.”

Once he hung up a loud whining sound eradiated from behind the door,” oh god, was that miss tori or king asgore?!”

“ No Sans, calm own. It was just Troggle. He wanted to talk to me, you’re fine. Okay?”

“ …..”

“ Saaans?” Gaster cracked a small smile with a raised nonexistent brow.

“ …okay…”

" That's my boy."

It didn’t take long until the skeleton hiding in his over-sized hoodie, rocking himself caught the sound of footsteps, along with the room’s door opening. It sounded like something sat on one of the two beds and… something smelt of hotdogs and ketchup resonating in the air. Gaster spoke up, “ Sans, can I come in and give you these?”

“ …. Okay.” It seemed fairly legit s far. He heard the closet’s door creak open and close. Something softer than his father’s footsteps came over. Thinking it was Papyrus he curled up tighter into his sobbing ball. “ sans isn’t here right now, he’s in sweater town…”

“ Can I leave a message then?” Came a soft gently voice. Sans froze up before a pupil peeked out from the side of the hung hoodie, catching sight of Asiel kneeling besides him giving a worried smile. His cheek had been patched up and his bloody nose now gone.

“ eeeeeeeeeeeee….” The skeleton made his uncomforting noise when things were just going in all the wrong places.

“ It’s okay Sans. Sometimes we make mistakes, and it seems like we can’t fix them. But I don’t hate you, you were just wound up. I forgive you from the depths of my soul. I-I… I just wanted to let you know, you're still my friend. No matter what you do, what you say, or what you think of yourself, I’ll always think of you as a really good friend.”

“ … no matter what?”

“ No matter what. I know a song my mom sings to me when I’m upset. Would you like to hear it?”

“ … y-yeah.” Sans sniffled. He always enjoyed the prince's sweet voice flow out a song. It always made him feel safe, secure, calm.

“ Oh let’s go in the garden. You’ll find something waiting. Right there where you left it, lying upside-down. Oh, when you finally find it. You’ll see how it’s faded. The underside is lighter when you turn it around. Everything stays, right where you left it. Everything stays, but it still changes. Ever so slightly, daily and nightly. In little ways where everything stays.”

Sans finally peeked out from his cozy blue clothed shell to see Asriel smiling t him, sitting there next to him with several hotdogs and a bottle of ketchup. “ … that… that was nice.” He said calmly, more and more of him expanded out from his shell and ‘town.

“ Thanks. Is there anything else that calms you down? You’ve done so much for me, it’ only fair I do to you.”

“ hehehe… thanks azzy. only other thing that calms me down is some of paps’ books.”

“ I’d love to hear one.” He waggled his stumpy tail about happily.

This, making the saddened skeleton get a soft smile, knowing which story he knew from memory to recite to his friend. “ a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call. the snake prince brought the fluffy bunny back to the castle. over time, the snake prince and the fluffy bunny became like siblings. the king and queen snake treated the fluffy bunny as their own, showing that the snakes had become omnivores. the snakes underground were full of hope to change over new leaves. then... one day... the fluffy bunny became ill. the fluffy bunny told them that it needed carrot medicine. the carrot medicine was over in the rabbit village. but no snake dared to go there since no rabbit would reason with them. the next day. the next day..... the snake prince helped the fluffy bunny sneak out. the fluffy bunny told him the directions. so, the snake prince pulled along the fluffy bunny in a small sled, pulling it himself. with the fluffy bunny, the snake prince crossed through the threshold of the snake kingdom. he carried the fluffy bunny into the sunset. back to the village of the rabbits. the snake prince reached the center of the village. there, he found a bed of carrots used for the medicine. he gave the carrots to the fluffy bunny. suddenly, screams rang-"
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Out came the cheery slim skeleton, talking on and on to his new friend, explaining puzzles, japes, and other assorted ideas to outsmart humans. The flower just thought to himself, mindlessly nodding, trying to figure out something. From several resets… He tried being friendly to others, lacking the compassion to be given back. He had become friends with just about everyone in The Underground at one point… Yet, people still acted strangely to him. This usually resulted in him remembering those who would deny him, even if slightly. Alphys would try to conduct experiments on him trying to ‘help’ the late prince. Toriel still wouldn't come back home from The Ruins to Asgore. Undyne never allowed him to battle a human if one happen to pop up, which was never. Sans still wouldn’t fully trust him. Hell, even his own father wouldn’t lend him a soul. Flowey thought long and deep why the king would never show him the souls, let alone give one so he could be normal again. Arrogant and caught up in the idea of avenging his death perhaps. Why his father kept them locked away and not once giving the miserable flower the feeling was…It just wasn’t like him… Maybe he was afraid his son would do something stupid again, which was one thing Flowey couldn’t blame him for.

And yet, out of everyone else… Papyrus still stayed true. It confused him immensely, often leading Flowey’s mind to stray away from normal thought. And t just o happen to be this run that the shorter more mature skeleton strolled y sitting at his station’s booth, being spotted out by his hyperactive brother who jumped up onto his crimson boots, dashing to him. Flowey meanwhile was still nodding his head, blocking out all sounds to think. That was until a gentle poke opted him on to snap him out of the self-hypnotized state of nodding to everything. “ FLOWEY ARE YOU OKAY? MY BROTHER USE TO BE A SCIENTIST, PERHAPS HE CAN HELP YOU?” He squinted his eyes, placing a gloved hand over the plant’s forehead.

“ I-I’m fine… I’m just thinking.”

“ OH? ABOUT WHAT MY FRIEND?” He sat back down while Sans in the back lounged around giving out hotdogs to monsters, to tired and lazy to notice Flowey actually being there. He just figured his younger brother was just talking to an imaginary friend, which was okay by him. Something not real couldn't harm his treasured sibling.

“ Does it really matter?” Ushered the plant, gradually sinking his stem down.

“ WHY OF COURSE IT DOES FLOWERY. I CANNOT SIMPLY STAND BY SEEING MY FRIEND UPSET.” The skeleton gave a concerned look down at the little flower who started to grit his teeth.

“ Stop it.”

“ S-STOP WHAT?”

“ Stop caring about me.”

“ I CAN’T, YOUR MY FRIEND-“

Flowery writhed around in the flaky snow,” Stop calling me that. Nrgn-Why? Why do you insist on calling me your friend?!”

Papyrus fiddled about wit his gloves/mittens and frowned which was hard for him to do for such a positive attitude. “ BECAUSE EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME FORM OF COMPANY.”

“ W-Why are you always… So nice to me?” The gold flower started to nudge his face into the cold ice below.

“ WELL. BECAUSE, I TREASURE OUR FRIENDSHIP INCREDIBLY. I CA TALK TO YOU ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS, YOU GIVE ME ENCOURAGEMENT AND ADVICE WHICH SOMETIMES HELP MOTIVATE ME. I HONESTY CONSIDER YOU AS MY BEST FRIEND.”

Annnnd, boom goes the dynamite. Flowey sprung backup, giving the other monster a horrified face. This confused the gentle natured skeleton as Flowey slowly quivered. “ Be-Best friend? N-No. No. No! No, no, no, no, no! Don’t say that!”

“ BUT IT’S TRUE. FROM THE VERY BOTTOM OF MY SOUL.” He gave the tiny flower a worried smile, only or the flower to draw back.

Flowey stared at him, mortified, “ Y-You’re lying. Every best friend just stabs me in the back!”

“ WHAT? WHY WOULD THEY DO THA-“

“ You’re lying! I-I know it! No one cares about me-they ju-just leave me, or-or-or use me! There’s no way you can actually pity me! It’d be too good to be true!” He started to curl up.

“ BUT. FLOWEY-“ As he reached down to pat his sad little ‘friend’, the flower sharply snapped his eyes to the glove. Fear, paranoia, and panic seeped throughout his fragile, broken, and twisted up mind. Right then, a thorned vine sprung out from below scrapping itself against the skeleton, leaving him to yelp out in sudden pain. Flowey recoiled, having mental breakdown as memories flooded his mind.

“ I-I’M DANGEROUS! STAY AWAY!”

At this point, Sans hear his brother's yell and noticed some strange magic in the air. Thankfully with no one around, he got out of the old chair and rushed to his brother's aid. He slid onto his knee bones and helped the taller skeleton sit up who clutched his cheekbone. “ whoa, whoa, hey. let me have a look.” Papyrus sniffled a bit, removing his gloved hand, revealing a pretty nasty scrape as his brother studied his HP, being rather shocked to see it had been pegged down to nearly half way down. His gaze soon turned to Flowey, catching the shaking plant from the corner of his eye. And here Sans was, brushing his brother’s story off. Thinking to himself, ‘ nah, it couldn’t be THAT flower’. But low and behold he was wrong. The shorter skeleton stood up in front of his bruised brother and gave an angry yet confused look at the flower before hm.

Flowey only shook violently like tremors coursing through his veins… If he had any… Do flowers have veins? Anyways, point being he was mumbling to himself until he noticed Sans with Papyrus clutching his cheekbone. Flowey looked down at the limp vine and teared up. “ I-I… No-I didn’t mean to-Not this time at least.”
“ what do you mean ‘this time’?” Pressed Sans, who was suddenly pulled back by his brother.“ what the-paps?!” Flowey's attention snapped to the skeleton, before cowering.

“ HE DIDN’T MEAN IT, PLEASE DON’T BE ANGRY WITH HIM! HE’S MY FRIEND! H-HE’S JUST HAVING A BAD DAY IS ALL!”

“ l’ll give him a bad day-“ Mutter Sans, only for Papyrus to actually stand up between his brother and 'friend'. Terrified, Flowey watched Papyrus stop his own brother from harming him. Why did he do this for him? It made NO SENSE. " paps, out of the way!"

" NRNNN-NO!" Shouted the taller skeleton to his older sibling, making Sans be shocked. Papyrus had only disobeyed him a handful of times in the past. And those were mainly long ago. " HE"S MY FRIEND! HE DIDN'T MEAN IT! WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES SANS!"

The flower looked around dazed, mumbling to himself, which was worth the two brothers to listen to, pinning the fault on himself. “ N-No, friends don’t hurt each other-I can’t do anything right-WHY DID I DO THAT?! NO! You finally had a friend and you botched it all up! YOU’RE SUCH AN IDIOT ASRIEL!” Sans’ breath hitched once the bipolar like flower screamed that out. This in turn made the younger skeleton peek over his shoulder in confusion. “ HE WASN’T LYING! AND ALL I DID WAS HURT HIM! I’M TOO STUPID,TOO DANGEROUS TO HAVE AN FRIENDS! I’M JUST A WORTHLESS CRYBABY! CHARA WAS RIGHT I CAN’T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!” Before either skeleton could even try to comprehend the spectacle in front of their eyes, the world faded into white, leaving Flowey in the garden beating himself up figuratively. He just couldn’t figure it out. He just couldn't understand. Why did he have to be so-
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Nice. It was a nice day, as Asgore or Sans would say. Toriel decided to just go pick up some food for today, asking their adopted child if they wanted to ride along with her. Frisk had been spending too much time away from their other family members, and was ecstatic, even if it was only driving to pick up some lunch. Of course, they had to check in with the agitated Flowey, not wanting to really leave him behind. And of course the flower dismissed the thought. As the motherly goat prepared herself, they shy and bumbling lizard made her way to the child who waited in another room. They tilted their head to notice Alphys panting a bit as she handed over some type of canning looking tool. The child raised a brow.

“ S-S-Sorry! I-I need to work on something I forgot about! Before you go, could you please use this on Flowey? It’s to detect just how much of Chara’s determination flows through his body. I-I-I mean I’d do it, but he’d never let me get to close to him.” Frisk smirked, raising their brow once again. “ …..” A moment went by as Alphys claws clacked together nervously, shifting her eyes about with her cheeks puffed up. “ …… And he scares me.” She finally admitted, Frisk patting her arm before giving a smile and thumbs up.

Frisk casually made their way to the potted plant who just kinda sat there on the coffee table, somewhat paying attention to what was on TV while Sans… Watched, pretended to sleep, or did sleep… It was always hard to tell with the lazy bag of bones. The flower shuddered, feeling something in the air, and was right as his beady eyes glanced to Frisk who was army crawling on the floor, stopping as he saw them. “ … The fuck are you doing?”

Frisk puffed up their cheeks to think of an excuse that a kid would normally make up to not get caught doing something. “ … Looking foooor change?” Flowey’s face shifted to a an irritated and confused state. “ Change? Got any change?”

“ … I’m a flower. WHY would I have change?”

“ Caaaaause… You like messing with people by stealing their stuff?”

Flowey squinted harshly, “ Okay, that is true, but I don’t have any. J-Just rob the smiling trash-bag or Papyrus or something.” He turned back to the television as Frisk stood up and carefully turned the scanner on. The held it to Flowey’s side as it slowly read him, making the flower notice Frisk hadn't gone away, further provoking him. He looked at them and then to the machine. “ WHAT… Are you doing?”

“ Scanning you for Alphys.”

“ Scanning WHAT? My anger? Because honestly I’m starting to feel offended and pissed off.”

“ No. Scanning your determination.”

Flowey tilted his stem away to the side uncomfortably, “ Determination? Mrm-stop that.”

“ Sorry, but Alphys really needs to know.”

“ I don’t give a shit if she NEEDS to know, she can do it herself-Stop it!” The determination in Flowey had always been a bit of an issue with him. All it ever did was remind him of Chara and having part of them keeping him alive. Keeping him as a flower, keeping him from feeling anything nice. It was a very touchy subject.

" I’m almost done”

“ Mrmmm-just…” Flowey wriggled uncomfortably.

“ A little bit more…”

Flowey gnashed his teeth together wanting to run away, but he wasn’t in the ground anymore, making his movement restricted. “ Annnd… Done-“ A vine quickly shot out from the soil and struck Frisk smack dab in the cheek, making them cry out from more of shock than pain. The sleeping skeleton’s eyes snapped open to see Frisk getting up rubbing their cheek, a bit of blood splattered on the table and shading the vine. Fisk quickly apologized and hurried away to Alphys.

They gave the scaled girl the device, Alphys gasping to see Frisk’s cheek be pretty sliced up, but not too terribly deep. Frisk just gave her a smile and a thumbs up. “ O-O-O my god! Frisk! I’m so sorry-I-!”

“ It’s cool Alphys. Just check up on Flowey later. I’m more worried about him than myself.” They gave the scientist a hug before getting to their ‘mother’. Alphys bit her lip, worried and stressed, sighing, she took herself and the machine away to her lab.

As Toriel buckled herself in, her eyes noticed Frisk’s cheek as they were buckling up beside her. She gave out a small gasp, quickly springing her hand to Frisk’s gash. Frisk tilted their head away from the sudden touch before noticing the monster was healing them up. “ My child. What happened?”

“ Neeeeh-Mooooom! It’s okay, really!” They giggled, flopping their hands to her. “ I just pushed Floweys buttons accidentally. It was an accident, I’ll be fine!” They joked around with her before being serious, “ Please don’t get mad at him. I know he didn't mean it. He just got scared.” Toriel frowned, unsure as what to say, do, or even what to think of the flower. Frisk put their hands on enlarged paw and gave a worried look, “ He’s just scared. He hasn’t gotten the hang of being it anyone. He was always left alone. He doesn’t know how to act normally.”

“ I understand my child. Do not worry, I’m not angry at him." Toriel gave a soft yet rather broken smile as a tear went down. She whipped it away with her shirt's sleeve.

“ Why are you crying?”

“ Heh… I’m terribly sorry. It’s just that, you reminded me of someone who was always so scared and never wanted t be alone.”

“ I-I’m sorry…” Frisk looked down in guilt before getting their hair stroked.

“ No, no, it is fine. You have noting to be sorry about. I love you, my child.”

“ Love you too mom… C-Can we listen to your songs and sing?” Frisk decided to change subjects, which did cheer up Toriel as they drove off.

Meanwhile… With Flowey… Frisk thought the skeleton had still been sleeping, not noticing him as they scurried off. Flowey on the other hand panted form being panicked and freaking himself out, seeing the crimson liquid covering some of his vine. He didn’t mean to do that… Did he? Before he could fully process what he had just done, he felt someone put their finger on his head. Suddenly he was in another room of the large house. A room he hadn’t been in. A room he only saw, but very rarely when Frisk would carry him to it to call upon the one who slept here, or just passed by. He soon felt as if roots were tying knots up in his stomach-Again… Do flowers have stomachs? A question for another time. He felt his accidental sins run up his stem. He gulped, looking back to see a rather unimpressed Sans sitting on the side of his bed. “ … H-Howdy Sans…” He quietly greeted the skeleton who gave a small annoyed glare above a smile. “ … Your angry with me, aren’t y-you?”

“ mmmm… i’d have to say…. yup.”

The flower curled up on top the soil that cared for his fragile roots. “ I’m going to have a bad time aren’t I?"

“ oh, pth, no. if i gave you a bad time, id’ horribly upset the kiddo. they wouldn’t trust as much. i just wanted to ask you something. do your petals and leaves grow back if they become like wilted?”

Flowey uncurled himself to stare at the skeleton, furrowing his brows from the sudden and odd question. “ Well… Yeah. I have magic. I can heal myself. I’m not like normal flowers, so I can recover rather quickly to a degr-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He screamed out feeling a sudden sharp pain where his left leaf at the bottom of his stem’s stalk was. A thin stringy vine shot out from the dirt to clutch the leaf only to find out it had been ripped off and was now floating away from him in a blue aura. “ I-I THOUGHT YOU SAID I WASN’T GOING TO HAVE A BAD TIME?!”

Sans chuckled lowly as he let the leaf go, letting it drift onto the carpet. “ no, no. if i gave you a bad time, it’d be much worse. and well, you’d be ground up into mulch instead where you could finally help your fellow flowers, by pushing up daises.” A sudden whisking flash of blue came from the one fully functional eye socket as Flowey screamed out again as his remaining leaf was torn way from his stem. He leaned forward shaking from the pain, some white sap like substance oozed out from there his tiny body was torn. The blue aura seemed to dissipate, only for Sans to sit on a chair next to the potter plant’s table. He gave tired smile with half-lidded eyes as his pointer finger and thumb bones grasped on yellow petal. Flowey braced himself as the petal was plucked off from him and carelessly dropped, fluttering onto the table. “ there. all done. now maybe next time, you don’t mess with the kiddo, okay? they might not do anything to you, but hehehe, that doesn't mean I won’t.”

After a quiet moment of the flower still in the same depressing position, Sans’ small smile started to lower, thinking to himself. He hadn’t planned out the repercussions of his actions… Frisk was going to be upset, maybe Papyrus. Possibly Toriel might be bitter to the skeleton, he seemed t forget for a moment that there were no more resets. He was starting to feel the guilt in his soul sink in… Was this what his old self was really like? “ erm… you want me to fetch ya' some water…? " He asked awkwardly to the plant, who only gave him more silence.

Before the skeleton could get up from his spot, thin vines sprung out, slithering around his wrist and twisting around his fingers in order to control his hand. Sans tugged against the sudden latch of the plant, his eyes fading with blue flashing around in one eye socket. Once again due to the flower’s magic, he couldn’t simply teleport away as he struggled to pull away. The vines forced his shaky hand to come closer to the flower. He expected the plant to bite him, but instead, he was forced to grab hold of a gold petal. “ You know... There’s only one person I hate more than you. Hehe, turns out. I hate myself.” Suddenly the two bony fingers plucked off the petal, making Sans cringe, feeling disturbed that the flower was doing this to himself. Another tear, “ I don’t.” Another rip, “ I d-d-do…” Flowey whined out. At this point the hysterical flower’s vines slipped way, letting Sans back away quickly to watch the vines grip onto another petal. “ I-I don’t!” Sans watched, rather conflicted as Flowey tore off his last gold petal, crying out, “ I DO!”

Tears swelled up in his eyes as he shook, breaking down into a mess. “ A-A-Are you happy now?! Y-you were right! I don’t belong here! I can’t do anything right! ALL I DO IS DESTROY EVERYTHING I TOUCH AND I CAN’T STOP!” He curled up sobbing and hiccuping as he beat himself up metaphorically. “ I don’t deserve to be here. I don't deserve to have any friends. I don’t deserve to have a family. I don't deserve to be happy! I-I… I don’t deserve to be loved…” Flowey finally broke down, whimpering. For such a little bastard… Sans couldn’t help but feel… A little bad for him. All while he rambled and muttered to himself in is little balled up stem. With a heavy sigh, he rubbed the back of his skull and soon took the flower to Alphys.

After a long painful discussion with the scientist, she nodded and put the plant onto a tray, letting a healing spray of water drizzle him to help him recover faster for when Frisk go home. Of course he was back to normal, but still emotionally shattered. Frisk had talked with their dunkle, leaving Toriel out of the loop and being rather disappointed in him for his actions, but did forgive him n the end. A quiet day or two went by while Flowey crawled out of his break down and for the child to talk to their dunkle again. Ever since Frisk brought Flowey to their home, his meltdowns seemed to get more and more longer. They sincerely hoed he would start to understand the situation a bit better and not taking rash actions.

Chapter Text

The calm yet boring silence of the frosted air in Snowdin stayed that way, except for some boastful singing near a rather large hill, covered to the brim with blue and white sleets of snow. “I'm gonna' be the main event, like no king was before! I'm brushing up on helping out. I'm working on my ROAR!” Bleated the young prince who was strolling up the mountainous like hill with his skeletal friend, joining in on the song the two had gone over from one of the skeleton's movies, Papyrus had found one day in the murky dumps. Mostly ignoring the main sadness of it.“ Oh, I just can't wait to be king! No one saying do this!”

“ no one saying stay there!”

“ No one saying stop that!”

“ no one saying see here! free to run around all day!”

“ Free to do it all my way! Oh, I just can't wait to be king!”

“Everybody look left!” Asriel quickly looked to his left, his dangling ears flopping their way once his head stopped to turn.

“ everybody look right!” Sans sang to himself, grooving around with his arms before looking to his right.

“ Everywhere you look, I’ll be standing in the spotlight!” The goat monster jumped into the snow, skidding on his knees, waggling his hands to an invisible crowd before him.

The two then joined up in unison acting like they were part of a chorus, “ Let every monster go for broke and sing! Let's hear it in the herd and on the wing! It's gonna' be King Azzys finest swing!"

Afterwards Asriel broke off onto himself as Sans swung his arms around, mingling about to himself. “ Oh, I just can't wait to be king!”
“ oh, you just can't wait to be king!"

Then once more the two joined their harmonizing together, clutching each other’s hands and swinging around in a circle, kicking up the icy powder below them, “Oh, I/you just can't waaaaaait ... to be king!” The two let go flopped right into the soft ice laughing. Asriel had enjoyed the song, it was his favorite part considering everything else was a bit dark and depressing. But once sans manage to snap him and his younger teary eyed brother from that one brutal scene of the king dyeing of, he and Asriel began to listen in and memorize the song., hanging up various words.

Once the two friends got up and made it to the very top of the hill, Asriel saw a lone tree deeply rooted there, providing shade for no particular reason with snow bountifully set all over the thick leaves and sturdy branches. Sans sat down under the tree, signaling the prince to join him. Asriel sat himself right besides the skeleton and looked out over the entirety of the peaceful and humble Snowdin. The sight was so vast that the other zones including the castle could e seen from the point while glittering and sparkling gems twinkled above them, stretching on out around The Underground.

Asriel gasped softly, putting his paws up to his mouth to try and contain his excitement and tears from seeing such a sight. Sans grinned happily as he watched his friend begin the water works of pure joy instead of the typical sorrow he’d get. “ S-Sans… It’s… It’s so beautiful…” He choked back on his crying, tears now filling up at the bottom of his eyes.

“ i knew you’d like it. heh, my dad dragged me and paps up here one day so he could point and tell us each area. of course, i however was only interested in the view. it calms me down.” His grin soon shrank to a saddened smile as his pin point pupils tilted themselves to the cavern’s ceiling, sighing on the recollection of his constant wishes. “ time to time, i like to pretend the gems far above us are twinkling stars, shining down upon us all.”
Asriel’s tears were soon brushed away by a sleeve as he turned to see his friend start to leak some tears himself. “ Sans? Why are you crying? I-I didn’t make it contagious did I?!”

San’s soft smile quickly sprung up into his normal one as he wiped away the strains of magical water, “ hehehe, no, no. i just… i really want to see the stars some day. have you ever dreamed of the surface? it's just... it seems so distant... so beautiful... but at the same time it terrifies me.“

“ Wha? But you’re the bravest kid I know!” Asriel clutched his paws into fists, denying that the monster who stood up against so many things was actually fearful of something.

This however was true, the prince settled down, making the short cheeky skeleton chuckled from how much faith Asriel had given him credit for. “ it’s just, i’m scared of the surface in a way, ya know. and well, now that i’ll become a judge, i’ll have to judge humans who want to speak with you when you become king. i don’t want to mess up an let in someone bad-“

Asriel put a reassuring paw onto the blue sweater, making the skeleton to stop his sudden rattling of the bones. “ So you're afraid of Humans? So what? With everything that you do, I thought you wouldn't be afraid of anything! Then again, I guess everyone's afraid of something, huh? Heh, I’m scared of something everyday. Over and over, but I pull through! A-And if I can, then so can you! Listen, I know you're a responsible person. You're taking on a heavier duty than anyone I've seen around our age. You try so hard, and you do so much. You're an idealist, ya' know? I know it's kind of weird to say, considering what we’ll grow up to be. But you'll make a great judge! You know whose done wrong from right... I guess the reason most monsters can't do that is because we never suspect others to pull off anything since we're made of love and magic. It's scary how much more complex the surface becomes as you learn about it. The responsibility of judging. But I believe in you Sans.”

“ wow… never thought of it that way… and you don't think I won’t screw up?”

“ Dude, everyone makes mistakes. No one is perfect. I mean I’m always afraid that I’ll be alone all over again, but we’ve gotta’ keep moving on, no matter how much we fear something.”

“ heh, thanks man. and just so you know, you’ll never be alone, you can count on me.” Asriel smiled brightly, his stubbed tail wagging furiously. The skeleton felt more encouraged now since someone besides Papyrus and Gaster trusted him and believed in him so much. It made his soul feel warm deep down, relaxing his body, mind, and emotions that were normally all over the place. “ so you dream about the surface often too huh?”

Asriel leaned away, poking the snowy ground with a finger, mindlessly making faint doodles in the snow as he blushed up a bit, “ Y-Yeah.”
“ So what do you want to see up there?”

Asrie smiled gently, embarrassed in some way, “ W-Well. It’s not as impressive as stars, -or, the moon, the land, or even the sun… It’s kinda silly.”
“ dude azzy, real talk. nothing is too silly about what you dream about most.”

The prince shyly peeked over to his perpetual smiling friend, readying himself up, “ O-Okay… I… I want to see a real rainbow. All of the colors in the sky, seeing them from-from real clouds! It-‘d be so amazing. Hehe, you probably think it’s really girly of me.”

“ wha? no way dude! seeing all those colors compacted together dawning out there in the sky! that'd be so cool to see!” It was Sans’ turn to fold up his hands into bony fists, encouraging the gentle hearted goat monster.” you know what?! when we get out of here, that’ll be the first thing we do together! the two of us will see a rainbow and watch the stars go by over our heads! i promise!”

Asriel’s mouth became vacant as his eyes peered to Sans who seemed to be sweltered with determination. “ R-Really?” Sans quickly set his chilling yet warm hands onto Asriel’s.

“ you better believe it!” His hard smile grew further, letting the prince know how compelled he felt about this pact of theirs. The prince almost started to burst into tears of pure happiness, but instead brought the sweatered teen into a tight hug.

“ Th-Thank you Sans! Y-You’re the best!” Sans held back any tears himself, the mood of the two had gotten to him, he had never been able to make anyone so happy before, asides from his young toddling brother. With a soothing sigh he patted the goat, his mind turning f momentarily to enjoy the hug. After a moment, something reeled his mind back into place.

“ azzy, i just remembered something!” The skeleton gasped out, pulling away from the enticing hug. He swiftly vanished in a mist blue smoke and came back with his guitar to then sit right next to the other. “ it was practicing this song for another reason, but your rainbow idea reminded me!”

“ Ooh! Go ahead Sans, play it from the depth and bottom of your soul!”

“ so does that make it… music for the soul?” He snickered playfully.

“ Saaaans!” Asriel groaned out in the same humor that he had demonstrated.

“ you know you love it~.”
“ Pthehehe, I do! You big punny jerk!” Asriel let out a laugh as he pushed Sans’ shoulder in a friendly manner.

“ hehehe, okay fair enough, i am rather a big-tiny punny jerk.” He smiled before closing his eyes to concentrate as Asriel leaned in to sweetness the song and musical notes being played out from the skeleton. As he conjured up a small bone for the pick, he strummed the stings, getting himself ready to share his song to the royal monster. “ there ain't a lot that you can do in this town. you walk down to the river and then you turn back around. you go to school and you learn to read and write. so you can walk into the royal guard and sign up with your life. i work at the lab station in the inner core. pumpin' magic and countin' them as a chore. they ask me how far into hotland son, and where's the nearest beer? and they don't even know that there's a town around here. someday we’re finally gonna' let go, 'cause we know there's a better way. and we wanna' know what's over that rainbow. we’re gonna' get out of here someday. we’re gonna’ get out of here someday. we’re going to get out of here… someday.”

Asriel clapped wildly to represent a crowd's applause, “ That was wonderful Sans!”

“ hehehe, thank you, thank, aww your too kind!” He stood up to bow to Asriel and the empty audience. “ i promise azzy. we’ll all get out of here someday. everyone will be free. you and me… we’re going to the top o this mountain together and view the world!”

Asriel quickly jumped up, pumped and enthralled in courage and excitement, “ Yeah! Heck yeah we are! This was really nice Sans.”

“ glad you enjoyed it before dad blows a gasket-“ Just then then blue sweater’s right pocket began to jiggle around, vibrating like a Temmie. Sans snatched up his phone, answering it as he put up his pointer finger to his friend, “ hello? … huh? …. oh yeah sure, sure. i’ll be on my way alphs.” He soon hung up then looked back to the prince. “ heh, sorry but alphs needs some help. and here i thought my dad blowing up a gasket was just a saying, but hehehe, crazy ol' dad actually seems to have one be blown up. so, i’m sorry dude, it’s been fun, but now i’ve got to go.”

“ It’s fine Sans, I fully understand. Here I can put your guitar up and babysit Papyrus properly this time.”

“ aww man, thanks, that’ll help out a lot.”

“ But! I just wanted to ask one thing.” The skeleton tilted his head, curious as to what Asriel was to say as the white fleeced prince picked up his homely instrument. “ When can we do this again? Just sit here and talk?”

“ hmm… how bout after the festival?”

“ That’ll work for sure!”

“ sweet, then it’s a date-“ Sans’ quickly shifted his hands to his mouth, his cheek bones glowing the same color of blue his eye got, while Asriel’s fur rose up on its ends. A faint pink blush magically setting the fuzz on his cheeks tint with the color. The skeleton’s pupils had vanished, hiding away in embarrassment while his left eye socket poured out a bit of the blue misty glow. He chuckled nervously before booking it away and teleporting off to his destination. Asriel didn’t feel hurt by the sudden retreat, he knew well enough Sans only did it out of embarrassment. Instead Asriel shyly looked to the flaky snow, giving a hidden smile.

“ O-Oh golly…” He finally shook off the awkward movement and went along his way to the skeleton’s house, tilting his head back up to view the glimmering-
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Stars, that was what the gems sparking above were to represent in the older days of Flowey’s youth and innocence. He sat there in the snow, watching the gems twinkles every now and then, but never moving or rotating. The two old friends sat in their long forgotten spot, just like Flowey remembered it. This was a fairly early run before the golden flower grew out of his childhood and fed on hatred of the unfair world around him. He sat there with Sans, both trying to patch up the broken friendship that had been shattered over the years of agony.

Flowey tried his best to keep up with the withering peace, trying desperately to find happiness. He could himself losing his sanity and kind nature that he began with. Gradually turning bitter and impatient, considering his last run was accidentally harming several monsters and killing Sans. Making his childhood friend somehow be wary of first meeting him during this run. Now that he thought abut it… He had killed monsters and who he use to know more. Perhaps this was one of the more rare and sought out after runs he finally had some grasp to terms with, mistaking this run as being an early one since he had lost count. He couldn’t tell anymore. He didn't want to think this way, but with all that had happen, no one remembering him, being gone for so long, and final to top it off, having the feeling of love be stripped away, he couldn’t help it. He wanted to cling onto some type of humanity, but the world around him just kept pushing him around into the mud of realty that he would be changed and broken from here on out.

The silence from the two finally cracked like the ice they sat on, Flowey’s voice shattering the calm. “ Let me ask you something… Do you want to kill me?” Sans bones clenched up like a normal body would, making him freeze in his position as a hollow and blue singing eye stared at the flower, paralyzed by the sudden question. The skeleton was just stuck there… He couldn’t look away, move, or say one word. Flowey looked up to his petrified friend and frowned, “Well do you?” He asked sadly. The skeleton started to break himself out from his stiffness as the blue induced eye started to clear away into emptiness like his other eye socket. However he still couldn't seem to grab hold of a word, let alone a noise. His sudden frown lowering and lowering as he worried more every second. “ Well...” The small flower went on, knowing he wouldn’t be getting a response too soon, “” If you ever do, you have my permission, okay? I-I don't mind it if it's you... You did so much for me.” Flowey smiled as tears built up in his beady eyes, remembering the fonder and better memories.

“ a-azzy…” Sans managed to squeak out. Seeing those tears drip down, painfully tore open an old scar of his past, remembering Asriel’s overemotional crying from all the good times to the bad times. “ you know that's not true. i never was able to do much of anything for you.”

“ Hehe, you’re such an idiot Sans. Of course you did.”

" no, all i did was leave you behind-“

“ Sans…” Flowey let out a shaky sigh, “ You made me feel like I truly belonged, made me feel like I wasn’t just some prince, and that I could be a kid just like others. You made me feel like-like I wasn’t just some crybaby.” Flowey soon stopped the water works as he gazed at the gems overhead, switching the topic gently. “ You know. I sometimes dream... That I'll see a rainbow. Spreading far above the surface. Further and further into the horizon. And finally have a good feeling deep inside. That it'll grant me compassion deep within myself. I know it won’t offer me a soul. Hehe, some lights giving out souls would make lots of sentient flowers. And probably the novelty of daisies popping outta' nowhere to say 'HOWDY!'”

The two smiled, laughing slightly from the humor, but falling back into their depressing situation again. “I guess I just want to feel. With you, I kinda have more feeling than I ever have somehow. Kind of funny, you know? because of our situation...” Flowey’s eyes switched to the ground, his face slowly morphing into the face Sans grew with and missed so dearly. “Do you regret becoming a judge? Do you ever wish I fell in instead? D-Do you still hate me-“ Flowey’s mind had wondered off, not even realizing what he was going on about now. He was then cut off by the skeleton putting a hand on the flower’s back stem, making Asriel flinch.

The two turned their gazes at one another, Asriel crying from his sudden blabbering while Sans merely sighed. “ azzy. please just calm down.” The poor thing hadn’t even noticed he was asking difficult questions and just reformed into the sniffling crybaby he always was. The skeleton teleported instantly, but came back within a rather short time, back in his spot holding his guitar. He strummed it with his old bone-pick and began reciting the one song that was used to calm his old friend down. “ oh, let’s go in the garden. you’ll find something waiting. right there where you left it, laying upside-down. when you finally find it. you’ll see how it’s faded. the underside is lighter when you turn it around. everything stays right where you left it. everything stays, but it still changes. ever so slightly, daily and lightly. in little ways where everything stays.”

Of course the song brought back painful memories, but also some good ones, making the flower amalgamation become neutral in any regards. He sighed finally making up his broken mind on what to do next. The only thing that pressed him to make up his mind was a faint figure he saw from the corner of his eye, staring at him with empty eyes. He bit his lip, knowing Sans wouldn’t see it and gulped down harshly. He didn’t want to move… But when he saw those gray distorted figures, he felt scared and more vulnerable. He despised the feeling from all of his injected determination. He looked to his somber friend and shut his eyes tiredly, “ Sans.. Th-Thanks… But I have to go.”

“ w-what? why? you mean l-like to the waterfalls right?” He smiled nervously.

“ No. I have to reset.”

“ but azzt, i don’t want you to leave. i’ll just wake up being misrule and i won’t remember our time together-"

“ I know. But I really need to. There are… Others watching.” Asriel’s voice seem to trail off being replaced by his alter ego in a sense. His face slowly morphing back into Flowey’s. Sans seemed to freeze up again, his breath hitching as he gritted his teeth. He knew the reason now. Though none of the runs had Sans tell Flowey about the figments of gray, he could sense Sans avoided them as well. Flowey never questioned why since the two never wanted to talk about them, possibly due to feeling unsafe and scared of the unknown.

“ fine. but before you go. when can we do this again? sit here and talk?”

“ I–I’m not sure.” Flowey averted his eyes shamefully.

“ when can i see you again? like this?” Sans pet the flower

Flowey shuddered under the pets, “ … I don’t know.” He said before hitting the reset button and waking up back in-

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The house was a bustle as the odd family members started to pack different things such as snacks, blankets, pillows, telescope, sparklers, annoying dog, cameras, chairs, and binoculars. As the family got ready, the savior of The Underground was hanging out in Alphys’ and Undyne's room. Half collected in anime, garbage and technical equipment while the other large half was filled with weapons on display, a gym/fitness set, and police records scattered about on a table. The humble child kicked their feet about on the edge of the lizard’s side of the king bed, poking a pillow with some character printed onto it while the chubby lizard herself was tinkering with a telescope for some last minute adjustments.

“ So… How’s the replica soul doing?” Frisk asked quietly, not wanting to scare their…. Aunt? “ I mean, you don’t have too…” The trailed off a bit, not wanting to put any added pressure on the scientist.

As Alphys concentrated, she did answer back, multitasking, which she had gotten much at since she got over her sociable phobias. “ Well. Me and my crew have been able to test it up to now. See, we took three percent of a soul from a normal rat. The rat’s soul re-grew that lost percentage while we set the smaller portion into a container mold. We put the container mold near a small monster’s soul who volunteered. After some exercises of making them determined, the soul has been growing from it, molding into the shape of the monster’s soul. We’ve monitored it once it was finished, and well…” She went quiet, suddenly worrying the brunette. Aphys stayed silent before lifting her gaze to Frisk with a huge dorky smile, “ It’s still there even when we moved it from the mold!”

Frisk had seemingly been holding their breath for the quiet moment, bursting into some gasps. and choking on some air. They panted and coughed out lightly, Alphys’ grin deteriorating, “ O-Oh s-s-sorry Frisk! I-I think I’ve be-been picking that up from Undyne. But this is good news, all things considered! We’re currently testing various sized animals and monsters. Hopefully a human will volunteer as well.”

“ So does this mean, Flowey can finally-“ Frisk brought upon one of the most excited and adorable smiles they could ever muster up. It faded away as the pudgy girl looked down, lowering her glasses before taking them off and sighing as she ran a claw past her scales of golden yellow.

“ I’m sorry Frisk but… The determination and size needs to equal the determination the fallen child, Chara had. And let's just say. They had a lot.”

Frisk bit their lip, pondering, “ I could be your guys’ test. My determination is as high as theirs.”

Alphys’s claws soon found themselves fiddling with the other after she put her glasses back on rather nervously. “ Frisk, you don’t understand. If we put a small portion of your soul into a container mold. It’ll take time for whichever monster is holding it to fill it up. Just like the fallen human, you are right. You have much determination. But now that we’re all free, your adventures of The Underground are now over. Your determination in the mold wouldn't grow until years, possibly...” The caring child frowned hearing the rather unfortunate news. They COULD tell Alphys about the resets… But that would mean breaking their dunkle’s promise. As well as Flowey’s, to just let the monsters have their freedom. Frisk could always steal the molding machine… But it wouldn’t settle with their conscience too well. And besides that, Frisk wouldn’t know how to work it. Hundreds of thoughts flooded their mind until a near-deafening slam came way. Both jumped up from being startled and witnessed Undyne’s bright red boot at the entrance, she had once again successfully managed to kick the room’s door in… And accidentally busting a hinge or two… Again.

Undyne then peeked in, “ Come on you weenies we’re all ready!”

Alphys just had the most worried face as she gestured to a hinge which lay at her feet and back to the door, doing this several times. “ Oops… I’LL FIX IT WHEN W GET BACK! NOW LETS GO!” Before her dorky girlfriend could say a syllable, she was picked up with one webbed hand, while the other placed itself onto Frisk’s head. The child as use to this ever since they cooked with the fish underground.

As the cars were parked onto some grassy terrain, the family got out from their vehicles, grabbing what they had packed and headed up a large grass covered hill. Many other vehicles filled up around as Frisk caught glimpses of humans and monsters alike perched at the top. Kids ran around playing with one another, older people handed children sparklers, some cooked at a large grill while others attended some tables full of food. Frisk smiled as the two races celebrated in peace as they held the stubborn flower. “ it’s real beautiful, huh kiddo?” Both child and plant jumped up slightly from the short skeleton suddenly being right behind them. “ hehehe, sorry. didn’t mean to spook ya… but then again i ‘am’ a skeleton.” Flowey groaned while the child went back to looking up the hill, making out a figure of the fiery monster cook with his small family of a green flamed girl, an elderly blue fire, a Heats Flamesman stationing a large grill. Other families they recognized were sitting at the top as well, filling them with a peaceful warmth inside.

They started their way up the hill with their dunkle going slow and steady while Toriel was up at the top helping with the food, Alphys chatting the ex-king, Papyrus and Unyne racing each other, and the fabulous robot chatting to his cousins. It seemed like every family in the small town was here. Then Flowey spoke up, “ Why the fuck are we out here at night? Is it the apocalypse? No-wait it couldn’t be the rapture if those idiots are setting up snacks… Why are we here-Ooh are we watching another town get nuked?!”

“ you really need to lay off the movies, they’ll rot your mind… but then again, plants don’t typically have one.” Grinned the smug skeleton, while Frisk sighed silently and remained silent.

“ Least my mind isn’t rotted like yours since skeletons technically don’t have any muscle mass…”

The blue sweatered skeleton squinted at the flower, while Flowey grinned right back at him. Thankfully Frisk's uncle… fabulous uncle? … Aunt??? … Whatever, Mettaton happen to stray away from the two other ghosts to come unjam Frisk out o their dilemma, “ Girls, girls. You’re both pretty.”

“ Shut up and walk straight away you walking satellite!” Snapped out Flowey.

“ The only straight I am darling, is a straight up bitch~!” Mettaton snapped the metallic fingers to the snarky flower. Frisk soon placed their hand onto their forehead as if to say,’ This is the family you wanted. You have no one to blame but yourself Frisk.'

After a while of everyone settling down with food and drinks, sitting on some covers to avoid the grass tips nipping at them, the children ran back to their families, discarding their sparklers. All paid attention to the sky while some humans and fire like monsters went down to the bottom of the hill. As the people down at the bottom set up their supplies, Sans was focusing more intently than anyone else. As the child held the clay pot, they noticed Sans sitting next to them, knees up with his arms wrapped around them, his bony hands clutching onto each other. He looked like a kid who was listening to an older adult reading out a book with amazing and well written stories to gather up his attention. Then there was one more thing they noticed… Their cheery dunkle wasn’t smiling, which was rather hard for him not to do considering he always had a constant grin on. His teeth looked like they were frowning very softly, again like a child awaiting an epic part of a story, anticipating what’d happen next.

Frisk knew he enjoyed the stars… Often looking at them through his telescope. Even as far as going out to the field behind their house sometimes to observe them with Alphys or Frisk. Now that Frisk thought about it all… He hadn't done that in a while, which felt unnatural as he use to view them in that manner three times week. It was only after Flowey was plucked out from his crippling loneliness did Sans stop his star gazing hobby as much. They reached out to the sapphire sweater to nudge him, ask him what was wrong even though they knew he’d deny it and hide under his mask to shield his feelings. But once they started, a sparkling glint of color shot up into the sky, catching the attention of the corner of their squinted eye. Soon enough, more colors joined their path into the sky before exploding into a stream and sea of dazzling colors and screeching noises.

Everyone was mesmerized by the brilliant display of fireworks, catching the stubborn Flower off guard. In Flowey’s eyes… He had only remembered the yearly fireworks from The Underground’s festival. All of the colors that mixed and swirled together clashing up into the cavern’s ‘sky’ always looked like a bright display off rainbows. Those and the rainbows made from magic, the constant dripping water, and some lighting effects were the only ones he ever saw. He always wanted to witness one from the real sky and darkened clouds. But now… Being on The Surface, seeing the spectacular event in the sky where the stars filled the sky, made him feel… Hurt.

After the fireworks were over, everyone went onto chatting or eating or whatever. Mumbled voices went by his head as he still stared at the starry nightly sky. Something about eyes and spying… Flowey wasn’t particularly paying much attention as his main focus was still locked onto the bright sky. That was until a pale white hand and a smaller tanned hand waved in front of his face. Flowey snapped out from his trance and retreated away as his stem bent. “ Flowey? You okay?” Frisk asked.

“ I-I’m fine!” Flowey snapped out, only to notice the slight stutter as well as his voice cracking.

“ tch, you hit puberty all the sudden?”

Flowey ignored Sans and tilted his petals to mask his face, hiding any tears he may have brought out. The child waved to their dunkle, and pulled out a napkin from their pocket before setting it on the dirt of Flowey’s pot. “ Flowey… Don’t you have something to say to Sans?” They asked gently, petting his stem.

Flowey gathered himself up and sighed, before going back to normal, looking at Sans who watched Frisk with a concerned smile. “ he doesn’t need to say anything kid, in fact, i like it when he’s quiet-“

“ Shut up for one moment you bonehead! I-I… I have something to tell you.”

“ i’m all ears. drum it up to me bud-dy’” Sans said, his smile returning to normal from the play on words of eardrum.

The golden flower ignored the comment and grabbed the napkin with a small vine, removing it to reveal Sans’ pet rock which was fixed. Sans’ eyes hollowed out into darkness, “ … hehehe.” He chuckled, his pupils soon coming back into sight. He ruffled Frisk’s hair, “ aww kid. you could have just given it to me instead of acting like the prick-ly pear over here did that."

Frisk for once actually shoved the skeleton’s arm away and shook their head, “ I was originally. But Flowey beat me to it and asked Alphys.”

“ … hehehe-hahaha, ohhhhh, that’s a good one kid-“

“ A-A-Actually it’s quite true…” Alphys mentioned as she waddled by to go get some more food on her plate. Sans’ hollowed eye returned as he slowly looked to the plant who held the pet rock out to him with two vines, looking down an away in…. Shame?

“ what’s the catch?”

" There is no catch… I’m… S-S-SSSSSoor...SSSSSSoooo-I can't say it Frisk. I can’t say it if I can’t mean it.”

“ He says he’s sorry. I’m also sorry as well. Cause I have to tell you what he means. But h-he was really upset when he broke it!” Flowey put up a rather small worried innocent like smile.

Sans carefully grabbed onto the rock, taking it away from the flower as his white shining pupils cleared the black sockets. “ it’s fine kid. however… ssssstill not forgiving you buttercup.”

Flowey's soft concerning smile grew wider, “ That’s fine, eheh. I deserve it!” He tilted his petals down to mutter to himself, his smile fading away before turning to Frisk, lifting his head up with a pitiful frown, “ Frisk…? When can we do this again?”

Chapter Text

The diminutive skeleton giggled out as he spread out his arm to simulate wing as he flew around thanks to the handy magic of the blue aura surrounding him. Papyrus did twirls, loops, and all sorts of things as he set his bright yet beady like eyes to ‘sky’ that had the large consistency of space between the cavern’s ceiling. He wasn’t brought up to high, but not too low, gilding around away from trees and buildings as his brother whisked around his finger bone, enticing the young prince with all the aerial tricks. “ chhh, this is blue-scadoo to baby-bones-“

“ I AM NOT A BABY-BONES!” Papyrus flailed his tiny arms. “ OVER!”

“ chhh, roger that, snappy-pappy. me and star-dreamer are wondering if you're getting hungry from your flight.” Papyrus stayed silent or a moment, waiting for his brother before on a small walkie-talkie Alphys gave them, Asriel watched, correcting the older skeleton, about how you have to end with an 'over'. “ chh, over.”

“ SNAPPY-PAPPY HERE! I AM READY FOR DESCENT, OVER!”

“ chh, okay, bringing you down, over.”

“ … SAAANS, YOU DON’T NEED TO MAKE THAT SOUND! ... OVER!” Papyrus yelled out again as he was being lowered slowly and carefully to the snow which had been marked with several things around the yard as a flight landing. Finally the magic let up and Papyrus was let go of as he ran with his little boots squeaking against the snow until he dashed by the two older children, crashing into a pile of snow. Asriel ran over to his aid as Sans couldn’t help but laugh from his brother popping his tiny skull out of the snow, having a pile of it on his head and in his eye sockets. ‘ MRMMM! OH LAUGH IT UP!” The small toddler patted the back of his skull, forcing the slush f ice to pour out onto the ground. Asriel couldn’t help but cover a giggle as well,pulling the toddler out from the wreckage of snow. Papyrus dusted the flakes of ice from himself, smiling up to Asriel, thanking him.

Sans crunched the snow under his sneakers to the other, smiling brightly as he stuffed his hands into is over-sized pockets of his sapphire coat. “ well, ice-see you managed to crash into the snow wall we made. good thing too, or else i’d need to revoke your flying license.” Papyrus huffed, putting his balled up mittens to his hips, sticking his orange conjured up tongue out to blow a raspberry at Sans. “ that’s just rude.” Sans squinted. Both of the brotherly acts to one another made the fuzzy prince try to hold back his laughter more, which was rather hard from these two goofy friends of his. Just then, his dangling ears picked up a sudden sound above them, getting closer and closer. He couldn’t tell if it was intended to hit them or if it was an object or magic headed their way.

“ WATCH OUT!” He yelled, snatching up the bundled up toddler, twisting around to fall out of the way as the snow ran up against his back, not wanting to squish the smaller child. The white furred prince shrouded Papyrus with his arms while the small skeleton curled up instinctively. Sans on the other hand had sensed something as well, quickly swerving his head to see just a split second of something headed right at him. He teleported out of the way, letting whatever was falling down from the ‘sky’ and into the rest of the snow wall the kids had made, adding to the previous crash.

Sans wound up kneeling next to the other two, frenetically worried if his brother and friend had gotten hurt by evading whatever swooped down to them all. “ you guys okay?!” Asriel shifted himself up to sit, shaking some powdered ice off from his fur and ears before nodding. The cradled Papyrus peeked out from his hiding and looked around to see what the cause was.

In the snow wall, stuck out a metallic like tail with a metal sail on the tip. Small wheels reversed themselves, slipping on the snow until whatever had lodged itself into the pile, broke free from the ice. It was a small plane with a bright red bow onto of its… Head? Snow littering it’s… Snout? Forcing it to sneeze and shake off the rest of the frost. “ Oh noes! Sempai Muffet is going to get soooo upset if I miss the girl scouts!”

Of course, Sans being the guy he was and not shy around new monsters like his furry friend, he suggested to help the over worried plant with her dilemma. He normally would had invited the other two to go on off with him, but since Asriel was spending the night, there wasn’t much of a point. Besides, he wanted his younger sibling connect a bit more with his dear friend… Encase Sans ever did ask the prince out. Sure he’d have to worry about his dad… but one step at a time. The only thing the playful skeleton regretted was not being able to teleport others with him. So it might be a long walk, but with Papyrus in Asriel’s paws, he didn’t stress as nearly as much as Undyne watching over the tiny skeleton.

“ So, Pappy? What should we make?” Asked the prince, happy to cook for them all once gain, finally mapping out their homely kitchen.
The small skeleton put a mitten to his chin and made an audible, ‘mmmm’ sound before gasping out with a twinkle in his eyes,” SPAGHETTI!”
Asriel chuckled, “ Man, you really like that, huh?”

“ UNDYNE AND ME COOK IT ALL THE TIME, SO HECKS YEAH I DO!” He dashed to a cabinet to pull out a box of noodles and sauce. Asriel went to get an onion, mushrooms, ‘meat’, and tomatoes, questioning himself if Undyne knew how to cook anything else… Maybe sometime he could teach her. Though he’d need someone to help with the hyper-aggressive fish. As Asriel boiled the water and poured in the noodles from their package, Papyrus set up the vegetables plus some fungus by putting them into the counter and taking his mittens off before lining his hand with the tomato.

Asriel noticed the strange act and came to his aid, “ Uhm. What are you doing, you silly skeleton?”

“ I’M GONNA’ SLICE THESE WITH MY HANDS!” Papyrus exclaimed, going back to lining up his hand to the vegetable.

“ Uhh… Why don’t you use a knife?”

Papyrus stopped and looked up t him, gasping, “ YOU CAN USE OTHER THINGS THAN YOUR HAND?!”

The prince watched the toddler, baffled as hell. “ What-Wait… Are you telling me Undyne… Slices stuff with her hands?!”

“ IT’S MORE OF A SMASHING, BUT YEAH!” He giggled out, making the goat even more nervous about the feisty girl’s cooking skills. He shook it off and searched for a knife, finally finding one. He remembered being scared of them when he watched his mother cook, they looked so sharp and harmful. But she was able to show him just how useful they were, and not intended to really am anyone.

The toddler gasped and hide behind the prince, fearing the sharp instrument much like Asriel did when he was younger. “ It’s okay. You just need t be super careful and use the tiger claw!”

“ … TIGER CLAW?”

“ Yeah like this.” And so the goat showed the eager toddling skeleton how to curl up his tiny fingers as to not cut them. Afterwards he showed the hyper ball of cuteness to prepare meatballs a without setting things on fire. Asriel had even used some of his fire magic to help heat up the stove a bit since the home was always a bit chilly since the family couldn’t really feel the chilling breeze nip by. Finally Sans had returned home and was greeted to a nice magical meal of his friend’s and brother’s making. Sans always did enjoy Asriel’s cooking. Much like he did to Grillby and Muffets. The only friends he couldn’t really stand were meals made from Alphys and Undyne. They weren’t terrible but… Undyne normally set something on fire and Alphys food was normally heated from a microwave. He thought about mundane things like this after the meal was gobbled up and helped the young prince wash the dishes. Of course Sans declined his friend having to fuss about them, but Asriel was raised in a nice environment and to be helpful. That and his demoner wouldn’t let him off the hook unless he was tired.

Everything was calm until… A familiar yelp popped out nearby Sans. Turning around he saw Asriel had accidentally clipped some of his palm on the knife. Papyrus started to worry and tear up while Asriel dropped the kitchen tool to the floor, stained with black and red liquid. “ paps, go get the first aid! bring it to our room!” The small skeleton quickly responded, dashing to a small tabled cabinet that had some books in it while Sans helped his white furred friend to their room, not wanting any of the magical blood to drip in the kitchen. Last time, marrow dripped in there, Gaster had gotten worried and went into ‘Dad Mode’, stressing about his children from Sans accidentally clipping his finger bone on something sharp. But in their room, they could clean it up without their dad having to worry and figure out if his sons managed to get to their room without leaving behind a trail, that they were okay.

Asriel sat on the edge of San’s bed, healing himself slowly. He had only healed others, but not himself funny enough. He was more worried about other than himself, which was thoughtful but could also become dangerous. Sans sprayed something on his palm, making him wince from a sudden sting and wrapped up his paw with a long bandage. Sans went to put some tape on the flimsy wrapping, securing it, only to notice Papyrus standing next to the first aid kit tearing up from fear. Sans smiled softly to him, “ hey, hey. paps it’s okay.”

“ NU-UH! IT’S MY FAULT! I FILLED UP THE SINK WITH TOO MANY BUBBLES AND WATER SO HE COULDN’T SEE IT!” He bawled out.

Asriel frowned, seeing the toddler cry was affecting him, making him start to have water fill his eyes “ P-Pappy, how… How about you go get a movie? Me and Sans will join you in a few. You should go calm down-o-or your gonna’ make me start crying.” He sniffled a bit. Papyrus nodded sadly, not wanting the sensitive goat monster to join him in his tiny child crying fit and snatched some movies from the bookcase and scurried out quickly. As soon as he left, Asriel began to calm down, wiping any tears away. He looked down to his paw, seeing Sans had wrapped the wound up nicely. “ Wow… Dude, you're like a doctor.”

“ heh… well, my dad is kinda a doctor. except he mostly deals with souls.”

“ You know Sans… You’re the only one whose ever seen my soul besides my parents.” As the skeleton put up the supplies into the first aid kit, he froze up. In monster culture, showing ones soul to another was rather. What was the word, 'sacred'? Souls were normally viewed if there was an issue or for battle purposes. But showing a soul to another, especially if one is liked among the user, meant a slightly deeper meaning. Though under the circumstances, Sans saw the prince's soul during the fight, it still messed with him since the two had bonded together. Asriel kicked his feet around the side of the bed, shyly looking down, fiddling with his fingers, “ I never got to say sorry."

“ huh? for what?”

“ Showing you my soul. I-It was indecent of me-“

Sans stood up, baffled, “ dude, we were in a fight. it's not like you showed it off for anyone to envy you or to be prideful-“

“ I-I know. But… I-I kinda wanted to s-show you it alone. See if you’d uhm…uh…” He hesitated, blushing up.

Sans walked over and sat right beside him, making the goat’s cheeks light up with magic, turning the fur on his cheeks into a pink and red color. “ if i liked you or something?” He sheepishly nodded. “ heh, azzy. of course, there’s nothing to be afraid of. you know what. here, how bout I show you mine?” Asriel swerved his head to his friend, shocked to hear Sans comb over the whole thing. Before he could object, Sans held a upside down heart made of magic, bright neon blue glowing, with a small glint of yellow and red swirling around in the middle, entwining with one another. Sans’ even handed the bright shining soul to his friend who let it float above his paws, feeling a soothing warmth radiate from it.

“ Sans… It’s… It’s so beautiful.” Asriel choked back on some tears at the very mere sight and feeling of his friend being in his palms. It made him feel safe, secure, calm. Asriel smiled before letting it float in one paw. A mellowed out rainbow colored soul appeared in his free paw, handing it carefully to Sans.

“ wh-wha? zzzy-“

“ It’s only fair.” The prince smiled happily, letting the skeleton feel the comforting warmth of the soul. It was even more beautiful up close and not in danger. A sudden wave f peace washed over Sans, much like the song Asriel sang to him. The two sat there happily, feeling safe and peace tranquil their stressed emotions. The two eventually sent their souls back within themselves and had unknowingly held a free hand with the other After pulling away, embarrassed, they joined up with the lone toddler and watched movies and played about until eventually the three dozed off after a long time.

Hours went by, the front door opening as the scientist walked into his home off from finishing up work. His pupils caught some wrapped up spaghetti in a bowel for him on the kitchen’s counter, and the TV showing off static. He went to turn it off, only to find the three children cuddled up on the couch, far off into their dreams. With a smirk the lanky skeleton lifted the prince up with a purple aura and picked up his two young sons. He teleported to their room, setting Papyrus and Sans in their respected beds while magically conjured skeletal hands pulled out an inflatable mattress from up on the bookcase. After filling it with air from a soft sounding pump, the purple mist put the prince down into it before putting blankets over him. Gaster smiled at the three, turning on a fan, then heading right out the door, flipping off the lights above.

After a while the younger of the trio whimpered out in his sleep, waking up a tired Sans who sat up and got out of his bed, almost tripping over Asriel’s makeshift bed. He yawned and crawled onto the car themed bed, to the middle, letting Papyrus instantly cling to him. As he closed his heavy eyes, he heard something… Far too sleepy to look about, he instead listened to quiet sobbing and gasping. He figured Asriel must have had a nightmare. Though his eyes were closed, he could just sense Asriel was awake and probably curled up in a fetal position. He patted the spot next to him, and soon felt Asriel’s fur brush up against his bones. Sans smile in his sleep as both Papyrus and Asriel huddled next to him, keeping him cozy enough to have no need of a blanket. However… The short skeleton did wonder what had made Asriel so frightened, to even reach deep into his dreams. His half sleeping mind clouded his thinking of what it could have been about… Maybe it was about his-
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“ M-M-Mommy? D-Daddy? Ch-Chara? An-Anyone?! S-Somebody! Pl-Please! HE-HELP ME!” Flowey screamed out, waking up in pitch black, darkness looming all around him. He couldn’t think straight, where was he? Was he in the void? No, no, that’s impossible! It was so dark! It made him so scared… And then he saw that pale skull in the corner, smiling at him, distorting as it’s pupils shined through. He couldn’t move. All he could do was cry to himself until… A shining light of blue tore through the darkness, making Flowey fill up with even more dread. “ Pl-please...PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”

A small light shined over him, making him snap out of his paranoia. Noting was in the corner except for a small whirling tornado that carried crumpled up papers and a sleeping annoying dog. He observed his new found surroundings, his mind finally catching up with him… He was in Sans’ room. That’s right! During this run, he had opened up to the skeleton brothers, revealing his secret, and eventually moving in with the two. Helping Papyrus train to join the Royal Guard, and to catch up with his old friend, catching up their relationship. Of course Flowey tried to be positive, and it was rather exhausting to a point, but being with them had its perks. One being Sas was trying to help him pull trough. And two, being able to sleep in one of their bedrooms, often switching rooms every other night from the flower’s constant bombardment of nightmares of all he had done wrong in the past, sinking into his mind. He had been with the two for maybe five months or so, but each night the determination within him grew more and more irritated… Like Chara themselves were inside him, throwing hissy fits of FLowey not resetting and going nowhere.

A blue veil of mist picked up the small potted plant and hovered him over to the bed, the light of the lamp nearby turning off. Sans pushed his clump of a blanket and pillow up against the bed where the two walls making the corner met. The pot was weakly and slightly unsteadily put down in the arms of the skeleton who only wore a plain white shirt and blue pants. He cradled the clay pot and leaned into them around of the tangles blankets and pillow that rested inside like a soft cocoon. Flowey sniffled from the tears pouring down his cheeks of the nightmare. “ shhhh…” Sans cooed out as he pet Flowey’s stem smoothly.

Adjusting to the darkness in his awakened state, Flowey witnessed a magically floating glass of water hover on over to him. Flowey gulped down some of the cold iced water before pulling back. The cup then tilted so Flowey’s roots could soak up the refreshing water that poured into his pot of soft soil. Sans must have heard him whimpering in his sleep, teleporting to fetch the water for him. “ better azzy?"

“ Y-Yeah… Yeah…” He trailed off unknowingly gaining the skeleton’s attention.

“ okay, what’s bothering you? normally you just shrug it off or say thanks even if you can’t mean it.”

Flowey rested himself on Sans, quivering, “ Sans. I don’t know how much longer I can do this. Something inside… Wants me to reset. I-I don't want to go back to being alone. I don’t want to hurt anyone again. I-I don’t want to-to-to reset!” Sans sighed lightly, feeling tears run down his shirt.

“ … i know azzy, i know. neither do i… but, things just happen. might as well make the rest of this run count. i’m here for ya azzy.” He held onto the pot slightly tighter, keeping his voice calm and his own tears to a minimum. He knew Asriel couldn’t help it… The two of them had grown up and apart so differently. In runs like these, the judge didn’t hold it against hm. That was just how Asriel had become. He let loose is soul, which somewhat calmed he distressed plant. Asriel sniffled and curled around the bottom of the soul or warmth and comfort, but not to harm it in anyway. Sans gently pet the flower’s stem softly before leaning over for a quick peaceful moment to give his old broken friend a peck on the head before leaning back to sleep with Asriel, letting the-
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Darkness as far as the eye, or in Sans’ case, the pupil could see. All he could see around his world was pure darkness, and yet he could see his own bony hands clack together as his arms were covered up by his sapphire sleeves. It was like everything around him was nothing, yet he stood out in complete color to the inky void around him. He shrugged it off and started walking about, stuffing his hand into his pockets, growing bored of the absence of… Well anything. Eventually he came across a form of light, shooting down to what seemed like a flooring of pure darkness. And in the middle of the spray of light on the flooring, sat a figure. The sound of whimpers came through the hollow air, making Sans turn the way back around. “ nope.” He traveled away until.. The same sight happen before him yet again. Sans went another direction, having see the sight from before e there. Eventfully, every time he turned, that sight was in front of him. He tried walking backwards, but didn't seem to be get any further away. He tried teleporting as well, but to no avail. He sighed and bit his… Lip? Lower jaw? I don’t even know. And carefully snuck to the figure, still keeping his distance, not wanting to get any closer. Thankfully the figure moved, Sans stopping in his tracks. The figure was small, wearing clothes that seemed rather familiar to the skeleton, from a long time ago. It’s back to him, slouched on its knees and wrapping his arms around itself. The figure looked up a bit to the white glistening light.

Then a young frightened and sat gentle voice broke the silence. “ Oh, I am all alone, I'm surrounded by my fears. Haunted with these shackles, now they sent me straight to tears. I'm not allowed to cry, 'cause they told me I would die. Oh no... They're getting neaaar...” The voice went back into the quiet air, the young figure's head dropping back down in despair.

“ a-azzy?” Sans asked, his puzzled voice echoing around them both.

The figure’s head rose up “ S-Sans…?” He squeaked out.

Sans felt a wide smile spread across his skull, joyful tears rising up and out of the eye sockets. “ asirel!” The prince frowned and turned back around to his slumping position as Sans rushed over, putting his hand on is shoulder, “ a-asriel, your alive! i'm so happy to see you again! you’re going to be okay now that i'm here! i promise!”

“ … You do?”

“ of course!”

“ Then… Why?” Asriel’s voice slowed down into a slur.

Sans’ cheerfulness lowered down into the worry position, “ why wh-what?”

“ Why…” Asriel turned his head over his old shirt's shoulder to view Sans better. Sans’ tensed u as he saw his ld friend’s face look up to him. Asriel’s face seemed much more skull like in the shape of the monster he was, globs of fur and white slime oozing off from his head, while vacant sold black eye sockets stared at him with pin-point pupils staring him right in the eyes. “ Did YoU brEEEEEAAak Our PrOMise?” He gargled out. Sans quickly jumped back away, watching in disbelief of Asriel slowly turning his melting face to him like an owl. The goat monster stood up slowly, turning around to match its twisted head. “ WHHHHY did yOu LEeeeave mE?” Sans gulped and stepped back as Asriel’s face worsened, more chunks of slime dripped off and splattered onto the ground. “ whhhy DID youu RuunN AWayaay?” Asriel began to sound more… Hurt and distressed than angry to Sans. “ whYhY didDinDn't YUyuo heEEHElp MEmEMEEee?” Asriel’s voice further distorted, slowly walking to Sans who was more horrified to see someone he use to call his friend melt into some kind of amalgamation. Suddenly Asriel stopped, noticing Sans further backing away and let out a pained groaned as tears melded with the slime. “ WhWWHhWHhy… DoddOo… yyOYuYOYOu…hAAHAThAHATE… MeEEEEeEEEeEEeeeEee…?” Asriel sobbed out, curling his arms around once again, hanging his head in shame.

“ a-asriel? Sans asked cautiously, his own voice cracking from the sight.

Asriel looked up, mourning, “ Help me...” He reached out only for the light above start to slim down, letting the darkness around on the ground grow slower, and eventually crawl up Asriel. As the light left, the darkness began to rapidly cover the prince, snapping Sans out of his fear and run right over to him. But before he could get to the other monster, the darkness had swallowed him up, leaving him as a hardened statue of molded tar. Sans slowed his pace the closer e got to the black hardened statue, sighing in defeat. He crept a tad closer, putting finger on the cool remnants of the tar like substance an quickly recoiling back. The goo stayed didn’t stick or start enveloping onto him, so for the moment the skeleton hugged onto the statue, holding back a choking sob.

“ oh, azzy… god, i’m so.... ugh, i'm such… such-such-“ Suddenly a crackling sound ripped through the quiet air. The statue’s right arm crumbling away, only for a large amount of ooze to leak out, eventually molding itself into what seemed like a long enraged hand an arm. Soon the other arm busted out and did the same, while the statue Sans clung onto vibrated. With a quick teleport away, he saw the molded tar’s legs cave in, tar oozing out all over the floor and lifting the torso upwards. Soon the lower torso broke, freeing more ooze tat slowly took form. Finally the upper torso, an then the head, The head’s pulsing and oozing tarred substance formed a rather small head compared to the rest of its bulking body. It soon grew out long floppy ears, having notches al around them as they slid off the sides of the head. Then came the curved horns, brimming from the top of the skull like head. Two enormous empty eyes glowed a thin white iris with void lack pupils in the middle. Dark purple or violet mixed with black soon shaded in the monstrosity as it hovered off the ground wit it’s stubby legs, sprawling its massive arms out to the sides. On its chest, symbolized the delta ruin with a blackened upside-down heart with crimson lines crossing through it. The ghastly behemoth chuckled, letting loose a wicked and demonic speech that could almost rive one mad.

“ AaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaNnnnnnnnnnNNNNNnN IIIIDddDiDIDITIO-IdiIDITodIT-IDIOT!!!!!!" Its voice boomed out. Sans teleported away, but only found himself facing the demonic entity in the same position, staring down at him… Judging him. An army of sharpened tipped bones sprung out from the shadows to the creature. The bulky entity chuckled deeply, spitting out a black tar ball, slowly flying to the bones. The ball suddenly exploded, thin needles raining down, colliding with the bones, smashing them into fragments. The skeleton quickly summoned up circle of Gaster Blaster set up all around the entity, whirring up and firing at it. Once smoke dissipated from the air of the beams hitting their designated target, the entity floated there, chunks of it gone, like it had been chewed up by a swarm of piranhas and left to float there. Sans took a large sigh of relief… Then noticed the body patching itself up by the sinews, recovering the blasted chunks. Again the draconic skulls blasted at it, however this time, the blasters were suddenly shattered as the entity rose a bulky arm, summoning stars destroying them. The skeleton threw up his hands, summoning two rather large blasters on his sides, unhinging their mouths and releasing a strong beam to their target.

At first Sans seemed to have hit it with full force, slicing the upper torso into oblivion. Unfortunately when the two beams stopped, the entity lifted its upper torso back up. It seemed as if it was playing a painful looking limbo once it’s upper torso retracted back to normal. The devilish entity smiled coyly and swooped its massive hand down and up, the wind forcing the skeleton and is skulls up into the air. The creature reached out, grabbing hold of the tree before juggling tem around in the air, letting them all bump into each other once or twice. The demonic entity laughed at its own amusement, tossing them up into the air one final time, spreading out its arms to collide with the three falling back down in a single clap of its hands. A slow yet powerful spin of the entity with a single hand clutch onto its captive before letting go, making the tree zip away. The three hit the ground and tumbled onto their sides, the draconic skulls simply crumbling away into code while Sans painfully laid there on his stomach, gasping and panting from the amount pain that swept over him. He felt himself be picked up by his hood from two sharpened tips of claws as he swung around limp.

The demonic entity brought the beaten skeleton to its face and grinned, opening it’s maw so Sans could see a peek of dark rainbow like colors squirming and swirling around inside the ting’s jaws with no tongue. Then the claws retreated, letting the weak skeleton drop right into-

The carpet. Sans sat up and groaned, rubbing his skull, thankfully no damage ad occurred, or if it had, it'd been at least -0.5. He had to get use to that sort of thing since his nightmares sometimes made him roll out of bed. And being at 1 HP, wasn’t ideal for the situation. Thankfully his HoPe was growing... Slowly. His eye opened up to catch something or someone urn on his lamp. There stood a pajama wearing Frisk, tiredly holding an upset Flowey in a pot. “ Hey, turn your blue off. If I wanted to fight you, I’d have strangled you already." Sans’ left eye lowered its fizzle, Frisk being too tired to bat at the flower.

“ hehehe, so kiddo, you just gonna’ stand there and play 40 winks with me or what?”

Frisk let out a tiny yawn, “ Sans… I only went downstairs with Flowey to get us something to drink. On the way to our room, you left the door wide open and kept yelping out and whimpering.”

“ … ehhh… sorry kiddo.” Sans’ casual smile turned sour

“ It’s okay. That’s why we’re here. So you can sleep better.”

“ aw jeez kid. seriously you don’t need to-“ Frisk placed the pot on the floor, then took hold on the skeleton’s boney wrist, helping him up and shoving him into the bed stubbornly. The dunkle sighed and pushed his blankets into the corner of his bed, laying back in it. Frisk was fairly stubborn when someone was in need, even if the person didn’t want any aid. Frisk snatched up the potted plant and squirmed themselves onto the bed to sit right beside their dunkle. Both were frankly to tired to even scoot the pot away from being in Frisk’s arms, and ending to be next to Sans.

“ Flowey sing the song.”

“ Wha-Nnnnnnnu!” He protested.

“ Aww, c’mon! You know it helps me sleep. Maybe it’ll help Sans.”

“ I could care less if it DID help…”

Frisk sat there momentarily, their cheeks puffing up with anger, “ You wanna’ sleep on the couch?”

“ Argh! Okay, okay! Fine! You owe me…” The flower shuddered in hatred before clearing his throat… stem? Then came a soothing and relaxing melody Sans hadn't heard in years played out… Or maybe hadn't heard in resets, who knew. “ Oh, let’ go in the garden. You'll find something waiting. Right there where you left it. Lying upside-down. oh, when you finally find it. You'll see how it’s faded. The underside is lighter, when you turn it around. Everything stays right where you left it. Oh, everything stays, but it still changes. Ever so slightly. Daily and nightly. In little ways… When everything stays…”

The short skeleton of the two brother’s pupils faded deep into his eye sockets, slowly turning to the flower and child, seeing Frisk had gone back to sleep. Flowey was about to as well, but noticed Sans watching him. He turned around and glared, hissing out at him,” The fucks your problem bone-head?!” He quietly yelled out.

“ h-how… how do you… how do you know that song?” Sans’ empty eyes grew into a small fragmented glare back.

“ Because ‘COMEDIAN’… Toriel sings it to Frisk when their upset or need to sleep. I’m always with them, so get the fuck off my back already.” The flower huffed out, quickly closing his petals around his face, leaning over to sleep. The skeleton sighed in annoyance, blue magic turning off the lamp before letting him fall back into his dreams, hopefully….. An hour or so had gone by, two dunkle and child both in a deep slumber, leaving Flowey to open u his petals. He hated the nights without his music box. He was able to sleep without it, like he had before Frisk had gotten it for him, but it would end up with him screaming in his sleep most of the times. Without it, he couldn’t sleep without a nightmare, and rather not want to risk upsetting his ‘sibling’. So he stayed up as best e could. A glimpse of light slid through a crack of the window, signifying him it was getting to be morning time. With this opportunity, he could go to sleep now. But he still needed some type of comfort. His beady eyes scanned up to the skeleton and child, slumping his stem on Sans, closing his heavy eyes. But of course… He still needed a tune to lull him into sleep.

Chapter Text

The normally hot-headed fish locked onto her target, her one cat-like iris narrowing thinner and thinner, surrounded the golden yellow of her eye. She gripped the end of the stick harshly, almost making it crack from under her pressure. The stick itself wrapped over with a bandage for better grip as she curled her finned hand around it, biding her time to strike. Then came her target, a bright red ball that was surprisingly hefty instead of being hollow like it would seem. Doggo threw the ball straight to her, restraining himself to not run after it and ultimately get his snout bashed in by the fish. Once the ball was let go and sped to Undyne, she twisted around, striking the ball, making it sail far out into the cold climate of Snowdin. Sans who was behind the feisty finned monster, tilted his mask up to watch the ball go to far for anyone else to catch. Papyrus gasped out as the other toddlers and Alphys tripped over themselves trying to catch it. Undyne grinned madly and ran around the track to her starting point to do a victory dance... Only to soon find everyone wasn’t celebrating along with her. “ … What gives?!”

Sans growled and threw his hardy glove at her, smacking her right dab on the forehead, “ dude! seriously?! we said to go easy! And not only that, but that was paps’ favorite ball! we only took it here because every other ball we’ve had was too weak, and broke when you hit them! that was our only ball that couldn’t break! hell, our dad tested it and was still baffled by it!”

Undyne quickly threw the glove off her face to look back at the ‘sky’, her fins lowering down the sides of her blue skin, “ Oh shit…” Then came the tears from the younger skeleton, sniffling at his prized ball had just vanished like that. The others started to comfort him while Asriel frowned, feeling deeply sorry for the upset child. He puffed up his chest and rose up from the log they made to be the bleacher. He stood up on the fallen wood, spreading his arms out.

“ GUYS!” He yelled out, surprising everyone to look and listen. “ As future king, I will not let you guys down! Not as my people, but as my friends! We’re gonna' get that ball! Alphys, watch over the smaller kids. Undyne, Grillby, Sans, and Doggo! We’re gonna’ get that ball!” Suddenly Papyrus’ eyes sparkled with hope while the smaller children cheered and clapped to the prince. Aphys stood there, perplexed and in shock from hearing Asriel’s small speech.

Once he hopped off and gathered the others, Sans was the first to speak up “ whoa, where did ‘that’ suddenly come from?”

“ W-Well… I saw how upset Papyrus was, a-and I felt like I really needed to do something.”

“ Holy shit, he’s like a mini version of Asgore! Taking point and charge like that! You’ve grown so much spunk!” Undyne declared, grabbing him and rubbing her knuckles against his head to make him bleat out.

Grillby quirked a flaming brow… If he has one, “ Still needs to grow some backbone, but I ain’t judging. Doggo, you got the scent of that ball?”

“ Hell yeah! It smells like a mix of bones, dog treats, and belly rubs!!”

Undyne paused her grip on the goat, “ … The fuck do belly rubs smell like?”

The small group of teenagers, early teenagers, and tweens peeked out from a small snowy hill that was high enough to peer over a lone house near the river. Unlike most homes, this one had a backyard! And a rather large one at that, with crops spread around in rows lining down and up with impressively sized holes dug to the sides of each line. The holes seemed to go into ground, rather deep with no means of light being put up around the tunnels that connected each hole. Asriel tilted his head at the odd predicament while Undyne soured the field of frost, finding the ball in one of the odd crop stalks. “ There it is!” She gave a toothy grin, hopping up and sliding down the icy hill with her boots. " ALRIGHT LET'S DO THIS!"

“ Oh my god, did she just go down the hill?” Grillby asked, a stiffness in his voice that neither Asriel or Doggo ever heard.

“ yup…”

“ SAVE HER! STICK TOGETHER!” Shouted the fiery monster who started to run down the slope with Sans right behind him.

“ oh jeez!”

The goat and dog monster looked to each other in confusion… Well Asriel had to poke the canine’s shoulder since he was looking the wrong way. Down at the bottom of the hill, both boy tackled Undyne into the snow. “ AHHHRG WHAT GIVES NOW?!”

As the other two made their sensitive ears picked up on why exactly they had stopped the grumpy fish. “ This is old man Bogglesnout -Juce’s house! When a ball goes in, it doesn’t come back out ever! He’ll snatch it up and keep it if he sees it!”

“ key word, ‘if’. he’s almost, if not more blind than doggo.”

The dog let out a small growl, “ Hey!”

Grillby continued, “ He’s might be old, but when he’s under the ground, he moves like nobody’s business! He hates anyone going into is yard, thinking they’ll tamper with is slush-berries that he grows and sells.”

Undyne rolled her eye,” So? Sans go levitate it.”

“ heck no dude. he can sense magic more than anything else. and if it goes up into the air, he’ll notice it for sure!"

Asriel tapped his fuzzy chin, “ Can’t you just teleport and get it?”

Sans quickly swerved to the prince holding up a bony finger, about to say something. However the words never left his teeth and the finger curled up. “ … you got a point.” With a wide cheeky grin, he winked to the others, giving a thumbs up. The others smiled, wising him luck, except for the flaming monster, who still seemed unnerved.

Undyne gave her infamous toothy grin.“ Oh calm down Grills. It’s an old man, how bad can he possibly be? Besides, this is Sans we’re talking about.”

Sans vanished into a blue veil of smoke, appearing right next to the stalk that the bright red ball had fell onto. He smiled wide, reaching out for it. Why didn’t he think of this any sooner? Sure the old man gave him ad Grillby some trouble in the past, but now with his new ability, it was a piece of cake! As he reached for it, in a millisecond something snatched his wrist, forcefully pulling him up t dangle from it. The other kids gasped and hid behind some snow, Grillby instructing them to do and remain quiet. A set of claws twirled around Sans’ bones, being connected to a very thin arm before connecting to its owner who was only slightly taller than the skeleton. The monster himself was a thin slender looking salamander or a worm with black and white stripes covering his body to the tip of a twisted up tail. The monster sported a burgundy and mossy green overalls with a mellowed cream shirt, much like Sans’ undershirt. Squinted eyes stared at Sans behind round black glasses. The elderly monster’s head and upper tail were more fatter than the rest of his body. His long snout formed an angry curl with his green lips, three fronds on the back of his head flattened. “ What’re ya doin’ in my field Wingdings?!” He snapped out with a striped tongue.

“ oh, ehehe… i was uhhh just in the neighborhood… and uh… thought you needed help harvesting.” Sans smiled widened painfully from a nervous reaction.

Bogglensout lowered him, a lower set of arms crossing, “ Ah, well Wingdings, ya could’a just asked. But ya should be knowin’ betta’ that it ain’t harvestin’ time… So WHY are ya here?” His sudden kind demeanor vanished as he lifted the skeleton up again, Sans looked around fearfully.

“ uhm… you didn’t see anything~.” His free hand wiggled his fingers as he was suddenly gone.

“ WHAT IN THE BLUE BLAZES OF HELL ITSELF?! YA DAMNED WHIPPERSNAPPER!” He shouted, waving is arm around before sliding down the hole he popped up from.

With Sans back with the others, they thought while the sort skeleton took a breather. Undyne looked to Grillby, “ Your crafty Grills, just make a prank and go get it.”
“ Undyne. You don’t understand. Out of all the monsters in Snowdin. He is the one SINGLE guy, me and Sans cannot prank. He’s craftier than us combined! Our ranks always fall flat on our asses and slap us back.”

Asriel listened n before speaking up,” Why don’t we just knock on his door and ask him for the ball back?”

Sans and Grilly both stared at the prince in an odd manner, making the goat lower his opinion down. And so the many trial and errors came through. Each one failing ultimately, leaving them all tuckered out. As everyone rested, Asriel caught a glimpse of their savior, that being violet skinned spider. He rushed on over to Muffet as she carried her wagon of scout cookies. Sans reached out, calling him back, “ a-azzy, wait! he’ll know something's up if she distracts him!”

Despite the warnings, the group watched the spider nod to the prince happy, both walking to the elder’s porch. Grillby let his words spill out, “ What the hell is he doing? Bogglesnout had already seen him, he’ll know something's up.”

The door opened after a ring of the buzzer where the monochrome monster met with the two, chatting. Asriel seemed to point to the group, which in turn… Actually made the elderly monster turn to them and wave. Asriel signaled them to come over, further shocking the group until they came out of hiding and walked over as Muffet exchanged some cookies to Bogglesnout

Bogglesnout happily munched on a cookie, looking over to the group and smiling. “ Ya best thank ya lil’ friend here youngin’s. He n’ Muffet helped calm me down with some good ol’ pastries. And, he explained that y'all was just gettin’ Wingding’s brotha’ his ball back. Though, I does make me wonder a pickle… Why didn’t ya just knock on the door n’ ask?”

The group’s jaws dropped before Undyne balled up a fist and socked Grillby in the shoulder making him raise his hand to the now tender spot. The elderly monster put his claws on Asriel’s shoulder who was proud with himself for nice as he wagged his stumpy tail. “ See. This is what legends are made up of. Some kid doin' the unimaginable, spreadin' tales around. By doin’ somethin’ marvelous, n’ outta’ the ordinary. N’ lemme’ tell ya lot. Y’all gonna’ be doin’ great things in the future, I can tell. I sense it in the air. So, rememba' kids, there's heroes n’ there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow ya heart n’ soul kids, and y'all neva’-“
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Go wrong. That’s right… Nothing could go wrong. Not now, not this time, not this run! Flowey straightened his stem up as he was placed at The Waterfalls. He was finally… Somebody. He could finally feel like he truly belonged. Like… He was actually needed. Why hadn’t he joined the Royal Guard before until now? In The Royal Guard, he could fit in, b useful, people actually needed him… Sure he still couldn’t feel a ting, but he could at least pretend and almost feel at home. Tis run, he and Papyrus trained or quite a while for the duo to finally get in after much frustration. Flowey hadn’t even armed or killed anyone thus far! It was going great! Well… Mostly… Flowey was never actually assigned to look for humans, but more of settle down any disturbances at The Waterfall. More of minor things, but that was okay with him. If a human seventh human did somehow fall into The Underground, his old habits might have come back, wanting to take their soul. Have power… Maybe have a life again. He kept telling himself he was no longer Asriel, considering many previous times before, Asgore, the king! His own father… Denied him a single soul of the six humans who somehow fell into The Underground while he was away until that faithful day Alphys unknowingly resurrected him from the emptiness of the void he slumbered for years. Funny… The first time he died, he saw bountiful lights of warmth and Chara smiling… Happy for once. Then it all vanished. It seemed like only a few minutes, but in reality it had been years until he woke again.

The only other thing that bothered him was the happy go-lucky’s skeleton’s older brother. The few times Sans met with the flower were… Unsettling to say the least. Again, this was one of the only things that were ever actually afflicted with Flowey’s reset. Sometimes the two would never meet, some Sans would be friendly, other times ere hostile, some even becoming ‘friends’, knowing Flowey’s true self, and then there were the times where Sans stayed bitterly cold to the flower. Sure it seemed predictable, but it really wasn’t, considering their frequent change. It was always different. The only real fun Flowey had when he wasn’t trying anything new, r knew how something played out.

Flowey’s inner thoughts soon crashed back into reality as he found a small monster waddle over to him, looking like a scrunched up furry goblin with long descending ears in a pink sweater and a blue skirt. The small monster fiddled with her rather thick glasses, “ R-Royal guard! Pl-Please help! There a-are some rapscallions degrading that poor old statue near the piano!”

Inside, Flowey felt like ripping someone's spine out, but he grew better than his old habits… He hoped at least. With a proud grin him and Papyrus trained, he nodded to the tiny elderly monster, “ No problem ma’am! Just leave it to me!” With that, he burrowed under the dirt, a vine snatching up a small helmet; the only thing that signified he was a Royal Guard. As he heard a thank you above, he felt… Proud… Though that could have just been pride, the bitter satisfaction he could get.

He popped up to the statue to sees delinquents spray painting the wall around it, painting the statue, cutting holes in the umbrellas nearby, and one jiggling the old music box. He furrowed his brow and frowned, “ HEY! STOP THAT!” The punk teens or young adults stopped an looked down at him. These monsters must have grown from The Capital considering they weren’t any the flower saw in these parts. Suddenly they went back to what they were doing, making Flowey snap out, “ WHAT DID I JUST SAY?! STEP AWAY FROM THE STATUE, IN THE NAME OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” He angrily put his tiny helmet over his head… Only for it to slide down his head.
The punks stopped yet again and laughed at the small angered flower, one coughing and hacking on a cigarette.

A camel with sunglasses chuckled and knelt down, flicking the helmet off, “ Oh? And what is the ‘great and mighty guard flower gonna’ do? Rub me with poison ivy?” He inhaled deeply before moving his cigarette and blowing smoke into Flowey’s face. With coughing from the foul stench, the punks started up while Flowey threatened them more. As this was going nowhere, Fowey was forced to use… Well, force. Vines strung up the camel, hanging him upside-down while other vines snatched the spray cans, crushing them with ease. The other monsters gasped at the raw strength and sudden needle looking teeth snarling at them. The one holding the music box trembled violently, throwing the box at the flower and turning tail away from the area. The music box suddenly hit the gold flower before hitting the ground and shattering from all the water damage and oldness. The vines dropped everything, making the others make a run for it.

After Flowey recovered from the sudden pain, his eye opened to find his old beloved music box… Broken. It’s sweet melody tuning down, making him grow stiff. The music box had meant s much to him… The memories it brought back shot through his mind making him curl up at how mistreated it was. Just like how he was…

As Sans napped at his station, he was woken with a sudden slam of the station’s counter, jolting him awake with that eerie blue glow n his eye, “ i told you, the snails stole my money!” He yelled out, half asleep.

He was met with the single yellow eye of Undyne staring down at him, “ … What?”

“ what?”

“ … Riiight…” She trailed off to shrug his inane statement away.

“ hehehe, so what can i get you? ya know i only serve up hot dogs. so, no fish-sticks… or well, in your case, fish-tits.” He smiled widely up to Undyne, making her fins quiver in rage.

“ Okay first, I wouldn’t eat your food if it was the last thing on God’s green Earth. Second, fuck you. Third, I woke you up for something urgent and I rather not have Papyrus around for this. And fourth… Fuck you.”

“ you just said ‘fuck you’ twice. i thought you liked alphys?”

Undyne just glared before grabbing him by his coat and pulling him up, “ SHUT UP! There’s something very, very wrong!”

“ what, like you waking me up just to harass me?” He closed his eyes, smiling. He figured it might just be one of Undyne’s surprises for his brother.

“ No! Some monsters around here have been noticing other monster’s disappearances! Mostly teens and stuff, but it’s starting to escalate from children to adults to the elderly!” Sans eyes snapped open, his smile gone, just like his pupils. “ I can’t even get any clues and worst off, that rookie has gone AWOL! I can’t find him anywhere! I figured since you can teleport, you could-could-”

“ …undyne, i’m gonna’ need you to calm down. i’ll take a look around.” And with that he was gone and out from her grip, spooking her slightly.

Eventually after gathering up so many monsters together into a dead end, the flower rolled around almost joyfully in the piles of dust around him. It almost made him feel happy… But it was only adrenaline and the twisted pleasure of taking a life, only adding to his negativity. “ see, your having fun.” Flowey’s stem snapped up to see the short skeleton standing nearby, watching him with hollow eye sockets. “ why did i know it was you? you just can’t let it go huh? you help paps, you get into the royal guard, you don’t harm anyone in months. and then, bam, your back to being a murderer. what is it with you? can’t turn over a new leaf?”

The flower’s stem drooped backwards as Flowey grinned manically, small white dots in his eyes. He giggled, not phasing Sans one bit. “ I tried. I reeeeally tried ehehehe~! But I forgot… How much fun it was to have confliction. To fight. TO KILL.” He laughed in a psychotic manner, slowly finishing it. “ Want to know what else is FUN? Seeing you, talking with you… Your always different from these-these VERMIN! You always change. That’s what I like about you. SO! Ehehee-oh golly, I’m feeling all giddy~! Let’s fight!” His stem stood up straight, bloodlust still in his mind and eyes. “ No… Wait.”His painful looking grin lowered, “ I know what makes our fights so much more fun~!” Sans finally showed a glare. “ Oh relax, it’s not about brother. That’s toooooo easy and dull! However, this never gets old!” His face seemingly melted and morphed into an innocent face with disturbing twist of a grin and spiteful eyes. “ Hehe, howdy Sans~! It’s me! Your best friend… Your DEAD friend!”

And suddenly… All of the bitterness and anger washed away from the skeleton who was prepared to fight to the death. Sans' white pupils coming out of hiding as his toothy smile furrowed down. “ a-azzy?” His voice cracked out as streams of tears flowed down his cheekbones.

“ Yup! It’s me! You must be sooooo angry and full of rage to know it was me, all along! AHAHAHA! So come on, let's fight, let’s maim, let’s-let’s… What are you doing?” The blood hyped flower suddenly paused as he watched Sans slowly walk over to him in a non-threatening manner. “ Wh-Why do you look… So… Sad?”

“ azzy… it’s really you. i’m not sad. i-i’m so happy.” He felt to his knee bones and smiled as tears ran down. “ i mean… yeah i’m upset at what you’ve done. but. i’m so happy to see you. i’ve missed you so much.”

Asriel’s stem backed away, “ St-STOP THAT! Your suppose to-to be mad! Your suppose to be angry! Y-Your suppose t-to hate me-“ He was soon cut off by the skeleton hugging him as best he could. Asriel stared into space for a moment before finally cracking down in on himself, wailing loudly at his actions, trapped in this non-ending torment. He lay limp in Sans’ hold and cried in anguishing despair. “ I miss y-you too!” He said before growling, vines shoving he other away.

“ what the-asriel-“

“ It’s too late for me! I-I can’t just-just… Just keep going like this! If I continue this run-I’ll just kill you again! I-I can only fix my mistakes with only one option.” He looked over to the piles of dust, drifting in the breeze and into the water. “ I-I don’t wanna’ hurt anyone! I don’t wanna’ continue! I don’t wanna’ hurt you again!” And just like that… He ended up back in the garden, alone, crying to himself, questioning why he was so-
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“ Cursed!” The bully yelled out to the determined and non-plused child along with their group of ‘misfit’ friends. “ That’s what that ollllld dirty, creepy, spooky, spine-tingling, horrifying house is…” Max wiggled his fingers to spook the others.

Flowey groaned; here he was… Just enjoying-or… Trying to enjoy his time with Frisk and their friends at the playground while, courtesy of Sans, slept while keeping an eye n the children with Mettaton. Who… Was busy talking to a gaggle of women. And of course right on cue like some shitty story about his life, just had to be Max and his little shit friends. “ You also forgot how soooooo annoying, obnoxious, bitchy, winey, snot-nosed, dickweed you are…”

The bullies ignored the equally quirky plant to see Kidd step over, more interested in a story than a fight. “ Y-Yo, yo! What’s the story?!” It turned out Kidd loved stories, and was surprisingly well in looking up history. When he watched reenactment ghost shows with Frisk, he would always look up the history of the haunted places afterwards. Seeing Kidd’s tail wag around, Max took the opportunity to try and spook him and the other kids even the ones who had stopped playing at the mention of the house, human and monster alike.

" They say that there were a lovely couple living there, decided to drive to their picnic spot, only to crash into a river and have their ghosts haunt the place. The new family that bought their home were soon found dead by the ghosts, and now are trapped there waiting for more people to go in and take their lives as well~!”

“ … That’s fucking stupid.” Frisk angrily looked to the rude flower stung over their shoulder sticking out of their specially made backpack to carry him around in.
“ Oh yeah? Then how about we make a wager? Rock, paper, scissors for one of us to go ring the doorbell, then make a run for it if their not too scared!”

Frisk calmly suggested, “ What if we go in?”

Max looked to Frisk, baffled, “ Wh-What?”

“ What if… We just go in? Together, we could just see what’s really wrong with the place ad hen just walk back out.”

Max shifted his eyes to his posse who shrugged, “ No way! That’s too boring! I’m still up for a wager!”

Flowey squinted his tiny beady eyes, “ And that would be…?”

“ Since Frisky here brought it up, whoever looses the RPS goes inside and has to stay in there for half an hour. And if they get to scared, they lose.”
“ Sounds stupid-“ Flowey was soon cut off.

“ BUT! Since we’ve been squabbling with each other. Let’s make it a wager. Example, if Frisk here has to go in the house and wins and comes back out after that time, then me and my boys will leave this playground. Same would happen if I’m suppose to go in and somehow get scared and run out early. But if Frisk gets too scared or I brave trough it-like I would. Then you stupid monsters have to leave this playground.”

Frisk furrowed their brows, “ That is stupid. Why would we bet on kids we don’t even know and just want to play here?” Max smirked and glanced over to the jungle gym at the monster children. They all quickly hid, hopped off, or had a human friend trying to calm them down. “ Oh… You’re the ‘ideal beach jerk who kicks down sandcastles’…Okay fine.” And with that, the barbaric rock, paper, scissors commenced… Or well it would have been, if they weren’t just sprawling out their hands. But low and behold! Frisk lost, which was perfectly fine with them as they braved to the door, ringing it’s bell politely in case someone was there. Then again it was in the middle of the day and Undyne with her fellow officers cleared the old broken house out the night before to try and help a homeless person, catch a druggy, or arrest something worse. However, the entire crew found nothing, including crawlspaces and the whole lot. The most they did was take some still in contact furniture out and clear any metal in-case a stupid kid broke in and cut themselves on it. And besides that, the police actually searched the home very frequently since it was nearby a playground. They couldn’t just tear it down since it was one of the first houses built back when the town was founded. So they just kept an eye over it until someone could buy it.

Frisk waited before entering the old creaking house, smiling happily as they explored it, knowing fully well it was safe. Flowey on the other hand seemed impatient, wanting the thirty minutes to go by so they could finally stick it to that little shit. Not long, Frisk found a large library filled with old stuffy books They pulled one out to pass the time, and would have love to take it home. But that’d be stealing. The only reason they didn't tell themselves it was wrong t be in the house was because the front door wasn’t locked. So technically they didn’t really break in. Flowey browsed another book for time to skip when suddenly… Books from the shelves sprung out, almost hitting thee two. While Flowey slithered into the backpack making an angry hiss, Frisk looked up and tilted their head. They put up the two books and patted the book shelf, “ Sorry mister or miss ghost. I didn’t mean to disturb you. Actually, I have friend whose a ghost, maybe you’d like to meet him?” More books flew out, “ I’ll take that as a maybe.” The child hummed, walking out the room leaving the ‘ghost’ behind. Unknowingly, one of Max’s friends had hid behind the bookcase with a questioning look on his face of how Frisk reacted. But before he could scurry off to cause more mayhem, something grabbed him and drug him into a hole in the floor.

“ There’s a lot of holes in this place…” Frisk said as they looked through a chest of some type in another room. Shuffling around various things Undyne and her crew would have to come back for at some point. Nothing off in the chest, nor nothing personal to anyone. Just various knick-knacks, pillows, blanket, and marbles.
“ Yeah, I’m not really sure what’s up with that. It's like some mutant mole dug up under this shit brick.”

“ Flowey don’t be rude.”

“ Hey! It’s not my fault this old shitty house is the most boring thing ever! No wonder the ghosts hate it here. I’d be pissed too if I had to live in this mess!” Right on cue, the lights above somehow worked by turning on and off quickly irritating the flower who was rather fine with the old windows letting sun inside the house. “ OH COME OFF IT! FIGHT ME!” He yelled out before Frisk put the tings up and walking out the room, apologizing to the unknown… The unknown being another bully who hid behind a broken wall. As the bully got up from his spot he nearly fell into a hole next to him. Laughing it off, something rose up from the hole and dragged him in.

The two decided to just lay about on an old rug and talk… Just talk. It went on for a while, a normal typical boring conversation-or as normal they could get until it delved a little bit more into personal. Frisk stared at the ceiling which was surprisingly stable considering the upstairs could withstand Undynes stomping boots and other people walking on the floor above. “ So… You said you ha a friend. Before Chara. And you said they were dead… Seeing as how Chara was dead, and I knew them. Is your other friend actually gone?”

“ … No. Their only gone to me.”

Frisk frowned, fully well aware Flowey was hurt in some way. “ Do… Do I know them?”

The flower sighed, “ Frisk. Don’t you have anything better to talk about?”

“ Aww, come on, don’t pull that on me Asriel.” The pouted out. Flowey stayed silent until… Thumping was heard from the floor above them, making Frisk pull back on the conversation, hopefully letting Flowey not be so pained with himself. “ Wow, these ghost don’t enjoy anything.”

“ Preaching to the fucking choir…” Frisk sighed and sat up, picking up the backpack that contained the grumpy yet sad flower, swinging it over their shoulder and walking out to not disturb the ghost. The ‘ghost’ upstairs soon stopped to catch his breath from jumping around like a dumb-ass. The bully wiped off a small bit of sweat before hearing a creaking noise. He looked around to see nothing, then to the floor, afraid the floor might actually give way. After some silence, he sighed in relief, turning to walk out the door, only to be snagged up to the ceiling by something crawling around up it.

The thirty minutes passed and Frisk stepped out the door, being greeted by the playground kids who had been watching across the street. All along with Max who stood there at the stoop glaring, while Flowey stuck his tongue out at him. Frisk smiled, “ It wasn’t that bad. Lots of holes and the ghosts are kinda jerks, but other than that, nothing bad.” The kids gasped at the mention of ghosts.

“ What?! How were you not scared by ghosts?!” Max yelled out.

“ Pth, I live with two of them silly. In fact, the robot over there is one of them-who is showing those nice ladies how to do the splits… Mettaton-Mettaton, please. Mettaton no-“ The spoke to themselves before A sudden loud ‘Ohhh Yes’ was heard from across the playground, making Frisk raise a hand to their forehead.

Before any more exposition could happen, an elderly yet strong voice yelled out from a hole nearby the porch, making the children scatter into hiding, as well as Max. “ yoooooou daaaaAAAMNED WHIPPERSNAPPERS!” A rather old, but distinctive monster Flowey knew sprung out from the hole, on pair of arms holding a bully, as the other set did so, and finally the long curing tail pulled out the last one. The monster dropped the kids onto the grass an snarled out to them “ The least ya could do is not mess with my books, flicka’ my lights, and thumpin’ on my floors like that damn new age dubberstep! At least this one, right hea’ was polite!” He pointed to Frisk while the kids peeked out.

All while Flowey made a disgusted face, whispering to himself, “ Your still aliiive…?!”

Bogglesnout went back to his yapping, “ Ya lil’ ruffians can learn a thing or two from this lil’ tyke hea’! They musta’ used the front door when I was sleepin’. Forgot ta lock it earlier after I dug up my holes. Was so tired... But woke up to a window breakin' by these three lil’ werms! This youngin' put the books back, put back knick-knacks, didn’t fuss with anytin’! Kept an eye on em’ like these lil’ punks, but they didn’t to squat!”

“ So wait… You live here? How come Undyne didn’t tell me?” Frisk asked.

Bogglesnout gave out a hearty laugh, “ Ah, right! I had just purchased this place early in the morn! Still waitin’ for some hired help while I made myself at home. Them holes is how I be getting’ around.”

Max finally came out of hiding and glared to Frisk and the elderly monster before smirking. “ Looks like I win.”

“ WHAT?!” Flowey snarled out, only to be restrained by Frisk.

“ We wagered on one of us going into an ‘ABANDON’ house. Not an occupied one. Heh, so I win!” Of course he was soon backed up by the three other boys running over to him going, ‘ Yeeeeeah!’

This however seemed to ruffle Bogglesnout's jimmies. He open his mouth wide, unhinging his jaw for another head similar to his pop out with demonic serpent eyes glowing to the bullies, opening its mouth in return for a long stripped tongue and jagged sharp teeth to be shown off. The bullies quickly hightailed it out of there, some kids screaming in the process. The elderly monster reverted back to normal as he apologized to the better children.

All ended well for the most part as Bogglesnout smiled to Frisk, putting a claw on their shoulder, “ Lemme’ tell ya somethin’ kid; Everybody gets one chance to do somethin’ great. Most people neva’ take the chance, either because they're too scared, or they don't recognize it when it spits on their shoes. But you. Ekekeke, ya did somethin’ only legends could eva’ do. Thank ya for freein’ us kid.”

Chapter Text

It was a nice crisp day in the ever snowy Snowdin, all was peaceful as monsters went about on their days. The tranquility spread all over, even in a snowy field where children played with their yelling. It was still a wonderful afternoon. Out in the field of the cool iced ground, ran Doggo on all fours without his walking cane. In his jaws hung a bright clean sock with his teeth around t to secure it in a good grip. He bounced around in the snow, weaving left and right to avoid anyone, where as several kids chased him. A small twig stood upright in the snow nearby, glinting off of his black sunglasses, his lone target. He ran and ran and… Passed right by it, nearly running into a tree. The husky's ears picked up shouting about going the wrong way, leading him to turn his head around and something snatching up the sock in his mouth from the small moment of vulnerability.” H-HEY!” He started to chase after the other child barking and yapping along.

A violet spider pranced away from the canine giggling to herself as she clutched the sock, heading to another twig in the snow at the other end of the field. She gallantly hopped over Papyrus and Nice with a simple twirl, impressing the two of them to sop and watch in awe… Only for the poor dog to crash into them both. Her fives eyes narrowed as she grew closer and closer to the other twig. She had been to preoccupied on winning that it took her a moment to realize the sock had been stolen from her velvety hand. “ Huh?!” She stopped to a skidding halt, her five eyes looking all around until one managed o catch the culprit. That being the fiery monster in the leather jacket. If he could or if he was grinning was a bit hard to tell as he dashed back to the original twig. Behind his sunglasses he could see Bratty and Burgs getting ready to pounce him side by side. With a flaming smirk, he dropped to his knees, sliding under the two jumping only for them both to collide into each other and fall into the soft cooling ice.

Grillby soon got up and booked it to his wooden destination, only to be stopped as a hefty purple toddler pounced seemingly out of nowhere, dragging him down by their weight. He yelled out in shock and collided with the safety of the snow crushing against his back. “ … Hello Catty.”

She gave a wide smile, sticking her tongue out as her tail swung around behind her merrily, “ Mellow~!” She continued to sit on his chest to keep him pinned down, earning enough time for her ‘older sister’ of a friend run by and scramble around grabbing the sock and nearly tripping over her own yellow feet to the other twig. “ WHOO! GO APLYS!” The cat pumped up her tiny fists into the air as she cheered the lizard on. Alphys scrambled around as some kids stayed clear considering she was running around like a chicken with its head chopped off. Before she got to her goal, her lab partner happened to jump in her way, making her shriek in terror, stop, and put out a clawed finger. He smiled as the fellow nerd bent over, putting her claws onto her knees, she was grateful she was only wearing a tank top and shorts today. The others stopped as Nice held up his fuzzy arms and whistled out. Alphys reached into her back pocket pulling out an inhaler and taking a good breath or two.

After she got herself ready, putting the device away, she smiled to Sans and took a stance, awaiting his movement. He chuckled and just walked by her as she jumped to the side to initially avoid a sudden dash. She tilted her head in question before noticing the sock had been taken from her. Sans soon took off to running after he was further away from the nerdy lizard and grinned, heading to his own goal. T would have been a victory if the feisty fish, Undyne, herself hadn’t seemingly jumped down at him from a tree branch. He shrieked in a high pitch as she came crashing down on top of him. Undyne laughed out as she got up to take hold of the sock, only to see it missing from his palm. His grin returned, wider this time on his face, winking to her, “ fooled ya~!” He held out is skeletal hands, pointing up to her with is thumbs up. She turned round to see the often terrified prince, being even more terrified and running to the twig.

A growl coursed through her mouth as she soon ran after the white fuzzy prince. Asriel clutching onto the sock desperately and running, heard the stomping of the snow behind him get louder. He bleated out and tried running even faster, but ultimately was tackled by the fishy warrior teenager. She quickly apologized before her webbed hands took hold of Asriel’s paws only to notice… There was now sock, but just snow. He chucked nervously as she sat on his back, “ Y-You want some snow?” Puzzled she turned her head around to find Papyrus daintily putting the sock on the twig.

All the kids ran over to marvel at the small toddler actually achieving the goal of their game, where as the other toddlers cheered for him, even if they were on the opposing side, Sans kept saying, ‘ so cool’. In the background, proud of his little brother. Once Asriel and Undyne got to them, she puckered her lips into a frown and glared harshly down at him. He looked up to her gaze and started to lower down in fear. She stomped over to him and soon grew a huge sharp toothed smile, picking him up under his arms and laughing, “ HOHOHOHOLY SHIT PAPS! THAT WAS… AWWWWWESOME!” He giggled as his role model praised him.

Sans smiled before retrieving the sock, smiling as he watched his brother be swarmed by sheer happiness of his friends. He was about to walk back over, but it felt like something tugged at the sock. With a quick look he found the prince nibbling on the end of it before his attention caught Sans. He blinked and slowly let go of it, smiling nervously. “ you're hungry too?”

“ Y-Yeah… Hey, why do you have socks anyways? Is it like a hobby or do you actually wear them?”

“ ah, that’s simply azzy. i-ohhhh no!” He angrily said, the two meeting the gazes of The Snowdin Forest Teens coming their way.

The others seemed to have noticed them as well, Undyne growling, “ Dammit!”

Jerry came over with his normal goonies, and some that Asriel rarely saw or had never seen at all, being a waddling mini snowman like monster with an icicle shooting out like a horn, donning a fabulous ice hat, a floating fish with hair or seaweed covering one of her cheeky eyes as a angler bobbed around on her head. The small round one eyed monster who saw one time, a crabby and grumpy looking bug, and finally an odd monster that seemed like a turtle and yet had its back shell filled with water and a rubber toy duck.

Jerry sneered, “ It's easy when you play with a bunch of rejected toddlers and a crybaby, Grills.”

Grillby’s small flames started to spark off from his head, “ Shut your slimy worthless mouth, Jerry!”.

“ What'd you say, furnace face?!”

“ I said you shouldn't even be allowed to touch a baseball.” Grillby’s tone smoothed into a confident one.

Jerry glared up to him, “ You're all an insult to that game and being in the club, except you, Grills and Sans.”

Soon Sans stepped in, “ come on! we'll take you on right here, right now!” The rest started to join along with Sans, even Asriel at this point.

Jerry scoffed, “ We play on a real field, Wingdings.”

Sans quickly grew a cocky grin, Grillby looking to him and nodding in approval this time. It seemed the fiery monster was done with the chaotic peace he had been avoiding and let Sans loose.“ you ain't good enough to lick the snow off our cleats.”

“ Watch it Wingdings-“

“ shut up, idiot!”

“ Bone-head!"

“ scab eater!”

“ Butt boner!"

“ pus licker!"

“ Soul smeller! "
Sans growled a bit, “ you eat the royal guard crap for breakfast!”

“ You bob for apples in the toilet and you like it…”

“you sir are a cyst-headed, slime-coated, pimple-farming, paramecium brain, munching on your own mucus, suffering from the original club founder envy!”

The seahorse, Baron tilted his head, “ What's a 'paramecium brain'?

“ i'll tell you what a paramecium is! that's a paramecium!” Sans pointed down t Jerry. “ it's a one-celled organism with no brain that can't fly! don't mess with me, man! i'm a judge!”

Jerry felt like he was losing so he pulled out one final thing. “ You mix your Wheaties with your mama's toe jam! Oh wait! You don’t HAVE A MOM!” All of the kids, even most of the rude teens on Jerry’s side gasped out. Sans froze completely as his younger brother looked down in shame, tearing up from the hard truth.

The skeleton noticed the small sniffling of his brother and shook his tense stance before closing his eyes. As he reopened them, his left eye glazed in a blue smoke while his right pupils was gone. He put on a disturbing grin, “ you play ball like a girl.”

Though half of his friends on his team were in fact girls, they all agreed with Sans. Undyne even shouting out, “ HA! No way Sans! Girls are even tougher than him!”

“ hehehe… yeah, your right. girls are TOO god for him.”

Jerry scrunched and snarled, “ Three days, your rejects against my talented team. Noon. Our field. Be there, flaming filth fag.”

Grillby cut in, “ Count on it, squid filled up with pus and molded face!”

Jery scoffed, turning around and slithering away with his team, “ Come on…”

Once the others were gone, Undyne spat out, “ We're gonna' kick their asses the next day.” The rest shouted in agreement, all of them feeling DETERMINATION residing in their souls to finally put the harassing teens in their place, once and for-
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All was quiet in the large house. After the hustle and bustle of yesterday, Frisk had gone out to do something secretive. Meeting with Max who rang the home’s doorbell to cut them a deal. And with that deal… Frisk took it, and was now paying for it as they lazed on the green and tired sofa holding their ‘siblings’ clay pot within their arms. There were three parts that the child felt with this certain deal. One, the monsters and humans who were friends with them were going to be able to play around as they pleased, and for that they felt happy. Two, Frisk just didn’t want to deal with the bullies anymore, making them feel relieved. And three… They for once now knew how it felt like to be the poor torn up and emotionally drained flower that leaned on the side of their head.

As most of the family was working for the day, the often relaxed yet possibly stressed out under his shell skeleton came over to watch something only to see the young child laying there. He smiled and sat next to their feet, glancing over to them to expect a greeting from the twelve year old. Only for that greeting to be shot down, making him a bit worried. His smile shrank just a tad as he watched the two, “ something up kiddo?”

Frisk groaned and stubbornly shoved their face into the soft emerald cushion. Flowey looked to the skeleton and sighed, not really wanting to speak to him, “ Frisk made a deal with the bullies of the playground. As long as Frisk and me don’t go there, they’ll leave both monsters and humans alone.”

Sans small smile went sour as did his eye sockets, looking rather troubled. “ how is that any fair? you stay back behind so that everyone else can be happy and play? i mean-yea it’s a kind thing to do. but, it’s kinda messed up isn’t it? how come everyone else gets to be happy while your left all alone?”

Flowey gritted his teeth harshly, thinking about what the fellow monster was saying… But putting his own twist onto it. His voice cracked a bit from the mere mention of this type of dilemma, “ I ask myself that every day…”

“ huh?” Sans tilted his s head, curious for the plant to respond instead of the child themselves.

Frisk quickly sat up, pulling the pot away from Sans before Flowey could continue babbling. They knew Flowey had grown more and more fragile since he came to live with them all. If given the slightest chance for the skeleton to ask some things, Flowey might finally crack down an turn on himself, reviling his secret he didn't want anyone but Frisk and Alphys to know. “ I-It’s fine dunkle sans. We’re both just… Upset a little. But we’ll pull through like you do.” They gave a small yet tired and sad smile.

The sight of Sans’ savior, friend, even stretching as far as to nearly call them his own child, made his soul rumble deep inside. It was like this when Papyrus was ever upset, or if Alphys really needed someone to lean on, or… Or his old friend being in a rough situation that a younger Sans helped him out with. He hadn’t noticed until the small child poked his sleeved arm with a more worried face now.

“ Sans? Are you okay? You're doing the eye thing again with a really… Really… scary smile.” They leaned away from him, as Sans pulled his mind out from memories of the past to the present to see Frisk look rather scared.

His eyes went back to normal, his smile frowning down instead of how Frisk put it, a disturbed, pained, and forced smile. “ o-oh shit. s-sorry kiddo-i… you know i didn’t mean it. i was uh just thinking.” He said shamefully, scooting away from the human as well. The one glowing eye, hollow other eye, worried expression, and forced smile was one of the few things that ever really terrified Frisk. The only reason for that was their first thirteen runs… Back when Chara was in control. How they saw so many emotions squirm and squall deep inside of Sans at The Judgment Hall. Of course once they decided to not reset and live peacefully up on The Surface, they told Sans about those hard times, which he remembered faintly from a mix of negativity slithering into his dreams, showing him visions and nightmares of the past.

Sans looked away, fully ashamed he had unknowingly scared his good friend, until he felt the warm embrace of their arms wrap around him and rest their head on his side. He smiled lightly and brushed is hand through the child’s hair. “ shh, it’s okay kiddo. it’s okay.”

They whimpered and buried their face into the sapphire sweater mumbling, “ Nu-uh, I hurt you guys.” He whined out, well aware of their actions. Sans knew of this too… Ever since they came up The Surface, Frisk had noticed a scar on San’s rib-cage, spreading to several bones. A small scar would be seen on Toriel’s cheek if one were to look hard enough. A rusted mark on Mettaton’s chest, a smaller scar on Undye’s bad eye, and a mark on Papyrus’ neck. That all lead up to Flowey having some marks on the back top of his head where it seemed like someone had shoved a knife into him like a pin-cushion.

Sans sighed as he watched the two look so broken under his gaze. “ … ya know what. i think you both deserve something nice.”

Flowey turned over, “ Wait what-even me”

Almost at the exact same time Frisk pulled back, their tears fading away, “ Wait what-even Flowey?”

“ jeez, is a surround sounded stereo going on around here or something? you both heard me.” He gave a joyful smile, making Frisk join him… And Flowey wanting to avoid him even more now.

“ Mornin’ Sans, how’s it going-“ The tall and lanky built up blue bunny gasped as he looked over the frozen food counter to see Frisk holding the flower’s pot. “ FRIIIIIIIISKY~!” He squealed out in delight, hopping over the counter with ease. Sans quickly grabbed Flowey away as Nice picked Frisk up by under their arms and spun around happily, making the human laugh along. The flower groaned from the overly happy sight. Finally Nice put them down, his stubbed tail waggling behind him, “ BURGS HONEY! SANSY AND FRISKY ARE HERE~!” He chimed out across the store, which ironically was in Muffet’s store that was nearby Grillbys for the more sophisticated, girly, or for better taste in a way. Into the store, people could relax to the France like decorations and enjoy pastries, cold treats, small warmed meals, coffee, and soups. Apparently from working at MTT, and being taught by Grillby when MTT was no longer running, since he still wasn’t the best at acting, Burgs could actually make some nice meals, soups, and serve up pretty good coffee. Which he desperately needed to keep up with his excitable and hyper boyfriend. Sans, Frisk, and Zack were happy and proud that the loser like cat monster finally got to produce things people liked, get into a relationship, and even have a place to himself. He kind deserved it after working for MTT, dealing with constant screw ups on his part, and not being ale to act properly.

The tanned browned feline walked on over, opening a small side door from is counter to greet the tw-er three? He pulled out a small thin piece of metal out from his lips, blowing out some sweet scented smoke that quickly dissipated into the air. He smile tiredly and patted the child, ruffling up their brown matted hair, “ Heya little buddy. Good news, I’m getting off the cigs.” Frisk gasped, their mouth opening up into a wide open smile like older cartoons would do before practically throwing themselves onto his leg. Burgs lifted his leg up, the child clinging to it like a koala, Even with a small shake or two, they didn’t let go, while the flower sticking out from the backpack sighed in annoyance at their behavior. “ Right… Well anyways, I’ve moved to vapeing. Not good as cigarettes, but it’s not as bad as them health wise… Even though it CAN’T effect monsters…” His tail twitched around as he gave a small look at the rabbit.
Nice snapped his fingers to his boyfriend, “ Don't you give me that look! You stank up the house and the bed! This stuff at least as some type of scent that isn’t hazardous!”

After a few minutes Sans bought the three some nicecream… Well more specifically, Nice let them have some on the house, while Burgs did want money for their drinks of soda and Sans’ cocoa. It was nice and peaceful, all talking and having fairly good time aside from Flowey and Burgs. Though Burgs did enjoy it more and talked more than the flower, who only muttered here and there, still thinking about Frisk and Sans’ earlier conversation. It struck way to close to home for him. He looked around, seeing happy faces, envying them more each and every day, while he grew more and more miserable with himself. He had already lost hope in Frisk’s promise and to ever rekindle and patch up a relation with the weary skeleton. He kinda felt just like… A normal flower, not being effected by anything, and just existing, not being able to make a difference. Kind of… Like how Chara use to feel before the fell into The Underground.

His senses came back as he heard the store’s bell jingle, warning that someone had walked in. But of course it was Max with his posse, but also with other children Flowey and Frisk had seen from the playground. Max looked over and groaned, “ Seriously? The one store nearby the playground that has ice-cream and cola, just has to have you here.”

Flowey snarled, but was interjected by the tall chubby bellied yet lanky limbed feline. “ And out of all the kids you had to come here… You do know of our deal right freak?” Frisk gulped slightly, recalling the times when Chara controlled them, that same exact tone and look from Burgs. That’s what he would call them, not putting up with Chara’s bullshit.

Nice’s ears went down as he scooted the tired kids leaving Max and is three friends. “ Look, we only came here to cool down-”

“ sure doesn’t seem like it.” Sans muttered out loudly.

“ We haven't been bullying the others, right guys?!”

The normal kids nodded, one knowing they were safe due to Frisk’s sacrifice, “ Your still a jerk and we don’t like you.”

Burgs smirked pointing to the one who spoke up from the tired group, “ Oh, I like kid’s style.” Once the regular kids were done purchasing their refreshments, they left, waving and thanking Frisk, which did bring a smile to the child’s face.

Back to the main point at hand, Max’s posse handed over some money for their refreshments, which made Burgs stepping front of his boyfriend, scowling at the three, seeing their money before stepping aside. As Nice dealt with the three Sans quirked an invisible brow, “ so maxy-boy… you got a deal here too?”

“ Pth, I don't have to tell you anyt-“

Again Burgs interrupted, walking over and putting a CD into the small television hooked up in the corner ceiling. On the video, everyone could see a typical day at the store’s surveillance cam. While Burgs adjusted it a tad he explained, “ Tch you don’t need to. But you decided to steal a pastry when one of Grillby’s workers was filling in for Muffet one day. And that worker happen to be human. Kevin’s still banning you from here if he has to fill in for one of us.” As he explained, the camera caught a past Max snatching a pastry when Kevin wasn’t looking, running off with it while Nice and Burgs attended their customers. Burgs turned around and gave a scornful scowl to the bully, “ You best have your own money and not your little friends paying it for you, orrr this tape might slip to your parents~” He practically purred out in malice, as he smirked to Sans and Frisk, giving them some ammunition if they needed it to go against Max in the future.

Max mumbled, “ And here I was told monsters were made of love and shit…”

“ HA! YOU HEARD WROOOONG! Monsters can blackmail as well as humans. Sides haven't humans been doing it for years?~” He snickered out, making Flowey and Frisk tingle. The two had never heard the cat laugh… Ever. Well Flowey in a way, but only when he knew Burgs when he was a small child.

Max growled, “ COME ON GUYS, AREN’T YOU DONE YET?!” He yelled out to the the three who then hurried to grab their food, hand over the money and run out. Soon Max glared to Burgs, who only smiled back as the bully walked out the store. He had only went in, because he didn’t want to be sitting in the heat outside while his friends bought treats. He didn’t want the hassle to actually hand over his money to a monster.

“ so… that happen.”

“ Ehehe… Yeah. Burgy can get rather… passionate about things.” Nice chuckled nervously.

“ … you sure that passion? i think it’s more of a festering hate.”

Burgs scoffed, “ That’s about right. The only passion anyone is getting is Nice ever since we got engaged.”

Frisk sipped their soda to ignore Max as best they could before hearing the news and stopping. Meanwhile Flowey actually choked on is drink and coughed. Sans’ usual lazy eyes opened up a bit. “ oh wow. dudes, congrats.” He gave a warm smile to the two tall monsters. As the three older monsters chatted about how it had happen Frisk watched Flowey start to nibble on his straw, eventually clamping down on it and grinding it against his teeth. He seemed… Moved in a way. Frisk couldn’t really decipher why the news upset him, but only knew he was upset, which made Frisk worry a bit. All Flowey could think of was… How is any of this fair to him?

Chapter Text

“ oh undying helmet and little squire, walkin' through the forest. laughin' back and forth, at what the other one has to say. reminiscing, this-'n'-that ‘n’ havin' such a good time. oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally. golly, what a day-“

“ Oh my god Sans, shut up and just be in character already!” The easily angered fish yelled out behind her for her single gleaming eye to focus on the short skeleton wearing one of his father’s black coats, being dragged in the snow. Thankfully the older skeleton knew how to get even the stubborn of stains out thanks to Alphys and Toriel’s help. Sans stood there, his fingers fiddling with the thin string on his guitar.

He gave a cheeky smile to his friend, wiggling non-existent brows to her, “ i am in character. i’m the bard, remember? erm-what was my title again alph?”

Alphys who has been walking with the two plus one; being Papyrus, pulled up a hefty looking book that seemed to have seen much better days from its past. She opened it up as she tried her best to keep her pink frilly dress from blocking the pages. With a small nudge back of her tiara, she adjusted the thick glasses to pretend to read actual words. It was just random manga filled with different monsters, types, classes, and what not people had made up and drawn together with a forging language the poor lizard had been trying to decipher from what she could gather around. “ Y-Y-You are Sansation the B-b-bard. Un-Undyne is-is-is the Undying Helmet knight. Pa-Papyrus is Papadin, the-the paladin. A-And, that-well-that leaves me a-as, princess Alphys of the m-moon sprites o-of the ba-bamboo shoot forest.”

Papyrus tilted his head, making his helmet… A sand/snow bucket slide to the side while he held up a trash-can lid as a shield. “ THAT’S A BIG TITLE.”

“ W-well… A-An-Anime really enjoy t-their long words.” She nervously shrugged.

Undyne groaned lightly under her breath, her webbed hands sliding down her scaled blue cheeks. “ It doesn’t matter as long as we know WHAT we are. Now come on, we’re suppose to escort you to Gaster.”

“ O-Oh, y-y-you mean Lord Wingdings of Hotland?”

“ YEAH, WHATEVER!” Undyne was just grumpy that upon joining their little ‘role-play’ session, no other kids had come out and try to fight them, dressing up along with them… But then again, Jerry was busy with his own annoying devices. Other kids probably would have joined in, but were too intimidated by the surly blob like monster and his goons who often took their money, toys, or just beat them up. Alphys had set this up with Sans and apparently a few other kids, but… She didn’t even let him know who. He assumed she forgot or that they would just show up late. He didn’t expect to find anyone he knew to join in with them while he wore a black colored coat for nothing other than to look cool and be a total dork.

Or at least he had been thinking of those various things until an assault of snowballs were hurled at him and his group f friends. One had been able to lodge itself in his left eye making him swing around wildly and trip over himself like the others. Eventually the snowball swarm stopped, and there laying in the frozen dirt was a mismatched pile of him, Undyne, and Papyrus. The three groaned and looked up to see where snowy chunks came from hiding. That’s when they saw something….. Peculiar. There nearby in front of them stood Bratty dressed in some native like get up, complete with fake plastic bones laced around her hip, wrists, ankles, and neck. All while painted stripes streaked across her cheeks and vibrant green snout. Catty, dressed up in gray clothing with a pot on her head, with a spray painted plastic chunk of gray swung around her front. It seemed to be attached to two ropes which slung over her shoulders, to have another plastic piece covering her back. And finally Muffet lowering from a high places snow covered branch with the help of some spider silk, wearing a hoodie without the rest of the shirt being attached to it, lunge out and impressively wrapping the nerdy lizard up and tugging on the silk, pulling the chunky girl into the trees. She giggled out and winked to the tree. She seemed to actually be wearing a pink tank top and brown vest, with small but flexible black skirt and leggings. She gave out a kiss before grabbing a potion looking thing from a pouch of a bet slung around her his and threw it down, covering the whole area with a smoggy lavender. As soon as the tree girls had came into sights, they were gone just as quickly. All the was left was a piece of paper floating down to the snow.

Sans grabbed it in the air, carefully scrolling it out of its curled like state and squinted. “ dear adventurers i have captured your fair maiden and locked her away in my tower, ‘the fungeon’. if you want to see her again, you will have to face off against my minions and defeat me in combat, signed the warlock.” He blinked for a moment, “ wow, whoever wrote this has really good hand-writing.”

The paper was suddenly snatched up by the fish, pushing up an old helmet Gerson had given her, her eye rereading the paper and gasping,” Stop admiring the penmanship you nerd-Oh wow that is good hand-writing…”

Papyrus gasped out, “ THAT FIEND! THEY TOOK YOUR PRINCESS AWAY! AND-AND AS A KNIGHT, YOUR SUPPOSE TO PROTECT HER!”

“ YEA! Your right Papadin! We got a princess to save!”

“ aww, that’s so cute.” Undyne swung up her sparring spear to Sans.

“ SHUT UP BARD!”

“never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water. they were drinkin', they just guzzled it down.” Sans strung his guitar making Papyrus happy at the very least, but also irritating Undyne who lead their small party.

“ Sans can you shut up for five seconds? We’re on our way to The Waterfall, not a karaoke club.”

The skeleton snickered,” how do you know the waterfall doesn’t have one and just hide it from you?”

Before the blue scaled girl could remark back at him, or more likely punch him in the arm, they were soon cut off by something scurrying around in a tree up above. The kids went silent and crept over to the tree, trying to make out what was making the small rustling noises of the snowy leaves. Just then, Nice sprung out from a lower branch with his usual get up, but now equipped with brown fuzzy boots and an arrow slung around his back. The small rabbit was quicker to draw an arrow to the group than Undyne was to her spear. Of course… The arrows were just sticks with suction cups as the tips instead of an actual harmful blade. “ Halt! Who goes there?!”

“ sup nice. it’s us, sans, undyne, paps-“

The blue bunny started to pull back his bow, aiming at the skeleton now, his nose twitching around as he kept his eye locked onto him, “ I said, who goes there?!”
Papyrus smiled brightly, “ SANSATONAL, UNDYING HELMET, AND PAPADIN!”

The swift rabbit drew away his ‘weapon’ and rued the back of his head in embarrassment, “ Oh! Hehe, sorry! I thought you guys were part of the Warlock’s goons.”
Undyne dashed over to him, picking him up under his tiny arms, “ You know the warlock?!” Sans snickered, finding the often hard-headed fish actually going along with this game. “ Shut it Sans!” She then put the child down.

“ Course I do! I just don’t know where they went... But geez she's sure is tough! She roughed me up and left me in that tree! But by my bow I will lend you my aid! Oh right, almost forgot to introduce myself. I am Nicealoss~! It is good to meet such a brave knight and party to try an face him!” He chirped out happily, his stout tail wagging around. And so the adventures had an archer join up with them on their journey.

“never dreamin' that a schemin' warlock and his posse. was a-watchin' them an' gatherin' around.” Strummed out Sans, gaining a new person who enjoyed his tunes. All Undyne did was groan as they grew closer to The Waterfalls. She closed her eye to block the constant jolly singing only to hear the singing halt to stop and go into a shriek, “ undyne look out!” She quickly opened her yellow glinting eye to see an axe headed her way. She quickly drew up her spear, blocking the oncoming attack onto to notice the ‘axe’ was just a rubber toy that squeaked against her spear before drawing back. That didn’t stop the tiny child who held onto it. The child who had this ‘weapon’ glared up at her under a black silky mask, only wearing some pants aside from it. It seemed the cold didn’t affect their brow furred body. And so the masked child swung again and again, though it wasn’t as intimidating with the axe squeaking against the spear every time the two connected.

“ ARGH! Sans! Do something! This little runt won’t let off!” She kept holding up her spear, not wanting to actually harm the kid by mistake.

“ dude, i’m a bard. what do you expect me to do? sing a lullaby? … actually-“

“ Never-mind!” Undyne quickly went back on her word not wanting to listen to the singing yet again.

Nice n the other hand rolled to the side and shot out his arrows, hitting the other child with them. Soon the masked child was riddled with four or five suction cupped arrows and gave out an acting howl of pain before flopping over dramatically and tossing up his battle axe. The rabbit ran over to retrieve his arrows, plucking them off the other before curiosity fell upon him. With one quick swipe of the black mask, the group saw under it, was none other than Burgs. The small cat sat up and pawed at his ears, “ Aww man! So much for being the executioner…” He grumbled.

The others crowded around him, the already fairly upset fish looking down at him. “ A minion of The Warlock I take it. Okay punk, where's he keeping Alphys?!”

“ … Who?” The toddler tilted his head, being in character.

“ Son of a-The Princess!”

“ Ohhhh! Right, right. Pth at The Waterfall silly, where else?” He giggled at the irritation spreading across her face. Burgs quickly grabbed his toy and scampered off, leaving the heroes with that informational tidbit.

“ undying helmet and little papadin, runnin' through the forest-“

“ SANS I SWEAR I WILL WRING YOUR BONY NECK!” The fish yelled out to the back of the party. They had finally reached The Waterfall’s entrance. Only this time, their eyes caught a familiar flame in the distance. Sans’ snarky smirk soon grew into a wide smile as he saw his friend u ahead. The short skeleton ran over to Grillby, soon being followed by Undyne, “ W-Wait! He might be in with The Warlock you bone-head!” The two remaining children quickly followed behind their leader. Once they came near Grillby just kinda chilling there, playing with his own fire, he looked up to them. He was still wearing his jeans, black leather jacket and sunglasses. The only thing that stood out against the fiery monster was a pack of cards. Undyne groaned, “ Oh my god, they roped you up into this too?”

“ Problem knave?” He quirked a flaming brow to the agitated girl and chuckled. “ Alphys told me about this. Said it'd help relive the thoughts and tension about the upcoming game against Jerry and his lackeys. Honesty, she and ‘mister warlock’ seemed pretty hype planning this together.”

Undyne swiftly brought up her webbed hands, clutching them as her pointer fingers went up. “ Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second. Hold the fuck up… Alphys… Is in this with The Warlock dude?”

Grillby fiddled around with his playing cards, shrugging, “ Well yeah. I mean she WAS the one who told you guys to dress up and what not. She got herself captured cuz’ that’s what happens in these fantasy fairy-tales humans make up. She thought it’d be fun ya know? Entertaining. Of course she's working with The Warlock, but not actually working with him in a way. She needed help coming up with this game somehow.”

While Papyrus and Nice questioned whether Alphys was the real villain or not, Sans tilted his skull, “ wow… that’s… that’s pretty intuitive of her.”

Grillby went on, “ She’s been planning this for a while. Thought we have a good time in a stressful situation. So, why not help on out? Enjoy ourselves. Pretend were some epic heroes battling up against a big scary boss. Isn’t that what these type of games are for? Escape reality and just have fun ya know?” Undyne actually seemed to calm down as the information added up, smiling cutely just a tad, thinking o how cool this was for Alphys to actually make all this up just for them.

“ awwww, look at the lil’ gopher smile~.” Sans hummed out seeing the fish’s smile.

“ SHUT UP SANS! Grillby, you know who The Warlock is?”

“ Okay firs of all, rude. I am Grilleon, the pyromaniac gambler. Second yes. Yes I do.”

“ … WELL?!” Undyne tapped her foot before slamming it down.

“ Why should I tell you? That’s what makes part of the game. A mystery. The only ones who don’t know who it is, would be you, Sans, Paps, and Nice.”

Papyrus looked puzzled, turning to Nice, “ I THOUGHT YOU SAID THE WARLOCK PUT YOU IN THAT TREE. HOW DID YOU NOT SEE THEM?”

“ Wha-I thought Muffet was The Warlock. She spun me up into the tree with her creepy web things.”

Grillby let out a chuckle, “ Nah. Muffets just hired help.”

Undyne furrowed her brow, “ Wait hired for real or do you mean in game?”

“ Depends on how you want this game to be viewed. Because honestly, Alphys isn't in actual danger. It’s called acting. But in the game, she is in danger. And that would be called ‘in character’. So we moving out or what?”

“jumpin' fences, dodgin' trees, an' tryin' to get away~.” Again Sans strummed out the tune as the party kept n their trail. Before the knightly fish could yell at the cheeky skeleton yet again, two figures leapt out behind some rocks, swinging a jump rope around the group and tying them up. Undyne lashed around as she was quickly restricted to her part of friends. Grillby was even caught off guard that he had dropped the pack of cards.

“ AUGH NOW WHAT?!” Undyne howled out as the party met the gazes of Bratty and Catty high-fiving each other.

The two children crossed their arms and stuck their tongues out to the others, “ Ha! Like we totally got you now! And like, you’ll never reach the princess now!” Cackled Bratty.

Catty soon chimed in along with her friend,” Yeah and like you're stuck here for like ever! Ooh, Bratty what should we do with them?!”

“ Maybe put some makeup on them-no wait! I say we make them watch Josie and The Sissycats-Or OH! Maybe Jym!”

Undyne gasped out, “ YOU LITTLE MONSTERS! Wait… Sorry. YOU LITTLE BASTA-No, no, that’s too harsh on a kid…Oh! YOU LITTLE FIENDS!” The two of them giggled in their small victory. “ Pst Grills, can’t you just burn this stupid rope?”

“ Oh yes, ask the guy on fire. Sure, do you want burn marks on you? Cuz’ I’m not sure how fire reacts to scales or fur, cause I’m not sick like that.”

Nice whimpered, making Undyne sighed in defeat, “ Sans! Teleport or something!”

Sans simply closed his eyes while the kids gloated t themselves, “ dude, bards play music. Their not wizards.”

Undyne gave a deathly glare to him and nearly went into a rampage. Thankfully the two girls forgot to the up on member who got distracted by a snail. Papyrus ran back over holding the large mollusk, “ GUYS! GUYS! I FOUND A MAGIC SNAIL!”

“ preeeeety sure that’s a normal snail paps, but good find.” Sans smiled to his brother, opening his eyes back up, his attention now focused on the heavy weighted snail.

“ WHY ARE YOU GUYS TIED UP?” He suddenly gasped as Bratty and Catty closed in on him from the sides, both holding their own toy weapons. “ AHHHHH! SAVE YOURSELF JASON FUNDERBURGR!” He threw the snail at Catty who screeched out, trying to pull the frightened snail off of her, dropping her toy hammer in the process. Papyrus quickly took out his shield, deflecting the squeaky toy mace which bounced right off the trash-can lid and swinging back onto Bratty.

“ EEK MY HAIR!” She yelled out as Papyrus quickly untied the jump rope. Soon Undyne yanked the snail off Catty, only to grab her and Bratty with each webbed hand, lifting them both us.

“ Okay you two little drama queens, start talking!”

Both curled up in Undyne’s grasp, tails in between their legs. Bratty spoke out first, “ L-Like The Warlock dude took Princess Alphys to like Hotland!”

“ Yeah-Yeah! And like, it’s best to get there by the what was it again? Like the River of Styx or something? Though I’m not sure why there would be a river filled with sticks. I didn’t see any sticks in the river.” The two were soon put down. They both grabbed their toys and took off.

Undyne patted Papyrus for the good job before looking to Sans,” Okay nerd boy, what’s The River of Styx?”

“ technically it’s some sort of old human culture about some cloaked demon or a skeleton rowing you down into hell.”

“ Holy shit dude…”

“ but, literally for us. i think they mean the riverperson and alphys told them to give it that spooky name for the game… hehehe, that rhymed.”

“contemplatin' nothin'. but escape an' fin'lly makin' it-“

“ Sans… I am this close… THIS fucking close… To smacking you upside the skull.” Undyne growled as a warning as they left the dog like boat.

The Rivrperson took out a long paddle and bopped the back of the head of Undyne, “ Do not be so crude young one. Anyways, I hope you the best of your journey.”

As Undyne rubbed her head from the sudden sting, Sans looked over to the mysterious monster, “ wait, you're in on the game too?”

The cloaked monster chuckled, “ What game?” And with that the boat trotted away.

Grillby shuddered, “ God, that guy fucking creeps me out…” Normally the fiery monster restrained himself from the word, but if something really got under his fire, he couldn’t simply put it away as he tended to do.

As the group continued onward, taking the elevators, knowing that The Warlock was probably somewhere up high much like villains from movies, tales and such. Of course after the ride up, they came across The Hotland’s village which looked more like a bunch of scaffolding houses on one another. There they got Undyne some water, and thanked the village for being up away from the boiling lava. As they rested for the moment, each started to notice their weapon of choice was missing. Which made Sans start to freak out, since he loved that guitar. The only thing that hadn’t been stolen was Gillbys cards which he kept in his hands at all times.
The party looked about and finally found the thief, or rather the thief found them. The hooded spider giggled from her webbing, perched up near a shop’s roofing. Undyne tried climbing the side f the store only to fail, and without the arrows Nice could not lend any service. “ Ahuhuhu~! Sorry dearies, but it looks like I win~!” She giggled to herself as she swung around on some spider silk, taunting them until… The silk snapped and she fell right into Grillby’s arms. Her fives eyes looked over to him as he was probably smirking under the fire, making her blush up. Undyne soon yanked her out from the fiery monster’s arms.

“ Aww, rude. You don’t do that to a lady Undyne.” Grillby scolded out.

“ Oh come off it playboy. Now… YOU! Where is Alphys?” She snarled out to the spider.

“ EEEK! S-She’s was taken to th-the castle deary! I-I’ll give you your things back! But-But! … How did my webbing snap?” She asked curiously.

Grillby stepped over to hold up his deck of cards, “ Isn’t it amazing what a fiery card can do~?” His flaming eyebrows went up as he asked smuggly.

“ Ohhh my, I wonder what else you can do mister magician.”

Before to much longer Undyne made a non-impressed face and dropped her, “ Okay you two can stop flirting now, we got shit to do.”

Sans just casually paced over, “ someone’s jelly~.”

“SANS I SWEAR!”

“oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly, what a day~”

“ Sans! Stop that! Every time, you start up singing, something happens, an it’s mostly been bad, so stop it!” Undyne nearly screamed out as they passed by The Core talking the elevator up.

“ heh, i like to look at it as making progress.” He chuckled out as the party left the elevator. For the time being, they stood there and viewed over The Capital nearby and soon looked upon the flowers and grass that led up to two locations. The cozy humble abode of The Dreemurrs, and the long road to The Castle. Sure The Dreemurrs owned the castle as well, but Asgore thought it was a bit much and settled with a small home nearby it. If something urgent went on or there needed to be a meeting, he would use it. But he much rather live in a cozy house like his fellow monsters, especially for raising up Asriel, to not being a spoiled brat. But then again, Asriel’s personality wouldn’t have allowed him to become that way growing up. Before they got to The Castle which normally had tours going on when not in use, the party was stopped once again. Two actual blades, though dull, nearly hit them overhead, missing the taller ones by a few inches. Sans sensing danger, teleported behind the art, grabbing the two smaller children and ducking down. The other two readied themselves looking at where the blades came from. As Sans stayed back with the other two, Undyne and Grillby laid their eyes on the in-training Royal Guard himself, Doggo.

Sans was a bit peeved from the sudden rush, “ doggo what the hell man?!”

Doggo was for once not wearing his casual gear, except or his spotted pants. He wore a black under shirt and two shoulder pads, his sunglasses taken off for once. “ I am not who you speak of. I am Duke-o. Guardian of The Warlock! And I will stop those who dare intervene my Master.”

Grillby slightly groaned, it seemed Doggo took the character way too seriously… Or more than likely, he was projecting this as training and pretending he was actually in The Royal Guard.“ Man whoever this warlock guy is a pain in the ass…”

Before Grillby could step a foot, Undyne blocked him with her arm, having a large grin spread across her face. Hey eye anticipating a real challenge instead of pretending, “ Ohohohoho boy! Now we're talking! Hehehe, you guys go on. I’m gonna' teach this pupper some manners!” She giddily rose up her sparing spear and rushed to her new enemy who held out his twin blades.

The others made it to The Castle, walking into the chambers of The Throne room. Each stuck together as the doors behind them closed, consuming them into the darkness of the large room. Grillby thankfully gave out a light source since… To be fair, his body was a light source, letting the squint and look about. “ Shit, I can’t even see a damn thing and I’m fire.” He muttered out. Suddenly the lights flashed on, making the party wince from the sudden brightness until they adjusted to their new sight. And that sight was the golden tiled Thrown Room with a lovely patch of grass and flowers of all types in the middle. The thrones seemed to have been moved to the side of the room, while a single regal toy chair sat there in the middle f the flowers with its back turned to the party. But behind the central chair stood a rather impressive and surprisingly sturdy card-board cut out like structure of a tower, complete with stairs leaning up against the back wall. Alphys was in the tower’s window, she looked down to see the party and gasped in excitement.

Both Sans and Grillby stood there rather impressed while Papyrus and Nice had sparkles in their eyes from the feat of amazingness. Before anyone did a thingy, the doors barged open by a swift and powerful kick. Undyne walked back to her party and grinned with a cut or few on her arms, “ What’d I miss-whoa…” Her single eye stared at the view in front of her before seeing Alphys. She smiled happily and started to dash to the makeshift tower. However she was soon stopped by a voice.
“ Stop! Please don’t run on the flowers! My dad works really hard on them!” Undyne caught herself, almost falling into the bed of flowers as she tried keeping her balance, soon falling back on her ass.

The others walked over to her, while Sans gave a questionable look, “ wait a minute... azzy?” Just then, the toy chair swerved, there sat Asriel with a toy scepter, wearing a smaller version of the robes his mother wore, with a cute little cape and… Eyeliner? Or at the very least, paint trailing across his cheeks. He sat there looking rather smug with one leg over the other. “ …oh my god that’s adorable.”

Undyne smacked the back of Sans’ skull moderately hard and/or gentle, “ Sans don’t be googling over the bad guy!”

“ i-i was not!” Sans glared, his blue magic making his cheeks glow a tint of blue.

“ Anyways… ASRIEL, YOU’RE THE WARLOCK?!” Undyne shouted, while the other three were still baffled. Mostly Grillby considering from all he’s seen from the kid was how shy and kind he was.

Grillby whistled,” Wow… Guess actors are the best at playing the opposite of their personalities sometimes.”

Asriel snickered evilly… He surprisingly pulled it off fairly well. “ Yes~! I am The Warlock Of Hyper-Death!”

Undne blinked, “ What…? Hyper-Death? Really?”

Asriel huffed out, pointing the staff to Alphys, “ C-Come on guys, Alphys said I could pick a super cool name for my character! M-Me and her made that tower! Heck my mom even made this robe for me!”

It was now Grillby’s turn to smack Undyne, “ Would you behave.”

Asriel sighed before getting back into his role, “ A-Anways… Yes! I am the one who captured The Princess Of The Moon Sprites Of The Bamboo Shoot Forest~! With her under my control, I can harvest all the bamboo the moon sprites work so hard to grow! And with that I can… I-I’m not really sure-But it’s something good for evil deeds! And so I see you have bested my minions… Burgillian the executioner. Braticus the wild. Caticus the tank. Madame Muffet the rouge. And even Duke-O the duke! But now it is time for your heroic stance to kneel before the might of my power! And with you wiped out, I can take complete control and the power of the moon sprite’s bamboo shall be mine~! Ahahahahaha~!” Asriel paused for a moment, seeing the party look at him shocked from his performance. The prince peeked over his chair, “ U-Uhm… Alphys d-did I do that right?”

Alphys even had her jaw dropped, “ N-No, no, yo-y-you did really good! E-Even st-s-startled me!”

“ O-oh… I’m sorry.”

“ Did anyone ever-ever tell you, you’re a good actor?”

Undyne soon interrupted the normal chatter, “ Okay Warlock, you're going doooooooown!” She charged at him, one foot in the flowers and suddenly her world turned upside-down… Well her vision at least. A rope snared her up and lifted her into the air to dangle around, dropping her spear.” AWWW WHAT?!”
“ I told you not to run in the flowers.” Asriel rubbed the back of his head, which was true… He DID warn her.

Papyrus then made his move an waddled over to the chair holding out his trash-can lidded shield in front of Asriel trying to… Push against him or try and block his view? It’s Papyrus so who really knows. Meanwhile Nice started to shoot his bow to Asriel. The prince scooped up Papyrus and turned him around so that the suction cupped arrows hit the shield. After that, Nice seemed to be out of ammo, and thus out of his attacks. Asriel put the small skeleton down who ran to Nice for assistance. While the two struggled to pull the suction cups off, which seemed to be stuck to the shield rather tightly Grillby analyzed the situation. Or he would have if Asriel hadn’t pointed his scepter to the fiery monster,” With the ancient gem of the delta-omega ruins I cast you to be turned… Into a chicken, bleh!”

Grillby playing only put his arms into a chicken stance as one would do for the dance. Sans snickered and laughed out. Grillby glared still in the pose,” Dah damnit Sans!”

Asriel soon hopped up in his chair and smiled, “ Ha! All of your warriors are dealt with! So Sansational The Bard… Just let me win and I shall spare you~! Or maybe…You can join me and rule over the bamboo forest together!” He gave a rather wicked smile.

Sans soon smiled and took out his guitar, strumming it, “ heh… sorry, but i can’t let you do that buddy. you know… it’s a nice day out today. birds are singing, flowers are blooming. a perfect day to play catch wouldn’t you say?”

“ W-What are you getting at u-uhm-peasant?!” It was rather tricky staying in character going against Sans, since Sans’ character was much like himself. Calm, cool, collective, kind, smart…

“ i’ll make you a wager. if you don’t like this song, then you can keep this up and i’ll even throw in undyne for it to.”

“ HEY!” Undyne flailed about, making her swing around.

“ but, if you do enjoy it. you have to become good and let alphys go. i’m not much a fighter, warlock”

Asriel scooted himself to sit back down and grinned, “ Very well… But you know I can just lie right?”

Sans’ smile turned into a smirk, “ heh… i know you won’t… and besides, this is dedicated to a warlock who can have a second chance.” He suddenly strummed the strings with his pick of a bone and closed his eyes, “everyone makes mistakes, you've had more than your share. but it's ok 'cause i'm gonna' repair it. they say there are no retakes. but i just don't agree, no, this show. is of my own making. take it back to the start, you should have a change of heart. i know we can make it better than it ever was. i know we can make it better~. i know we can make it better than it ever was. i know we can make it better~.” Sans continued on as e softly made his way over to the entranced prince, careful not to crush a flower before standing in front of the goat monster. " i know there's things to change. the path that i could choose is loose and, i must find a new one. our fates are not yet written, you should take the warning, choose a way that's less destructive. yeah, i know you look bad, but we have only seen one path. can't you see? we are free. to choose our destiny. and be the way we want to be. a second chance, you just need to believe.” Sans climbed up, sitting next to Asriel who scooted over for him. " take it back to the start, i've had a change of heart. i know we can make it better than it ever was. i know we can make it better~. i know we can make it better than it ever was. i know we can make it better~. i know we can make it better than it ever was. i know we can make it better~. i know we can make it better than it ever was. I know we can make it better~.” He slowly sang out the last verse while Asriel leaned against him, earning Sans a smile.

While that happen, Alphys scuttled down the stairs and Grillby snapped the rope, making the fish crash onto the floor, “ …Ow.” She mumbled and sat up. The main doors opened up to revile Toriel standing there and looking over at the children smiling.

“ Ah, so this is where you all went! Come along now, the others are waiting for you! I made you all lunch~!” She chuckled out as the kids rushed out, happy for a meal. All but the two who sat there in the chair, Toriel noticed them and shyly waited out behind the doors to give the two some peace. She was so happy her son had finally gotten such a good friend that would help his gentle soul.

Asriel continued to lean on his friend’s shoulder and smiled with happy tears flowing out, “ I loved it …”

“ knew you would.” Sans chuckled lightly as he comforted the prince. “ so, is mister big bad evil warlock gonna’ be good now?”

“ Hehe, of course. He’s always going to stay-“

Chapter Text

“ Good!” Alphys screamed out in pure joy as her friends accepted the little LARP she had made up for her family and friends.” This is gr-great! This wonderful! T-T-This’ll be epic!” She said as she pulled out a video recorder that could easily be pinned to her witchy like hat of a somber blueish or purple color. The chubby girl also wore a same type of colored cloak around here, much like her normal scientist coat, but velvety to touch the fabric. She held out a toy wand and turned the camera on at the park where she and a few of her friends were going to start their ‘heroic journey’ from the central park back to the house.

Frisk smiled, glad to spend time with their new founded family as they had their normal and casual clothes on with a brown backpack and a cute little miner’s cap, painted in a vibrant yellow. Next to them stood Papyrus, smiling happily, equally as excited as the young human, dressed in his ‘battle-gear’ but with a red cape and plastic silver headband around his forehead, as he held a large bone made shield. The next one was Undyne with her casual black shirt and jeans, but now getting to wear her old actual helmet, which she could thankfully pull up to talk clearer. And then last but not least was Sans… Who didn’t dress up at all, and only had his guitar strapped onto his back.

Alphys took out a scrolled up paper and cleared out her throat, “ Okay m-m-my humble party! Le-Let’s see if we have everyone a-a-accounted for… Uhm, let’s see here… The Gaiden Garden Bamboo Zen’s Mage. Th-That would b-be me. Friskalot, the explorer. Papadin th-the paladin U-Undying Helmet, th-the Knight. A-And Sansational the Bard. O-Okay we-we’re all set!”

Undyne snorted as she spun her spear around with ease, “ So what’s our quest if we’re not saving a princess?”

“ W-W-We need to get back Lady Toriel’s teapot before the e-eight headed serpent dragon u-uses it to control all of the village!”
“ WAIT. HOW DOES A SNAKE DRAGON RULE OVER A VILLAGE WITH A TEAPOT?”

“ Uhm… Uh… I-If it puts that sleepy stuff in it and makes people drink it?” Alphys much rather not wanting to go into her anime details.

Papyrus bought his gloved hands to the sides of his cheekbones gasping out, “ EVERYONE WILL BE LIKE MY BROTHER! THAT FIEND! ”

Meanwhile, Sans brought out the guitar and smirked to Undyne in a rather giddy expression, making the fish grind her teeth together harshly. Frisk didn’t know what the cheeky skeleton was planning… But it couldn't have been good considering Undyne was already agitated before they even began their long walk.

“oh undying helmet and little venturer, walkin' through the forest. laughin' back and forth, at what the other one has to say. reminiscing, this-'n'-that ‘n’ havin' such a good time. oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally. golly, what a day-~.“ Sans strummed out, further annoying the blue scaled monster while Alphys stayed near the back with Frisk, scared to be anywhere near the front . That and she might be able to warn Papyrus if Undyne was about to swing at his brother who only chuckled at the anger. Thankfully her rage was suddenly stopped as the party were now in the middle of the large park where a rather enlarged fountain sprayed out water from sculpted fish mouths and various other sea creatures built from stone. There on the edge sat a semi-transparent whit ghost who had been zoned out from his music and headphones. The ghost felt something off and looked to the group, putting away the music and putting on a dinky little green cupped hat that held in some water… Or more likely his tears.

He weaved around slowly, putting up tiny stubby hands, “ O-Oh… Uhm.. R-Raaawr? I’m uh… I’m Kappstablook. And uh… Oh I’m really sorry, but uhm, y-you… You can’t go any further.” With that Undyne ran to him, only to go right trough him and landing into the water of the large fountain.

As Alphys and Papyrus helped the fish who gnashed her teeth from inpatientness and being cold, Sans and Frisk looked to one another. The skeleton shrugged, “ hey, he’s got better taste in music than me kiddo. i mean seriously, have you heard spook tunes?” Frisk smiled, rolling their squinted eyes and shaking their head at their goofy dunkle. They walked over to Napstablook and put down their backpack. Opening it up and looking about, shoving various things around before they took out a pickle Toriel had packed them as a snack. Sans tilted his head, watching the child kneel down and reach out to Napstablook with the pickles laying in their hands.
“ Sorry it’s not a cucumber.”

Napstablook was a bit confused as well but shrugged it off and picked it up with is tiny nubs, nibbling on it. “ It… It tastes good… Thanks, uhm.. I-I think that means you can pass? I’m not really sure. I’ll see you back home.” He gave the human a small smile before taking his possessions and fading away.

Undyne shook the water from her now squelching boots, “ The fuck just happened?!”

Alphys gulped, taking out a book, “ H-H-He was a Kappa. A m-monster from Japan, ma-maybe from folk tales before the war I-I’m unsure. But-But apparently your suppose to give them a cucumber n order to please them.”

Undyne squinted at the book, leaning over to see, “ Who writes this shit?”

Frisk shrugged, “ I just heard about it when I started watching anime with Alphys.”

“never ever thinkin' there was danger in the water. they were drinkin', they just guzzled it down” Strummed the tune from the guitar, occupied by the singing of Sans. Frisk and Papyrus both were enjoying the tune while Alphys coordinated them near the parks exit/entrance… And Undyne looking like she was going to lash out at an unsuspecting skeleton. Before the party made it to the exit/entrance, there seemed to be some rather rapid rustling from some bushes nearby.

This gained Papyrus’ attention, “ OOOH MAYBE IT’S A KITTEN! OR ONE OF THOSE SPECIAL KITTENS WITH THE RING TAILS AND MASKS!” He said joyfully, hopping to the bushes, kneeling down with a big grin across his skull.

“ preeeetty sure, you just described a raccoon bro.”

The younger brother huffed,” OH PLEASE SANS! I KNOW WAY MORE OF THE ANIMALS ON THE SURFACE THAN YOU. I READ A SCOUT BOOK FLOWEY GOT SOMEHOW. NOW LET’S SEE. HERE KITTY, KITTY, KIT-AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He shrieked out as a bundle of orange scales flung out, dressed in scruffed up pants, a black and white striped shirt, and a red purple stripped bandana over their head. The small figure ran around the skeleton with some rope, running to a tree and skillfully climbing up it with nothing but their clawed feet. The figure held the end of the rope in their powerful jaw and hopped off a branch, pulling the surprised skeleton upside-down.” NOT A KITTY, NOT A KITTY!”

As the small figure held the rope, Frisk walked over and waved, the orange monster letting go, “ Oh! Yo, hiya Frisk!” Kidd waggled his tail while the rope was let go, making Papyrus crash into the ground.

As Undyne checked on Papyrus, Sans walked over, knowing fully aware his brother wasn’t in any actual risk. “ hehehe, nice. pirates versus ninjas. this’ll be sweet.”
Kidd blinked before looking at his pirate attire, “ Awww man! Yo I thought I heard pirates on the phone! Awww, oh well. Too late to change know. I already picked out a name and everything too yo! I am Kidd Krook! Bandit of the six seas! … Or was there seven?” He pondered to himself.

Alphys siged in relief, “ Well, at least we have a new party member. Either way.”

“never dreamin' that a schemin' snake and his posse. was a-watchin' them an' gatherin' around~.” Kidd hopped and skipped along to the beat of the tune Sans strummed out, while Undyne groaned heavily with great distaste.

The small range armless lizard frowned, leaping beside their former hero, “ Awww, yo what’s wrong Undye? Yo, you don’t like the catchy song?”

Undyne growled to herself, unable to be mean spirited to a child… Well other than Frisk, but that had been a very different story at the time. She rubbed her temples, “ It’s fine… But when it goes on and on, it gets really shitty after a while."

“ Hrmmm… That’s odd, normally I listen to songs over and over!”

“ Yeah well, ya get sick of it after a while including some years.”

Frisk and Kidd looked puzzled. The human now walking by her their side, speaking out, “ Years?”

Undyne cracked a smile, ruffling the child's brown hair through her webbed hand, “ Yup! Believe it or not, we use to play shit like this back when we were kids. It was always menial labor stuff until we found someone who could play a good villain-“ Alphys looked over to her girlfriend, waving her claws nervously and looking rather worried. “ But uhhh, they moved… F-Far… Far… Far away…” Her happiness of telling a story about her past days trailed off. She had always wanted to be like her uncle and Gerson, telling stories, but she guessed it wasn’t right to say anything from this.

“ OH I REMEMBER THEM! OR… AT LEAST I THINK I DID. MEMORIES A BIT FUZZY.”

Alphys quickly stepped into the conversation, smiling nervously, “ Th-T-that’s because o-of that rock th-that hit you on the head Papyrus. N-Now come on, we just need to pass the playground quickly!”

Frisk frowned, sensing they were hiding something… Except for Papyrus and Kidd. He seemed to not actually remember the events. Then lay Sans in their yes, far away in the back, messing with his instrument. They sighed, wanting to know this other kid they use to play with. Maybe that’s why Sans had backed away, mentioning them may have opened old wounds between the two. But all the child wanted to know was… Who? And why the inevitable break up, since they could distinctly tell when Undyne was lying about them moving away. Because even if they moved, they'd been free and met up at some point.

Those questions would have to wait as Nice and Burgs stood before them, halting their progress. Nice dressed in a icy colored feminine kimono with half of his face painted in a white spiral or pattern. With his eyes closed on the non-painted side, stood out a black spot of paint over his eyelid. Burgs stood by his fiancé's side with a more masculine kimono, tinted in orange. Half of his face painted black, while the non painted side’s eye closed, showing off a white spot over his eye lid.
Undyne blinked, “ Ohhh, what the fuck is this shit?”

Nice smiled as Burg frowned, “ We are not here to fight. We are here for…. Riddles~!”

“ … WELP! I’m sitting this one out.” Undyne said drawing her spear away. While Papyrus took interest as a puzzle had been set before him.

“ VERY WELL! I ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!”

The two looked at one another and shrugged, the feline stepping forth, “ Okay wise guy, answer the mighty and deadly riddle of Buryang. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?”

“ HRM… OH MY THAT’S AWFULLY RUDE! WHY WOULD YOU BUY A PENGUIN, MAKE IT RED LIKE HOW ALPHYS GETS WIT UNDYNE AND THEN TURN IT INTO DUST?! THAT’S JUST CRUEL!”

Burgs tilted his head before talking out a cigarette to sooth himself, only for it to be slapped away by the blue bunny’s hand. Alphys looked to the party then to the cat’s rash glare. Being to scared, Kidd stepped over, “ YO HO HO! It’s charcoal!”

Burgs took a side step,” Welp, that kid’s either been reading or use to watch the charcoal at my old shitty job burnout like I did out of pure boredom.”

Nice smiled to the party, “ Oooh, ooh! My turn! The riddle of the charming and gentle Niceyin~! I have a little house in which I live all alone. It has no doors or windows, and if I want to go out I must break through the wall. What am I?” Thankfully with his joyful smile, Alphys was less threatened by it and walked over.

“ A baby in an egg, whether to be monster, avian, retile, fish, custation, amphibian-“ Undyne got up and picked up the chunky lizard before she could babble on. “ W-Wait I wasn’t done!”

Nice’s ears twitched, “ I’ll take that as a chicken which is correct. See you all soon~!” He giggled, taking the more cynical monsters and walking off.

Sans stayed with kids, “ that is a strange couple… guess it’s true what they say… opposites attract.”

“undying helmet and little explorer, runnin' through the forest-“ Undyne cut him off by a loud scream of anger.

“ THAT’S IT! I’M GONNA WRECK THAT STUPID THING!” She pounced at the skeleton as the group passed by the playground. Sans smirked and swiftly teleported al about as the fish chased after him every time he popped out of nowhere. The others stood there and waited.

Papyrus trying to call his brother out, “ SANS! JUST STOP SINGING EVERY SO OFTEN AND I’M SURE YOU’LL BE FINE!”

As Aphys tried her best to calm down the angry fish, “ U-UNDYNE, PL-PL-P-PLEASE! CALM DOWN! YOU MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY HU-HURT HIM OR SOMEONE ELSE!”

Sans took a slight break in front of something that looked like a gray boulder near a tree, but instead seemed t move now that Frisk thought about it. “ hehehe, c’mon, kids can throw punches harder than you.” He teased her, teleporting right when Undyne struck the ‘boulder’. A loud crack was heard, making Sans teleport next to the party, shocked himself.

The ‘boulder’ groaned and moved up… It was actually someone wearing a grey tunic, and was much larger than the feisty fish who gulped just a bit, fully realizing she maaaay have fucked up. The large lumbering figure turned around to reveal the friendly fuzzy face of the king of monsters. “ Ahh, thank you Undyne! My back was causing me a bit of a problem. I’m sure I need to get a new bed soon.” He smiled brightly, grabbing the fish up to give a back-cracking bear hug. Once he put her down, Undyne dizzily stumbling about happily to get a hug from the big softy, he cleared his mighty throat. “ Oh right, right. We’re playing a game. Ohoho, I almost forgot. Aherm… I am Asgthor, the barbarian… Or was it a monk?” He held up his two large fists which were wrapped up with purple rags.

Frisk and Kidd ran over to jump the large new alley, getting gentle hugs from him. Papyrus smiled, “ AWW, IT’S LIKE A BIG TEDDY BEAR!”

Sans shifted his pupils away, putting up his fake smile which he didn’t try to use as often, “ hehehe, yeah…” In his mind, he often wondered how Asriel would have looked if he was older…

Since their new ally, Sans didn't really sing, his mind somewhere else, which was bliss to Undyne, but worrisome to Papyrus and Frisk. Frisk reassured the taller skeleton, giving him a thumbs up. The young skeleton nodded, smiling sadly, knowing the human he trusted so deeply could muster up Sans into his singing again. So Frisk started walking slower until they were right by Sans’ side. Sans felt a tingle and cocked his skull to see the child watching him like a squinty eyed hawk. “ ah jeez, you’re killing me kid, you’re killing me… whats with that look? aren’t i allowed to have a simple break?” He smiled lazily, only making the child puff up their cheeks in annoyance. “ … okay, okay. but if undyne starts her fishy-fit, i’m pinning it on you.” With that, he took out the old guitar and strummed it, earning a small smile from the human, making him smile faintly in turn. “jumpin' fences, dodgin' trees. an' tryin' to get away-“

“ ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!” Thankfully the loud yell of rage wasn’t from Undyne… But it was unfortunately bellowed out from someone far angrier than the fish. The two looked over to see Madstablook with his usual training dummy body with duct-taped plastic spikes for horns, and a skimpy loincloth. “ I, THE MAD ONI HAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE MUSIC! AND THIS ONES FACE!” He glared at Undyne who glared right back. The two seemed to be in a deathly glare match, which no one was backing down from.

Papyrus nervously walked over, “ ERM, EXCUSE ME MISTER ONI, BUT WE’RE JUST TRYING TO GET TO THE HOUSE WHICH YOU TEND TO BE BLOCKING. IT’S JUST UP THE HILL SO-“

A sickening crack came from the dummy's neck as it turned t face the skeleton. “ Oh I’m sorry, but I’m not like those other SISSIES! Your gonna' have to fight me! YOU WIMPS!”

Undyne grinned, drawing her spear up, “ AWW YEAH!”

However, the gentle giant put a paw onto Undyne’s hands, lowering the spear down, “ Undyne, you cannot just run in head first into a battle. Ad besides you cannot arm a dummy. And do you really want to use your magic to actually injure the ghost's cousin?”

“ But-But… But he said he didn’t like my face!”

The chubby lizard waddled over for some moral support and to drag Undyne away from the pissed ghost, “ I l-l-like you face.” Kidd agreed with her, along with Papyrus and Frisk.

“ eh, only friends can love a face like that.” Sans winked at the fish who gave an annoyed gaze.

Asgore then cracked his large knuckles before sitting down and pulling something out from his belt. He had actually brought small tea cups and a bottle of caramel tea. He poured the liquid into a cup for himself, and then another, handing it to the dummy. “ I DON”T WANT YOUR CRUMMY TE-“ Asgore peeked up from sipping his cup, giving the ghost a cold icy and deathly glare. Much like the looks he had given the child, but actually meant an angry look instead of sorrow. The dummy quickly snapped his snout shut and sat there, sipping the tea, sensing the king’s magical flow. Obviously someone he did not want to cross. After a moment the ghost possessing dummy sipped more of the tea. “ … This is pretty good actually.”

The party kept on their way from the sidewalks to the very bottom of the hill, seeing the large dwelling in the distance. While Asgore was spending time to calm the inane tweeked dummy, Sans felt slightly more at peace. He didn’t hate the big guy, nor did he avoid him like that. Hell, he had even asked the large goat if it was too awkward for him to think about Toriel. But after the move up to The surface, Asgore seemed to finally walk past his old relationship. Sure he still loved his old wife, and would enjoy to embrace her n a hug again, but he accepted what had happen, even giving advice to his judge. Asgore only wanted what was best for his people, and for Toriel to be happy. So he figured why not. Besides all that, Asgore wasn’t really the jealous or possessive type, he much rather have others be happy around him. Their happiness brought peace into his life. And even when Sans was rejected lightly, the big guy was there by his side to help him, despite Sans also being cared for by Toriel. It was just… When Undyne started talking about the past, all Sans could think of was the older more carefree times. And seeing his friend’s father, stunned him in a way. “contemplatin' nothin'. but escape an' fin'lly makin' it…” He mumbled out before a voice scattered his thoughts.

“ OHHHHH YEEES~!”

Sans’ skull went cold, “ ohhh no…” He thought to himself why Alphys invited Mettaton into this. Again, Sans didn’t even hate the robot. He was just iffy about the narcissistic ghost dating his younger brother… Though he did treat Papyrus well and not really being terribly lewd to him. Sans just felt rather… Uneasy? Purely because it was his brother he worried about.

Mettaton stood in their way, dressed up in a pink kimono with gloves that had feathers stitched in, letting him wave them around like fans. “ Hello darlings~! I will stop you with my good looks and charms~! For I, Tenguton, will not allow you to escape my beauty~! Oh by the way, thank you for the stunning outfit and role Alphys, I might wear this on my next album~.”

Alphys placed her claws over her reddened face, “ What have I done…?”

Undyne groaned, “ Okay, I’m getting tired of not fighting anything. Move it or I’m kicking your ass to last year’s trend.”

Mettaton gasped out, “ You vile woman! How could you be so cruel?!”

Thankfully before any further squabble, Papyrus side over, putting his arms around the two, “ WAIT, WAIT. I’M SURE WE CAN FIGURE THIS OUT… ERM… PEACEFULLY…” He leaned over to Undyne, whispering harshly, “ YOU GUYS GO ON… I’LL STALL HIM WITH MY EQUALLY GOOD LOOKS…” He squinted his eyes, looking around.
Undyne sighed, “ Papyrus, he can literally hear you.”

“ … OH HE’S GOOD.” Frisk and Kidd held in any bit of laughter. Sans even ha to suppress a slight chuckle from how his brother tended to act around others.

“oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally. golly, what a day.” Sans was back it again, his emotion finally clawing up thee hurdle it had been thrown to. He was glad to still e around even with his brother taking to Mettaton about who knows what. They had finally made it to the their destination, except… Something felt… Off. In an instant Sans grabbed the two children and teleported away, “ alphys duck!” The yellow lizard screeched out from the sudden warning, dropping to the ground, hitting her snout. But with that, she was able to dodge a sharp tip of a blade which caught Undyne off guard, scraping her cheek. She winced from the sudden cut and snarled at their attacker. That being, Doggo with a long winding black scarf around his snout with a smaller black cloth tied around his forehead. He spun his two blades and arched himself into position to attack again. “ dude what the hell?! there are children here!”

“ I am not who you speak of this, ‘dude’…”

“ oh my god, are you seriously doing what you did when we were kids-“

“ I am Dogkai. Guardian Yokai of the Master Orochi-No-Yamta…”

Aphys got up, ruing her tender snout, “ O-O-Other way around.”

“ I know what I said, small mage!” Doggo barked out.

Undyne on the other hand looked over to the others and then to Doggo, cracking her neck, “ Okay mister ninja’… You wanna' scare the sit out of kids, get my girlfriend hurt, and make me bleed my own blood, which nobody does… And that’s an ass kicking. NGYAAAAAAAAAH LET’S DO THIS MUTT!” Undyne spun her spear around and got into her fighting stance with a sharp toothed grin, finally ready to fight someone who wouldn’t take her lightly. With the two ex royal guards sparring off against one another, the others hurried to the wide open backyard, to find Toriel’s oriental teapot sitting near the fencing.

With the item they needed right on the other side of the garden rows, the party was met up with Asgore and Papyrus to join their victory. Papyrus smiled brightly and dashed to the teapot, hyped on happiness. He would have helped Undyne, but when she was in battle mode, it was best not to interfere. At first Sans hesitated to let his brother go, but he didn’t sense and magic around. Papyrus finally stepped close to the teapot, only for his ankle to be tied with a vine, being strung up to a far away tree near the house. “ paps?!”

“IT IS OKAY! I’LL GET MYSELF DOWN-HRM… THAT LOOKS IKE QUITE TE FALL… ERM, I’LL JUST WAIT UP HERE.”

“ no way bro, i’ll get ya down-“ A pellet spun past his skull dangerously close as a warning. The party looked over to see Flowey suddenly there in the teapot itself, watching them with a wicked grin. “ …alphys… you brought him into this?”

“ I-I-I’m sorry b-b-but we needed someone to be the eight headed serpent. H-H-He promised he wouldn’t harm anyone, and he s-s-seemed rather upset when I was telling Frisk about the game, that he couldn’t join in.” Sans looked down to the child with a rather hurt expression.

Frisk hugged their dunkle, “ He’s not going to hurt anyone. Trust me… I know he won't. He just wants to play.”

“ yeah, but kiddo. he’s-“

“ I know… But he doesn’t want to be alone. If Papyrus had a bunch of friends, and you couldn't tag along, would you want to be alone?” Sans sighed in defeat, rubbing the back of his neck-bones, hoping Frisk was right about all of this.

“ ERM FLOWEY, CAN YOU LET ME DOWN?!”

The plant growled as thin vines stuck out of the teapot and dug into the ground, “ NO! Not until I beat you guys! Speaking of which…” Vines quickly lashed at the party, but not crushing or having any thorns around them. Only to grab at them, managing to snag up the large king and pin him down. Kidd and Frisk both tried moving the vines while Alphys bravely wiggled her wand about spouting some words.

Flowey… Actually played in his role fairly well, pretending to be hurt by Alphy’s pretending magic, until a swift flick of a vine, slapped the wand away from her claws. She nervously laughed, only to get wrapped up, falling on her side, her glasses dropping off. Sans was about to pick the glasses up for his friend, but stopped seeing vines snatch it up and surprisingly put them back onto the chubby lizard. Sans stood there, taken aback as he watched the flower grin sinisterly to him. The vines soon grew out and wrapped up the armless monster child, this making Frisk back away for now and regroup with their dunkle.

“ Hey guys, I’m back-ARGH!” Undyne was quickly snatched up by her ankle and swung to the tree trunk to lean next to Papyrus, dropping her spear in the progress.
“ OH… HELLO UNDYNE.”

“ … Hey Paps… Why do I always get have to hang around like this when we play this shit?

Frisk and Sans split up to distract the gold flower, however his sights kept locked onto Sans who ran around the side to grab the teapot, just like Frisk who ran on the other side. With a smirk, Flowey felt the vibrations of Frisk getting closer to him than Sans. Quickly he turned around, cascading vines t wrap up the child and hold them in the air. They gulped as they saw his frenzied look, hoping he would just stick to being in character and not actually doing something wrong. Flowey quickly spun around, vines swiping at Sans who teleported in between the two major rows of the garden that were divided up with the path leading down the middle to Flowey. “ He-Hey! HEY I CALL HAX! BARDS AREN’T SUPPOSE TO DO THAT!” Just as Sans was reaching out for his magic to take hold of Flowey’s vines around Frisk, they shook their head, mouthing but the words, ‘ It’s just a game’.

For this… Sans had to be in character… He had to be part of the game. He had to play the game in its own set of rules. “ Hehehehe, aww look~! The little bards allllll by himself~! Alone, afraid, nobody there to HELP HIM!” Sure Flowey kept in character… But it didn’t mean he couldn’t be the creepy little sadistic shit he was. Sans sighed lightly, getting his guitar out, only making the plant laugh in a distorted and demonic tone. “ Really? A guitar~? You think that that… Out of alllllllll the things in this realm, can STOP ME?! AHAHAHAHAHA! Golly… You really are an idiot huh, Sansational? MUSIC CANNOT BEST YAMATA-NO-FLOWEY, YOU FOOL!”

Papyrus in the back whispered to Undyne, “ WOWIE... FLOWEY’S RREALLY GOOD AT ACTING.”

Flowey overhearing it, made him swell up with a bit more pride, making him delve into his character but also his true nature as well. Seven lengthy and bulky vines sprouted out next to him as he raised his own stem to simulate the tale of the eight-headed serpent. Even with the sight and the dark chuckles, Sans finally let himself sink into his own humble character. “ heh… don’t you know that in the end. the bad guys will always loose in tales, prophecies, and legends just as this?” He smiled calmly, stroking the strings of his beloved guitar.

Flowey seemed rather shocked, maybe even hurt. At this point it was hard for the skeleton to differentiate if Flowey was actually like this or if he was acting still. “ B-Bad guy…? I-I’m… I-‘m not b-bad… I-Im… I’m not The Bad Guy…” He gulped down hard, seeming to be in a daze. He ignored Frisk trying to sooth him before he snarled out down to the lone bard, “ Y-YOU’RE LYING! HE-HEROES DON’T ALWAYS WIN! THEY DIE AND BECOME PITIFUL FAIRY TALES! THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME! AHAHAHAHA! YOU’RE USELESS AND ALONE! JUST LIKE ME! NO ONE WILL HELP YOU! HEHE-I MEAN REALLY?! W-WHY WOULD ANYONE HELP US TWO?! WE’RE LOST CAUSES! SO WHY DON’T YOU JUST GIVE UP ALREADY AND JUST LET ME WIN?!” He panted from his screaming and frustration. He just wanted to win… Any other game anymore… Ever since Chara came into his world, he always lost, no matter what. It wasn’t fair…

That was until… He heard he soft strumming from the skeleton who closed his eyes in concentration. “dragon i am humble, for tonight i understand. your royal blood was never meant to decorate this land. you suffered great injustice. so have thousand before you, i offer an apology, and one long overdue. i am sorry, dragon am sorry. hear my song, i know i sing the truth. although we were breed to fight, i reach for kindness in your heart toniiight. and if you can forgive and if you can forgive, love can truly live. and if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live.” Flowey started to lower his vines down, along with his own stem, the song touching a deep resonating trapped feeling deep inside. Thoughts of how he died, his blood tainting the ground and flowers… “ dragon i am frighten, but i'll use my finale breath. to tell you that i'm sorry, let us end this dance of death. for centuries of agony, that to your heart we sent. here and now with my amends, this senseless killing ends. i am sorry, dragon i am sorry. hear my song, i know i sing the truth. although we were breed to fight. i reach for kindness in your heart tonight, and if you can forgive. and if you can forgive, love can truly live. and if you can forgive, and if you can forgive, love can truly live. and if you can forgive, and if you can forgive. love, love will truly live…” Flowey’s vines withdrew from everyone as he shrunk back into the teapot, baffled by the song.

Just then Toriel walked out to see everyone and whistled, waving to them all, “ Dinner is ready! Come on and hurry up! The others are waiting!” Everyone agreed to lay down their game and go get some nice tasty grub. All except Flowey, Frisk and Sans.

Frisk scooped up the old teapot Toriel had found and walked over to their dunkle, the flower remaining silent. “ Thanks for playing with us Dunkle Sans.”

“ hehehe, don't mention it kiddo.” As he turned around to head inside, Flowey spoke up in a shy and meek tone, surprising their ‘sibling’.

“ He-Hey… Uhm, Sans? D-Did… Did you… Did you r-really mean that song?” He smiled wearily up to the skeleton, with a pained and almost hopeful saddening look.

“ heh… my character did for dragons. but if you think that had anything of me apologizing to you for some reason, that isn’t the case in the slightest. and besides that bud-dy… I’m N E V ER going to F O R G I V E you, you sick little F R E A K… heh, sorry kiddo, but I’m not gonna’ accept him like you and the others. i mean, i love ya and all kid… but, with that weed… you’re the only reason i haven't given it a mercy kill yet.” He tiredly gave a lazy smile and walked to the house, knowing he had just upset Frisk, but… Now that he was free, he could be truthful to some things. Though, they tended to be a mix of positive and negative.

Frisk sighed and sat down holding the teapot, looking down to the flower who seemed to be shaking weakly. They pet the back of his stem, sniffling along with him. They didn’t know what to do or say to the broken monster they held so dearly. “ Asriel?”

Flowey looked up to them with his true face of sad and innocent looking eyes staring at them. “ … I really am a bad guy, aren’t I?”

Chapter Text

Today was the day… The day the group had been waiting for… The day to stand up again Jerry and his lackeys. The two large groups met each other at an worn out field that had originally been made and set as official back when Grillby was the main leader of the two now divided groups. There stood Grillby, Sans, and Undyne in the front, while Asriel, Muffet, Papyrus, Bratty, Catty, Nice, Burgs, Doggo, and Alphys made up the back. Then across from them stood Jerry, Frostdrake, and Bob, with Baron, Glyde, Slyren, Faunly, Punkly, a Loox, a Migosp, a Woshua, and an Icecap. The two main leaders walked away from their side to the middle of the field and glared at one another. Jerry smirked deviously, “ If we win, you guys won’t go into OUR forest anymore. Or… You can ditch the royal kid for the rest of the year.”
Grillby’s fire only sparked more, his hands curling into balls of fiery fists. He spat to his side, disrespecting the other leader, “” And if we win, you all have to stop being bullies to everyone for the rest of the year.” Jerry grumbled before making a deal with the fiery teen, both shaking on it and turning back to round up their group.

Typically baseball was played with nine people, which meant some had to sit out and wait their turn, which they did. Because twelve against just a few was rather uncalled for and unfair to both teams. Jerry would have wanted t that way, but ten he would also have to deal with going up against Grillby’s full team… Even if most of them were fairly ‘weak’.

And so Grillby’s team was up first, Undyne stood in the middle, locking her single eye on Glyde whose tail wrapped around a baseball bat. Sans standing right behind with a mask on and a glove to catch Undyne’s relentless throw of the ball. However Sans… being well Sans, had the tendency and habit of talking. “ hurry it up glyde, it’s gonna' be a short game, and i gotta' get home for lunch” With the constant chatter, the hovering fish missed, earning the cheeky skeleton a snicker, “ that’s one.” Again Glyde readied himself. “ you know if i had a dog that was ugly as you, I’d shave his butt ad tell him to walk backwards.” Again another miss, Glyde’s large grin moving into a soured expression. “ the heater… here it comes… i dare you-strike three you're out.” He said so blatantly, like he knew the fish would fail.
Then moved in the one Loox who was there beating up Asriel that one time, which Sans never forgot. The skeleton grew an even wider grin as he watched the round monster hold the bat. “ hey is that your sister out there in the left field, naked?” The Loox ignored him. “ she’s naked.” Sans stated, making the monster miss the hit of the ball.

“ SHUT UP WINGDINGS!”

“ hey, hey, hey, i’m just trying to have a friendly conversation is all.” With the Loox to busy focusing his anger on Sans, he missed again. He growled and wrapped his claws around the wooden bat once more. “ … think she’d go out with me?” The Loox was then caught off guard y the disturbing thought of the skeleton going out with his sister, missing one last time.

Eventually… The two teams were tied and the last monster was up to bat, with only of their teammates at the second plate. Papyrus stood there at the plate, looking rather worried as Frostdrake grinned down to the toddler, making him frightened and tense up. Sans’ eye twitched as he watched the large fowl scare his small brother. He wanted to run over and punch that stupid cold blooded bird, but restrained himself, not wanting t risk the game. Several kids had been injured on both teams at this point, only because the bullies didn’t care, but also that Doggo and Undyne were both use to training rather harshly. Slyren’s angler was crooked, as Bob was bruised up a bit, Woshua’s rubber duck had sunk down into the water on his back, Faunly’s ugly sweater being torn, and even Baron having a bloody snout. Thankfully on the other team, none of the smaller children were hurt, but Alphys had red marks all over, Undyne was missing a tooth or so, Doggo’s round sunglasses broken, various limbs of Muffet were aching, and to top it all off, the monster who was up to swing had a black eye. Asriel had a black eye just like the very first time they ever met the vicious group of teens, back when Sans had introduced him into playing games with the others.

Asriel gripped onto the wooden bat, watching and waiting for Jerry’s pitch. The little shit smirked, taking his sweet ass time to throw out that ball that a tentacle wrapped around so delicately. Without a sudden warning, the many limbed monster threw the white ball, letting it wiz right past Asriel’s trembling arms and actually hitting the umpire, knocking the mask right off from Bob. Asriel looked over slowly, amazed and terrified at the force and speed of the sphere being thrown. Bob groaned and sat up from the sudden hit, the ball indeed smacking him backwards on his ass. The Temmie looked about, grabbing the ball and tossing it back to Jerry, only to discover his umpire mask had been cracked in half.

Bob tried making a new one from his powers of being a Temmie, and not having any logical reasoning why how he could be in possession of anything that shouldn’t be there… But he was too exhausted from the game, pulling out noting from the air but clumps of fur. “ H-Hey…. Uhm… Sa-Sans, can you hand me your ma-“
Sans cut him off immediately as he sat being behind the grated fence, with his side and the Jerry’s team members who sat out. “ ya know, hehehe… that’s funny bobby-boy… i might have if undyne hadn’t broken it.”

" I said I was sorry!” Undyne huffed out, folding her blue clad arms.

Sans simply smiled smugly, “ well… i already had that ball get thrown into my left eye socket then pulled out. but-eh, you’ll be fine… a temmie’s face is S Q U I S H Y anyway.” He chuckled after he sad that one word rather darkly, unnerving the hybrid monster. Bob gulped and sat there, holding the glove out, tremors coursing through his tiny body. Jerry wound up, letting Asriel go back to concentrating on the ball… Except he could hear Bob whimpering. The type of whimpering the young prince knew all too well. That being… afraid. Asriel’s grip on the bat loosened, his concentration becoming unfocused, feelings of being scared an alone without any help flooding his thoughts until…

It all happen so quick… The white fleeced monster heard a sharp yelp of pain. He dropped his bat to spin around and see Bob on his back with the ball laying next to him. Bob had either missed catching it, or it was aimed for his head. The Temmie whined softly, his legs twitching a bit like a beaten dog. His nose had an orange like liquid oozing and gushing out, making a puddle around his head. Undyne gasped and jumped up from her seat, as well as Grilby and surprisingly Sans. Aphys cried out, “ O-O-OH MY-M-MY G-G-GO-GOD! I-I KNEW-I KNEW! I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT A MEDICAL KIT!”

The bulky seahorse slithered over, putting his eel like tail to full force to run over to his friend. All while Slyrin floated with the rest at the bleachers starting to cry. The toddlers trying to calm her down as best they could. Once Baron rushed over, he stood there petrified, not knowing what to do. Asriel moved him aside and took in a deep breath, concentrating solely on his paws, letting them glow a bright green. He lay his paws over Bob, soon making the bleeding stop, healing up his bruises and cuts, and even his caved in nose, popping it back into place. Asriel stepped and pulled away to sit down panting a tad. It had taken much of his energy to heal the Temmie, but he had done it. Bob groaned and quietly sat up with Baron’s help before looking around to see everyone seem either upset or terrified. The only exceptions were Asriel, who had used much of magic, and Jerry who seemed to just be waiting. “ Y-You… You healed me? Wha-why?”

Asriel pointed to Sans, still getting some breath back from the sudden magical transfer. Sans put his fingers trough the fence’s holes and seemed baffled as well. “ i think… it’s because, he’s going to e the king someday. and if i know azzy as best i do. he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. not as his people, but as his friends.” Asriel gave a weak thumbs up, opening his eyes to find Slyren giving a water bottle through the fence’s holes to Baron. The large seahorse knelt beside the two, opening the bottle and handing it over to Asriel who graciously took a gulp r two from it.

“ Hey, you idiots done over there?! I got a game to win, and you're not helpin’ by blocking the way dumbbell!” Shouted a now agitated Jerry.

Baron snorted harshly, for once not being a ditz, and looking rather enraged. Asriel put a paw on his hand, smiling to the two monsters, “ Don’t worry… I won’t let you guys down. I promise.” Both Baron and Bob were shocked by the younger monster, and for once trusted him after they had been so crude to him over the last year or so. Baron gave a surprisingly gentle hug and slithered back to his spot in the field as Asriel got up, grabbing on tightly to the wooden bat. Bob sat up, holding his glove just in case. Jerry snorted, rolling his eyes and throwing the ball one last time. Asriel’s eyes locked onto it, even one was slightly puffed up. He waited and finally swung at full force, with a sound of crack, the ball was sent hurtling out into the ‘sky’, almost hitting the cave’s ceiling overhead and landing somewhere far away but relatively nearby.

Jerry’s team watched in awe as the ball was sent flying with such speed and up s high, including Jerry himself. “ Wh-What…” As everyone was in shock, Papyrus gleefully ran, as did Asriel around the plates.

Papyrus seeing the home plate right before him, making him jump to joy to stomp onto it. “ NYEHA!” Jerry swerved around to see the goat monster about to trample over and onto the home plate. With a snarl, one of his wriggling limbs stretched out to trip him, only to have it be stopped by a foot coming out from nowhere and crushing down on it. Jerry screamed out in pain while Asriel made it to the home plate, actually ignoring the pained yell. The foot that was on top of Jerry’s desperate wriggling limb was a sneaker owned to a very irritated skeleton who looked at the other monster with hollow eye and blue lit one. Sans gave a wide eerie grin before he stepped off the sore an painful throwing noodle like limb.

It had finally been done, the entire team congratulated Papyrus and Asriel. As they cheered on, the other group walked over, slowing down the other team’s cheerful celebration. The other team joined in with them and cheered for the two kids, winning despite all odds. From that point out, the teens who followed Jerry’s ways soon realized they had been wrong, falling for his manipulative ways and being free as their own monster. The most notable were the small green aired hamster who began to hang out around Grill’s, enjoying the company there, along with the food and tunes, especially seeing Grillby. Baron went onto training his younger brother to become strong and not have to follow under someone. Faunly began to watch and cheer on The Royal Guards when they were training. Slyren started to be around her younger sister, sing with her, taking her to Undyne to practice, and becoming friends with the ghostly Blook family. Bob had become rather chill and help around his hidden village, being smart enough to help Temmy out and fix minor problems that seemed devastating to a normal Temmie’s world. Glyde was somewhat off and on. He would go to town, but would spend hours away from the place for peace and quiet, eventually moving into a small nook near Snowdin where he tried becoming popular with his music and beats. All while Frostdrake eventually went back home, apologizing to his parents, and helping raise his two younger brothers.
All that was left was Jerry, who decided everyone was against ever since they avoided him after that game. Especially when no one helped him retrieve the ball from Bogglesnout’s yard, and having to help the elderly monster with his monthly harvesting. Jerry then became the one monster trying to live as his former youth over the years by hanging around the new teens of the woods, who much rather not have him around… And what of the winners? Well, we’ll be getting there much sooner than one would-
--------------------------------

“ THINK! JUST THINK! HRMMM… WHAT IF I MOVED THAT ROCK OVER THERE AND-NO WAIT… THEN HOW WOULD A HUMAN GET BY? GOODNESS THIS PUZZLE IS TESTING MY PATIENCE MORE THAN SANS DOES WHEN HE WON’T GET UP FROM HIS BED SAYING, ‘ WHAT IS THE POINT ANYMORE?’ ONLY FOR ME TO HUG HIM SO HE GETS UP… HRM… MAYBE I SHOULD ASK ALPHYS ABOUT THAT… I MEAN SHE IS A DOCTOR! RIGHT LESSER DOG?!” Papyrus looked over to the white furry dog to stand up on its hind legs and yip happily before panting and walking over to the skeleton, trying to gnaw at his arm. “ HE-HEY! N-NO! NO! BAD! BAD GUARD!” The canine warrior wrapped up in metal whined giving the skeleton the ‘puppy dog face’. Papyrus sighed, smiling softly and summoning a bone into his gloved hand. With the sight, the dog bounced around, wagging it’s curled tail rapidly. With a hard toss of the bone, the fellow royal guard went to go obtain it’s new treat.

During this run, Flowey was back into a semi-peaceful state… He had even gotten Papyrus into The Royal Guard, as well as making a few friends. But the flower mostly kept to himself after the proud skeleton was in the rankings. This run was also one of his very firsts… He had previous ones, and he was normally rather peaceful and tried helping as much as he could, only to feel no satisfaction afterwards within himself. Flowey sat there on a hill nearby watching the joyful guard g back to his puzzles. The flower sighed, he felt Papyrus no longer needed him, and he was now even busier. The plant leaned over onto his side, thinking about the often reflected past. This was now his life all because he was a weak, scared, crybaby. If only he had been stronger… If only Sans hadn’t left his side… I only he hadn’t gone through with Chara’s plan…

As he lay there motionless, letting the snow gather up and pie on him like he would when he had nothing better to do. He zoned out before something slid into his peripheral vision, making him tense his entire body to become even more still, but also lock up from moving. Nearby his beady eyes saw a gray distorted figure of what seemed to be a large head with a gaping maw. It stood there nearby, staring off into space itself. All of the sudden, it’s eye on the side of its long face slowly shifted its sight to Flowey. The flower remained still, thinking it was looking at something else as the snow piled up more for cover. It’s giant jaw of sharpened teeth soon turn up into a devilish and horrifying grin. Flowey quickly fled by digging into the harsh cold ice.

Eventually the gold flower made it into The Ruins. He had no friends on this side of the door, but that was fine. He panted and trembled from the sudden and out of place sight. Something pained inside his head, telling him something was wrong… but… familiar about the apparition. He calmed down, only to find another ghostly gray figure eek from behind a broken column. It’s eyes widened to a painful extent. It stood there watching him… Breathing awkwardly. Again the flower dug into the ground, reaching Hotland. He always hated coming here… Even as a child the constant searing heat would always get to him. And now more than ever in this frail body. But of course, a figure was spotted off in the distance. As he squinted to make it out clearer, it scattered into the air like Alphy’s old mangas he read with her. Then suddenly appearing right in front of him, staring him down with a sadden face and a maniacal grin. The figure held up a small gooey ball which slowly morphed into an equally disturbed smile.

And again, Flowey returned into the ground, and returning near the castle. If he had to see another, he cud only run and hide one more place or he’d send himself into an over-exhausted state. And as it would be, another smaller figure of gray stood nearby him, tilting it’s head, it’s white emotionless and pupil-less eyes locking onto him. It started to walk slowly in a zombie like state to him. And just like that Flowey was gone and into the soil.

He laid down near the semi flooded room with water where golden flowers grew nearby the constant rushing waterfalls of the area. He rested with the other flower, panting harshly from burrowing around so much within a short amount of time. However… He started to hear a static like noise ripple through the air. At this point… He was ready to give up and die, so he could rest momentarily before resetting. He was just too damned tired to reset at the moment. This was fine, he had killed himself off previously out of frustration. He looked up to find something much more scarier than all those other glitching monsters combined…

A tall slender, tar covered entity looked down to him, with nothing but a white pale skull, with cracks residing up and down it’s hollow eyes. The figure had a twisted smile as the empty eyes watched the plant. It suddenly leaned down, making Flowey shut his eyes, waiting to be released from his body yet again. Only… The entity somehow picked him up, roots and all, ringing him closer to the things face. Flowey peeked as he trembled in the thing’s grasp, only for his eye to catch a small pupil with purple mist around it. Flowey’s cover was instantly shattered as soon as his tiny eyes locked onto the one pupil. His face morphing into his true form with a horrified expression. “ … My young prince… I had no idea that… You’d become a very… INTERESTING EXPERIMENT…” The entity crackled out, making Asriel shut down in pure-
-----------------------------

Fear is what coursed throughout Flowey’s tiny body. Frisk had just been playing ball with Papyrus and Undyne, but of course Undyne struck to hard, making their ball fly into that of a neighbors' house down the hill. Frisk had went to get retrieve the ball while Undyne and Paprus argued on who should go get it, meaning either one of them would have to go talk to the neighbors house. It wasn’t that humans we’re an issue, but the guy who lived there had never once greeted or spoke to any monsters around. As Frisk came across the parking lot of the large house, they found that the man’s car was gone. Frisk didn’t want to wait for him to get back to a shattered front window, or to wait there for who knew how long… or Undyne and Papyrus doing something stupid by accident to get the ball back. Frisk sighed as they tugged their backpack that contained Flowey’s pot within it. They walked over to the broken window and got on their tippy toes to try and unlock the window from the inside. A vine slithered by and unlocked it, pulling it up for Frisk. Sure Flowey was a little shit, but he did treat the human like a sibling at times, which meant not wanting them hurt some stupid glass.

The small child climbed in, careful to avoid the broken glass around their shoe and quietly walk about to try and find where their ball had rolled to. Not wanting to leave the shards on the wooden flooring, they took out their cell-phone and handed it to Flowey who turned on the light and held it for them. Once Frisk scooted the glass into a pile with their foot, they placed down a small note about how it was Frisk’s family who broke the window y accident, Frisk retrieving the ball and how sorry they were, as well as some advice on how to talk to their family about the money to cover it. Flowey for some odd reason kept whimpering subtly, making Frisk stop and look over their shoulder. This wasn’t like him... “ Flowey? What’s wrong?” They whispered over.

“ F-Frisk… I-I don’t like this place. It.. It feels… Off. Trust me, when I use to wait for you when you were at school, the days that I sat at the window in our room, I’d see the guy who lives here mow his lawn every time, on the exact same hour. I’m one who knows about lawns, dads a gardener… But, people don’t mow their lawns every day. Not even Asgore.”

“ Flowey calm down, maybe his grass has a bit of magic in it, like the lake nearby.” They smiled, reassuring him. They finally walked down a long hallway to find their ball had rolled down it, and bounced off the wall to another hallway. The ball had landed right under a wooden table with a single lamp on it. Under the table was a gold painted grating which let a surprisingly cold gust of wind come through. Flowey held out the light with his vines, secured around the phone, only to have the light reflect off of something behind the grating.

“ Ah, son of a bitch!” He whispered out harshly, dimming down the light. As Frisk reached to grab their ball, they stopped as Flowey rubbed his eyes from the sudden flash back. They crawled forward over the ball and could see something behind the grate, reflecting the light back.

“ Flowey, can your vines unscrew things?”

“ Huh? Well duh, how else do you think I got into the ventilation that one time-OOOOH~! You’re a sneaky child. Hehe, and hear I thought you were too good to rummage through other peoples things.” He snickered out as small thorns on some vines slithered out, unscrewing the grate an prying it off the wall. He placed dimmed the light a bit more so whatever was behind there didn’t have the light glaring back. “ So what is it?”

Frisk reached out to poke whatever it was, “ It… It feels like a bag. But like a super thick one. And it's really, really cold and stiff.”

“ What? Lemme' see!” Flowey handed the light to them and stretched out his stem into the hole before pulling back abruptly and grabbing the phone, going back in and snapping a picture. “ Frisk, we need to go!”

“ W-Wait, what- what’s behind there-“ Flowey quickly showed the child the picture he took, revealing something unrecognizable wrapped around and around with some type of bagging material. “ What is that…?”

“ I’m not sure, but whatever it is, I don’t have a good feeling about.” He said as he quickly screwed the grating back in, not wanting to stay in the house any longer. Frisk had gotten their all back and climbed out the same window, running back to their house up the hill.

They walked in, pulling Flowey’s clay pot out from the backpack and setting him down on the kitchen’s center table like counter where Sans has been raiding the fridge for ketchup. “ hmm? Hey kiddo what’s the rush, you practically threw your backpack down and-“ Frisk completely ignored their dunkle, hurrying to the stairs. Sans was taken aback slightly… The human child never ignored him, even when they were angry, embarrassed, sick, or sad. “ what the?” His eyes traveled to the flower.

“ What?! Don’t gimmie’ that look! We found something really weird in that guy’s house who-”

“ you went into someone’s house…?”

“ We were getting back a ball, Frisk even cleaned the glass best they could and left a note and everything-Look don’t pin this on me!”

“ tch, says the pot to the kettle…”

“ N-No! I’m-“

“ S-S-Serious? Frisk, you do know that that’s breaking and entering right?” Alphys swerved her chair to face the child they came to grow and love as family.
“ But Aphys… I technically didn’t break in… That was Undyne. Sides I cleaned up the glass and left a note. But please, Flowey and I found something, w-we need to know what it is” Frisk whined out, making the yellow lizard sigh out in defeat. She couldn’t bear to be upset with her dear friend and savior. And so with that her claws grasped the phone, hooking it up to various colored wires and swerving her chair back to her computer.

Back with Flowey and Sans having their small argument, it was soon stopped as Toriel walked over with bags f groceries, Sans looking over to smile, “ ahh, new groceries. here lemme’ go out and help you with those tor-“ He cut himself off as he saw an older man than most humans he’s seen besides the elderly walk in carrying the rest of the groceries along with Asgore. “ uhm…”

Toriel set the bags down and smiled, “ Oh Sans, Flowey. I’m so sorry! This is our neighbor, Mister Giles. The one who lived down the hill-“

“ The one who never says a thing and makes his lawn look like a minefield…” Asgore said under his breath which was very unlike the king. Sans knew the big softie was into gardening, but he had never heard him disrespect someone’s lawn before. And with that sour tone, Sans could very well sense Asgore for whatever reason didn’t like this human.

Toriel whipped her head over, “ DREEMURR! MANNERS!”

Asgore winced from the sudden angry shout of his former wife, still calling him by his last name. He apologized and quietly put the groceries away. “ Ah it’s okay, really. Maybe he just doesn’t like my gardening techniques.” Said with a smile. “ I saw a note from your child about someone breaking my window, and well on the way over, I noticed this lovely lady needed some help.” This in turn made Sans’ smile widen from habit, but mostly masking any anger, while Asgore huffed bend their backs. Sans was the only slightly jealous one, but knowing his former king sensing someone was weren’t who they seemed also made him on edge.

Toriel chuckled a bit, “ Oh you can surely do better than an old woman like me. Oh right, I almost forgot to introduce you, this is Sans and Flowey. Frisk’s dad-uncle, and… Flowey. Sans, can you and Flowey go welcome Mister Giles , while me and Dreemurr put up the groceries? We need to… Have a word.” Sans could hear the larger monster gulp, he felt sorry for the guy, but for the moment, he could judge this guy. Flowey didn’t even snap at him when his skeletal hands picked up his pt.
“ sure thing t. okay, just follow me over there to the living room pal.”

Once over at the couch and coffee table, the man knelt down admiring the craftsmanship of the mahogany tale, “ Mighty impressive work of art you've got here.”

“ heh, hey thanks man.” Sans said as he gently placed the angered flower on it who glared to the human and hissed out, “ dude, flowey, behave.”

“ It’s quite fine, it really is. For some reason, pets don’t enjoy my company-“

“ Gee golly, I wonder the fuck why?! And I’m not a fucking pet!” Flowey spat out harshly, his words dripping in venom from his tone of voice.

Giles rose a brow, “ Oh, I am quite sorry.”

Sans sat down on the emerald couch with the man, “ ah, don’t let him bother you. he’s just pissy that he’s a twice uprooted adoptive sibling of the kiddo. by the way, how much do we need to give you to cover it?”

Giles chuckled, slapping his knee, “ Ohohoho, no, no. You all don’t need to worry about that. It was a simple accident, they happen. Besides, I can replace it easily-oh, and here they come.” He said with a smile as Frisk walked down the stairs waiting for Alphys to analyze the photo. The child had just popped down to get a snack for themselves and the chunky lizard, but upon seeing the other human, they cautiously walked over. “ Hello there, I’m Giles, and you must be the sweet little Frisk Toriel talked about. My, I must say, you are a lovely girl, it’s nice to meet you.”

Frisk tilted their head, letting the brown hair waver down. Sans watched as the child walked over to his side of the couch’s arm. “ hehehe, sorry, uh… kid’s a bit shy. also their not really a girl.”

“ Oh! I am terribly sorry. Well, you are quite the charmer for boy Frisk.”

“ uhhh… their not necessarily a guy.”

The middle-aged man gave an odd look to the skeleton before Flowey spoke up, “ We just call them ‘they and them’, don’t fucking push it. The only one who knows what they are is me, and like hell I’m telling any of you.”

The neighbor squinted his eyes, staring at the plant who gave a harsh glare back, “ don’t worry, he won’t do anything. all bark, the least he’ll do is bite ya or give ya a black eye.”

Giles sighed in relief, “ Just making sure I wasn't living next to some psycho killer. Listen, I get it though. I had plenty of people I wanted to just kill.” Flowey’s glare grew more intense if that was even possible. “ anyways, I would like to ask the little one here about something, and no it’s not about the window. I’ve got that all covered. On the way back here, your mom was saying how much she likes eating out-“

“ Oh was she?” Flowey remarked quickly.

“was she?" Sans asked

“ I was talking to Frisk-“ Giles gestured.

“ To bad, I help supervise!” Flowey snarled out to their 'guest'.

“ Point is… I thought maybe we could do dinner and a movie sometime...” Sans’ face stained to its permanent self, but Frisk could easily tell he was perpetually screaming on the inside. Frisk ignored the other human and held onto Sans’ bony hand as he clutched itself tightly.

Flowey snorted, “ That's not gonna' happen.”

“ I would like that. It'd be good-“

“ Look bitch. For me, and Frisk. For us it's not gonna’ happen. So don’t even go there dirt bag!”

“ Now why does everything effect you in return? Do you think that lovely old lady is your mother or something?” Before the flower could rip into the man… Figuratively and more than likely, literally. The man gave them a good bye before waving to the motherly goat and walking out. Flowey had to be held down or a while from all his anger building up. However before anyone did anything while Toriel was scolding the mighty king, a shrill scream came from upstairs. Toriel rubbed her temples, asking for the three to go check on the pudgy lizard. They were lucky that Papyrus and Undyne were still outside or Undyne would have more than likely flipped over several tables, the couch, and beds for anything that made the shy lizard shriek out.

Sans waltzed into the half split room along with the savior as they held up their tiny flora ‘sibling’. The three walked over as Alphys had actually managed to fall out from her chair, sitting there on the floor and shaking her claw violently to the computer’s screen. The three peeked over, at first nothing gaining their attention but a gold plated grate and some type of clear wrapping paper. Until… They all seemed to notice that something was in the wrapping, poking out. All three went silent as their minds and eyes finally connected together, showing them the true image of this wall interior. Inside the wrapping, was a human, long dead yet still fresh and conserved from the wrappings around it. The decaying human’s mouth was wide open, much like their eyes, gasping for a silent plead, with their fingers pressing and poking the wrapping to get free.

With several hardy knocks, the door opened to reveal the family Giles had met earlier today. This consisting of Sans, Frisk, and Flowey. The other other faces were new. That being a much taller thinner skeleton and a rather irked looking fish lady in a police uniform… All while Papyrus got to wear her hat. “ Hello there, I told you I would get the window, there’s no need for an officer to force a small child to apologize-“

Undyne put him off quickly, “ Yeah, no, we’re not here for that. You mind if we take a look inside?”

“ What? Why for? Do you have a-“

The cheery skeleton pulled a small piece of paper, or rather a tag, “ PERMITTED~!” He yelled out joyfully.

It took a moment for the man to step aside and let them in, “ I’m sorry, really I am. I know you monsters have been rotting down there for quite a while, but must you be like us and just go trough people's belongings?”

“ Oh don’t worry, we know what were looking for if this little punk says so.” She gave a toothy smirk as her finger pointed own t the small child. “ Oh and… We’ll be right here while they go confirm it or not.” She glanced to Papyrus who smiled rightly, happy to just be there. Sans casually strolled by Giles with Frisk as the flower snarled from the back of their back pack. Undyne then stepped in front of the way of Giles, blocking him from trying to cover up anything.

“ Well… Alright then. May I get some tea at the very least?” Undyne’s grin soured down.

“ Only if me and Paps go with.”

Once the small child got to the tale and grate the pointed, letting the short skeleton know they were at their destination. Sans knelt down, his blue glowing eyes looking carefully until he backed off slightly. “ holy shit… there really is someone in there. we better get to undyne before something hap-“ Just then, the three heard a clattering noise from down the hall way. The two ran over into a doorway to see the sight in front of them.

In the kitchen, Giles had swiped a knife, almost slicing the fish woman into sushi, but was caught quickly by her bright neon spear. Giles grunted, “ I just wanted a nice peaceful place to live… But then you monsters had to come around, being meddling neighbors.” He pushed against the blue spear, making the knife slide down, giving a sharp ringing warning as it got closer to her hand.

“ I’m gonna’ have to tell you one more time… DROP IT SCUM BAG!” Giles smirked, his eyes shifting away and locking onto the thin skeleton who shook there, completely fooled from his ‘nice’ act. The murderous man pulled away, swinging the knife to the skeleton, only to hit something soft but firm enough to halt the blade’s progress. There, stood a giant behemoth behind Papyrus at the side entrance of the kitchen. Asgore stood there, hulking over Papyrus and putting his massive toned arm in front, blocking the attack, and instead taking the hit. He growled in a bit of pain before Giles let go of the blade, making a run and jump out his kitchen’s window. Flowey’s vines slithered over rapidly but seemed to be too far away, clutching at the air. Giles, Now running in his front lawn, slammed his feet down for an escape, but only to end up with the shorter skeleton standing right in his way, making him skid to a complete halt. Sans’ left eye glinted a fierce mist of blue before Undyne could finally catch up and tackle Giles into the grass, pressing his face against the rubble under them. She took out her cuffs and wrapped tem on, getting up and pulling the chain at the same time behind his back.

From there on, Frisk and their mixed up family were congratulated for taking down a notorious unknown serial killer who had lived far from the small town and Mount Ebott. Of course this did effect some of the family… Asgore was currently healing from the sudden slice, Papyrus was rather jumpy afterwards, but eventually got over it and back into his old peppy self. Undyne wanted to teach even more rookies from her sudden adrenaline, and Toriel becoming a bit more wry with humans flirting with her. Then there was the main three… Frisk would not talk to any adult humans they didn’t know, while Flowey snapped at them even more until Frisk had finally calmed themselves down, and thus calming Flowey as well. Sans on the other hand… Seemed to be a bit more quiet oddly enough. He seemed to be wearing his old fake smile even more than he use to before ‘saving’ Flowey. In fact, he was always just a little bit nearby when either Papyrus or Frisk was outside, fearing the worst. Thankfully, a summer festival was coming soon, which could relax their inner conflicts into a peacefully gentle mood.

Chapter Text

Bright colored sparks filled the ‘skies’, full of magic and wonder, indicating that The Festival in the quaint little town of Snowdin had just begun. But before the group of kids who had won, along with those who had changed their ways from following their orders from Jerry, could go about the various rides and booths, they had decided to settle on one thing. That being, to go to the Grill and celebrate the victory that they truly deserved. Finton; Grillby’s blue fiery grandfather supplied a buffet to celebrate on the occasion while he and others help prepare treats and food for the festival, meaning that they children could get a good hearty meal before exploring around the various things around them. As a plus, Finton always brought out his Karaoke set once the festival came around, letting the children get first dibs to sing with one another to take a break from their meal to have some fun and enjoy their time in the evening. But what had surprised the small town was that the king and queen themselves had visited to explore the sights and sounds as their son spent his time with the group of friends. The couple were normally slightly busy, but upon hearing about the festival, they just had join in. Dragging the head scientist along with them, as well as the other scientists who would ignore it and just continue working.

Undyne stamped her boot down in the corner where a small stage had been laced, sitting right next to the diner’s window with some tables moved around. She held a mic up and put it up to her sharp grin along with the nervous wreak of a lizard, Alphys by her side. Their friends watched, along with Troggle whooping and cheering in the back with some other Royal Guards. “ Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want!”

The yellow lizard shook, snapping her eyes shut, trying not to worry about people around her, focusing on her from the pure stage fright and embarrassment of being next to the fishy girl. “ S-s-so tell me what you want, wh-what you really, really want?!

Undyne on the other hand seemed so damned happy, making poor Alphys blush up even more, “ I wanna' really, really, really wanna' zigazig ah!”

“ I-I-If you want my future, forget my pa-p-p-past!” Se gulped out.

“ If you wanna' get with me, better make it fast!” Undyne grinned wildly, poking the sensitive lizard, to a squeak.

“ EEEK! N-N-Now don't go wasting my precious t-t-time!”

Undyne then scooped up the chunky nerd, spinning around as she sang, almost giggling at how cute the flustered Alphys was.“ Get your act together we could be just fine~!”

After their song, came Papyrus, Nice, and Burgs singing their tiny adorable song which Sans, Nice’s many siblings, and Burg’s family cheering them on in the back. “LITTLE BIRD, LITTLE BIRD, FLY THROUGH MY WINDOW!”

Nice smiled as the tunes came out, “ Little bird, little bird, fly through my window~!”

The shy brown tanned kitten mumbled into his mic, “ Little bird, little bird, fly through my window…”

Before the thee tykes said in unison, “ And find molasses candy! Through my window, my sugar lump! Fly through my window, my sugar lump. And find molasses candy~!” They continued to sing out their soft hearted song Toriel had taught them all one day when she decided t help out and baby sit the three.

After their song, others went up to do their songs together or by themselves, leaning up to the skeleton and the goatly prince. The two took in a deep breath before heading up on the small make-shift stand. The two had been practicing this song for quite a while n their own down time, sans even pulling out is own guitar to help the pace f the music that played behind them. With both their singing talents tuning into with the other, they were sure that they would blow the crowd away by a song that drifted merrily in their souls; meaning so much to the two.

Thus began Sans strumming quickly, surprisingly keeping up with the music playing besides the two while Asriel sang out, “ Well, I came home. Like a stooone, And I fell heeeavy into your arms. These days of dust. Which we've known. Will blow awaaaaay with this new sun~!”

Sans now taking his part, smiling with joy, “ buuuut i'll kneeeeel down, wait for nooow. and iiii'll kneel down, know my ground.”

Both in unison, with such happy faces, “ And I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for you.”

Sans hopped just a bit over to the middle of the small stage, “ so break my step, and relent. well, you forgaaaave and i won't forget. know what we've seen, and him with less. now in some waaaaay shake the excess~!”

Asriel jumping by his side, holding out the mic, joining his friend, “'Cause I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for you~!”

Asriel stepping aside, “ Now I'll be bold. As well as strong. And use my heaaad alongside my heart~!”

Sans taking a step back, “ so tame my flesh. and fix my eyes. a tethered miiiiind freed from the lies. and iiiiii'll kneeeel down, wait for noooow. iiiii'll kneeeeel down, know my ground!”
The prince then spun around, his floppy ears weaving in the sudden turn before stepping with their owner, “ Raaaaaise my hands! Paint my spirit goooold!”

The short statured skeleton doing much the same, “ aaaaand bow my head! keep my heart slooow!”

The two then put their backs to one another, emerald and gold clashing with the sapphire sweater as their owners sang their hearts out. " Cause I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for you. And I will wait, I will wait for yooou~…” The song faded away, as well as Sans’ strumming. After a small bit of silence, the crowd had gone wild with hollers, cheering, and whooping. The two friend descended from their location, letting other monsters go up who had been waiting for the children to finally be done. Their parents congratulated them both, making them be filled up with such joy and greatness before unleashing them into the rest of the festival.

As Undyne led off with Alphys and the gator with cat along, Zack and one of Nice’s older siblings took care of the others, including Papyrus who was way too stoked about the festival. It was actually the first time Sans hadn’t gone around with his young brother, but the toddler seemed to be fine with it, knowing and recombining his pun-spewing brother should go join Asriel since the kid had never gone to a festival-or rather this one. All while Grillby and Muffet flirted with one another as they helped their families out by cooking sweets and food for the townsfolk, and yearly tourists who loved The Festival.

The young prince and his judge, viewed many booths, rode on several rides, and snacked on various festival foods until the two’s eyes fell upon a large structure… A ferries wheel. It would bring them up into the ‘sky’ letting them gaze upon the twinkling and shining gems up above. They could pretend they were stars while they were up at the very peek of the ride. With that being said, the two entered the large and lumbering ride, sitting beside each other as it moved up after they had been buckled in.

The two sat quiet for a while, viewing the town below, but more importantly, looking up, watching the dazzling and gleaming gems far above them… Then Sans noticed his tender-hearted fried sniffling. He looked over to see the young prince with tears dripping down his cheeks and past a sweet smile. “ azzy?”

The prince didn’t stop looking upwards and only smiled more, “ Sans… Th-Thank you.” He sniffled a bit before latching onto the blue sweatered arm, burying his snout and head into the fabric. Sans gently pet his fuzzy white tuft of hair.

“ h-hehe, for what dude?”

“ For everything… If it weren’t for you, I’d have never had any friends. I’d h-have never gone anywhere. I’d… I’d be a-all alone… All over again…”

Sans sighed gently before hugging the sensitive goat monster, patting his back, “ shhh, i just did what i thought was right. it’s okay dude.”

“I’m going to miss things like this the most.”

“ whoa, whoa, azzy.” He pushed his friend up to see a sudden sad face, “ just because you're going to be king, doesn’t mean you can’t see me or any of the others. your dad and mine always see each other. and well… yeah they’ve grown apart a bit… but that doesn’t mean we have to follow their footsteps exactly. i just want to let you know... your my best friend. no matter what happens, i’ll be there for you.” Sans looked rather serious for the moment, the words scooping up the sniveling prince into a blanket of security.

“ B-Best… Friends?” Asriel had always thought that was just a saying, or rather that’s what good friends called each other because they had no one else around with them.

Sans’ skeletal hands clasped onto his white fleeced paws, the skeleton giving a determined smile, “ best friends! together; forever. till the end of time…” His grin grew as one hand let go of Asriel’s clutching itself to stick out his pinky bone. “ pinky promise on it.”

Asrie gasped out lightly; promises to monsters were a major sworn and loyal truth. Breaking one would not be wise since they took those promises right to the core of their very beings. And a pinky promise… Was the most golden rule of them all, far greater than swearing oneself to loyalty, but rather binding it together. Asriel shakily extended out his fuzzy pinky, Sans wrapping his around it. Asriel’s tears had managed to fade away, awarding Sans with a smile that cute melt ice. He wrapped onto Sans’ finger, “ Pinky promise.” A moment afterwards, the ‘sky’ was filled with many sparks and patterns from fireworks down below, letting the two gradually forget they had their fingers wrapped around the other, slowly moving into holding hands. As the two watched the dazzling sparks, Sans took the opportunity to lean over an give a small peck to the Prince's cheek. Asriel in turn had his magic radiate a glow of red and pink into the fur on his cheeks, bleating out suddenly. The skeleton snickered from the cute sight before having the prince suddenly lean on his side, grasping his hand tighter. Sans’ cheekiness slowed down as he rested his skull on his best friend’s head, both enjoying the cold air, sweet smells around, hearing the crackles while viewing the stunning display above them. All while feeling each other’s magic keeping the two warm and-
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Happy was the key word that ran out through the yearly festival of the peaceful and chilly home of Snowdin. Everyone was happy… Except for a single golden flower who looked over upon his old viewing point of the hill when he was younger… When he was innocent, when he could feel, when… When he had someone to fall back onto. Stray tears dripped from his eyes, the cold stinging the salty water, making him shake the off from his face. Flowey’s view looked elsewhere, far to envious to watch the monsters down below be at peace and have fun, all while he was left with despair and anguish. However, upon looking away, his sits caught that of a familiar figure, tucking in their hands into their pockets with their hood draped over their head, heading off to The Waterfalls.

Flowey, being the curious little sit he had grown into, followed after the other monster, eventually getting to Hotland. The flower hid behind one of the stations that led right into the harshly heated area, a bridge just up above boiling magma and lava. He watched the figure knee down and sit on the very edge near the water-cooler that had been specifically placed there for Undyne. They kicked their legs about, looking into the boiling abyss far below before conjuring up a bone and dropping it. Both watched it plummet down and roast into nothingness as it hit the waves of magma, disintegrating it into nothing. The figure let out a deep sigh before getting up and spreading their arms out. Closing their eyes, they let gravity take them to the heated depths below… But it never happened…

They opened their eyes to find vines wrapping around their torso and body, finally pulling him back to the cooled ground with a hearty tug. They looked over as they fell on their ass to see the flower besides them shaking with fear,” what the-grrr… y-you won’t even let me die, unless it’s by your own doing huh?!” A right blue glow crept out from their eye.

“ N-N-No! S-Sans! Please! I-I… I don’ want to see you like this!”

“ oh and why for?! so you can do it yourself?! well, come on! let’s get this over with! i-i’ve got nothing to live for!”

Flowey gritted his teeth, “ That’s not true… YOU HAVE PAPYRUS! HE STILL LOVES YOU! HE ADMIRES YOU! H-HE… He cares about you…”

“ cut the bullshit weed, you just want to kill me, yourself!”

“ N-No… No I don’t. I only do that because… I miss you. You’re the only one whose different-THE ONE WHOSE ALWAYS BEEN DIFFERENT TO ME!” The flower snapped out, tears running down his now fuzzy cheeks. His true gentle eyes looked up at his old broken down friend.” It’s… It’s all my fault. It’s always been my fault…”

Sans lowered his hood, his expression changing to a hurt yet peaceful look, “ a-azzy…? how?”

“ It’s… It’s a long story.” He sniffled, “ H-hehe… At least you have someone who cares about you. I remember when I went to the surface. The people in the village… They cared about my sibling so much. When they saw me place them down on that bed of golden flowers. Heh, they thought I had killed them. They cared, to avenge them and cared to protect one another… So please Sans. D-Don’t… Don’t do this.”

The skeleton sighed, laying on his back, “ i don’t know how much more of this i can take. your constantly resetting, it’s breaking me apart. why? why do you do this?”
“ I guess it’s because I can’t feel happiness. You’re the only one who can slightly remember. You make me feel like I’m not trapped. And, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. I just-I don’t want to watch a friend take their own life again!” He screamed out, gaining enough of the weary skeletons attention for him to sit up and watch the flower sway near the edge. “ I should be the one who suffers. No one else. It’ all my fault…” His roots let loose, waiting for gravity to snuff out his life… Only for Sans to snag him.” L-Let go Sans… I…I don’t want to reset. I need to show you, that I deserve this before-b-before it makes me reset.”

“ before what makes you?”

“ BEFORE MY DETERMINATION MAKES ME RESET! I’m too tired to do it manually. Ju-Just let me go so it will do it by itself. So you can watch. So you can get back at me for what I’ve done.”

Sans clutched onto the stem, holding him close, “ asriel. i’m not going to leave you alone for something you didn’t mean to do all over again. Please. if you really want to… then fine. but, not without me.”

“ Wh-What… Why-“

“ because i let you once before, i’m not doing it again! you need at least… one death that won’t be so bad… one that won’t be you going away all alone. i deserve this as much as you do after what i did to you.” Asriel sighed and nuzzled against the skeleton’s shirt. Sans stood up shakily, holding onto the stem dearly. The two always seemed to be down whenever the yearly festival went up. Some runs, Sans would participate, others he wouldn't. But he never tried to take his own life before, which hit Asriel’s fear of seeing someone he use to care for, take their own lives again. Sans gave a small peck upon Asriel’s head, turning around and falling back. Holding onto his old friend, all while Asriel buried his face into the shirt of his old friend. All before the two monsters fell into-
--------------------------------------

The festival on The Surface was booming, especially since the monsters came around to help out with booths, unique foods, and structures. The small town was up at night, with bright lights strewn all around overhead, making the place dazzle like a star if seen far off away. And of course the monster families themselves attended the festival full of sights, smells, and sounds filling the air around them and their odd family. Frisk decided that they had wanted to spend time with at least everyone of their family members, aside from the ghosts who decided to drive over to the city across the lake to watch films, having a quieter time from the loudness and crowds. First, the child set off to be with the old kind king after helping Toriel, preparing her pie for a contest. Asgore walked about with them, unaware to where to go exactly until he spotted a simple booth game. “ Ah, howdy there, what is the main objective of this game?” He smiled brightly to the person behind the counter.
“ Simple really. Just fill the balloon with water till it pop and before time runs out.” Frisk bounced around, rather excited to test their precision and skill. The hardy king paid with a gold coin while Frisk put the disgruntled flower pot on the counter. The person then handed the three some type of water like pistols, each having a wire like tubing at the bottom, connecting over to a large barrel filled up with water. The timer began and they all shot to a pump to fill up the balloons. Unfortunately it became rather mundane and boring for the agitated plant, his eyes strolling away from the pump and to the mighty king. With a sly smirk, he adjusted his water gun to spray the furry king, making Asgore drop his wet and cold toy gun, raising his large paws up to block the chilling water, only to get his fur dowsed. The time rang out as Asgore spit out some of the water, shaking the water off like a shaggy dog, letting his fur puff out. As the flower cackled out at the king’s small undoing, Frisk looked over, now holding a large plush of a purple flower. He smiled to the tiny child and pet their head, proud of them. Flowey’s laughter died down as he watched Asgore congratulate and thank the human child.

Up next to spend some time wit was Alphys. “ O-o-ooh, let's try this one Frisk! You have to have a-a wonderful coordination and calculation to toss these rings onto the bottle tops!”

Frisk peered over the many glass bottles set up on a circular wooden table while rings or plastic hoops had been stacked up on the counter. The nodded and aid with a ticket or so, grabbing the hoops, but unfortunately doing rather poorly, unable to toss the around the bottle necks. “ Pth, wow, that sucked!” Flowey stuck his tongue out, making the child give a small glare, as if to say, ‘I’d like to see you try’. Alphys, meanwhile set herself up outside the booth, squinting her eyes, closing an eye, moving her wrist and arm around, looking as if she was going to toss the hoop… only not to at the last moment. The two others watched her antics for a minute or so before Flowey grew bored and slithered his wily thin vines out, snagging Alphy’s wrist and throwing it for her as she shrieked in terror. Flowey didn’t let up as another vine flicked the hoops to the lizard’s hand, making it toss the hoops, eventually getting all f them around several bottles. The reason who ran the booth blinked, shrugging to themselves and gave a silver colored knight plushie to the poor nerd, who at this point fell over from the sudden shock and fear of the pessimistic flower grabbing hold on her.

While Alphys rested at a picnic like table with Asgore keeping an eye on the girl who was in a small comatose state, Frisk eventually ran into their tough and rough aunt? Undyne dragged them and Flowey to a strength test, grinning wildly. She handed the heavy mallet to the human with ease, tossing it it over, only to have Frisk catch it and fall into the dirt. Undyne apologized and helped them up. Frisk looked up all the way to the very tip top to gaze at the glimmering gold bell up above them all. They were filled… with determination. They swung back the hefty mallet and slammed it right onto the platform, watching a small gold piece of metal fly up and up…. To about close to the bottom before sliding back down. Again, more of Flowey’s laughter filled the silence. They sighed, while catching a slight snicker from the person who ran the stand. Flowey stopped as he heard this and snapped a dirty look, “ Hey! Fuck off! No one laughs at them but ME!” Undyne snatched up the mallet, her teeth clenching as she had also caught wind of the stifle laughter. She gripped the handle tightly, swinging it back before unleashing her power and rage all in one, slamming the platform’s button. The piece of gold went zipping by within a second, reaching the top, making the bell above clang and ring out before both the bell and metal launched into the air. The person gasped out, watching the two pieces of their stand fall back down and sink half way into the dirt below. The person was in too much shock that they collapsed to the ground. Undyne looked over at each prize and gasped out.

“ HOLY TITS! They got all the seasons of that anime Alphys got into!” She squealed as she snatched each disc of a different season. “ Awww, fuck yeah!”

Flowey quirked a brow, “ Hey wait, aren’t you a police officer?! Isn’t it a crime to take more than one prize?!”

“ ….. Eh, I’m on break” She shrugged giving her sharp grin.

After heading back to the two resting at the table while Alphys and Undyne traded their gifts, both squealing, something caught the flower’s attention more than any other shitty little side game stand could. “ OOH! THERE! THERE!” A slim vine pointed over the child’s shoulder, leading to a relatively creepy and looming structure in the distance. Frisk gulped an walked over to it, meeting the person who ran the ride. The smiled slyly as they watched Frisk look around nervously.

“ Well, howdy there lil’ guy. Ya think your brave enough to go through 'The Dreaded Hellish Mansion of The Damned and Blasphemous'?”

Frisk’s knees buckled as they shook slightly, Flowey scoffed out, “ Oh please! We can handle your shitty ride!”

“ Weeeell aright then friend-o. If ya’ll say so. If ya get through without jumping once… Ya get a prize of your choice~! Though, no one’s made it through ehehe.” They chuckled out, tapping a screen that had small images of various cameras in the ride.

“ Ahahaha-SHUT UP and get us in!” Flowey snarled out. Frisk sat in the cart, being buckled in as they placed their backpack next to them for Flowey to peek out through. The ride jittered before starting up and slowly moving them like it was a love tunnel from Hell itself. Several rooms of Frisk squeaking, jumping, yelling, and yelping by cheap novelty knock off figures and jump scares of plastic and people wearing costumes started to degrade Flowey slightly. The child clutched onto the bag, but surprisingly they didn’t seem to spooked by any grotesque monsters, goblins, or ghosts… Only scary people like clowns, zombies, psychos, and lawyers. They were now close to the exit which relived Frisk immensely, only to lower down as they saw two large red glowing lights shone upon them like eyes. Finally they were out, Frisk getting out from the ride and nearly falling over, stumbling over themselves.

“ Wow… That sucked… PAY UP!”

“ Ah, ah ,ah!” The worker waggled his finger uncomfortable close to the flower’s personal space. He then tapped the screen to an image that rewound and played over and over to catch Flowey looking at the red light, looking surprised for a small moment before going back to being salty and unimpressed. “ Told ya, no one could get past Ol’ 'Dreaded Hellish Mansi-“ With in an instant while Frisk was regaining themselves, Flowey wrapped his vines around the man’s skinny neck like a rubber chicken and growled out, letting his sharp teeth morph out as his eyes became empty pit with white pupils staring at the man.

“ Do you really think you’re the one in CONTROL here shit-stain… Now… Be a GOOD little human or I will paint your shitty ride RED with a new coat of paint called YOUR BODY.” The man shook violently and nodded to Floweys demands, handing over a rather large stuffed animal of a black and white pug looking chihuahua mix. “ That’s what I thoooought…” Flowey hissed out, slithering away to the backpack. Frisk scooped it p and ran, not wanting to be near the scary ride. Flowey did however hand them the plushie, making the child gasp out and cuddle the large eyes dog in their short arms.

Eventually the two ran into Sans, who joked around with t two… Well more of, just one. As Frisk walked about talking to their dunkle, their eyes came across an interesting booth game, run by another human. The stuffed animals above looked surprisingly soft and fluffy, that they had to run over to see what to do in order to receive it. “ hehehe, whatcha’ looking at kiddo? ohh, a plushie. hehehe, don’t you have one right now?” They shook their head before pointing to the flower who merely rolled his beady eyes. “ ahh, well aren’t you a good samaritan. ya know weed, ya could learn a thing or two from the kiddo here.” He grinned, making the flower’s eye twitch in hatred. “ sup buddy, how much for a plush?”

The booth person looked over, smiling rather smugly, “ Ehehe, it’s not for sale. But all you gotta’ do is win it by knocking over that liiitlle spaceship there~.” He pointed to a small dinky little UFO cardboard cutout. “ It’s easy.”

Sans shrugged and paid for Frisk. Ever since the monsters were free, Sans would actually treat the child here and there, becoming more like a parent instead of a mischievous trickster, pranking the human. Both Flowey and Sans watched Frisk shoot small ping-pong like balls to the jittery moving cardboard while other cutouts whizzed by. Sans happening to catch the glimpse of one ball hitting the targeted spacecraft before time ran out. “ I hit it! I hit it!” Frisk shot their fists into the air in victory.

He smiled brightly, only to hear an obnoxious buzzing noise of a red light blinking. “ whoa, whoa, whoa. what was that?” Sans gave a semi-angry puzzled expression, throwing is hands up to gesture to the game while the booth person sipped on their drink. " they hit that, saw it with my own two pupils.”

Flowey even spoke up, flailing his tiny leaves, “ Hey! Yeah!”

The human looked at them nonchalantly, leaning over the counter with a proud smile perched on his face. His finger poking Sans’ chest, “ Let me explain something to you. You see that little tin spaceship? You see how it’s ‘NOT’ knocked over? Do you know what that means numbskull? It means, you don’t get a prize!” Frisk jumped back from the sudden shout, Flowey grinding his teeth, before talking to Frisk. He much rather not make a scene with the skeleton watching over them.
Sans gave an annoyed glare, his constant smile faltering, making the man snicker, “ OHH! Somebody’s got a frowny face.” He mocked the monster by frowning, pursing his lower lip, “ Ooh! Better luck next time!"

Sans sighed lightly before smiling cheek to cheek, his eyes half lidded as he gave the man another set of cash, “ okay, my turn…” The man rolled his eyes and slurped on his drink as he swiped the money and pressed a button to activate the game. Sans backed up, making sure Frisk was to the side, both others watching him as he held the toy gun. Only for a large draconic skull to appear right by his side, both him and it’s left eye glowing a ghastly blue as it unhinged it’s jaw. The man behind the counter dropped his drink and cowered down behind the counter as the skull made a whirring noise. And then… A large blue and white beam of light shot out, but only to the back of the stand’s wall and not blowing a hole in it to hit anything or anyone. Once the Gaster Blaster vanished, the entire stand was burnt and crisped. The man stood up, is hat fully gone from the blast. The entire cut out and game whisked into dust, before the man fainted. “ knoooooooooooocked oveeeeeeeeeeeer~!” Sans called out happily, grabbing a plush.

The skeleton and child went back to wandering around aimlessly, Sans holding his prize, trying to give it over to Frisk, only for them to deny it. He sighed, “ seriously kiddo? you gotta’ make me…?” He trailed off, his eyes shifting to the flower who kept looking around at the many sights and sounds, not paying much attention. Frisk nodded, making their dunkle rub the back of his skull, “ you’re killing me kid, you’re killing me… hey weed.” He whistled out, getting the flower’s attention, only to shove a small gold colored vampire bat plushie to him.

“ Ahh! The fuck?!”

“ think of it as payment for helping my pet rock out i guess… even though it 'was' your fault” He said before grinning, “ ya know… it kinda suits you.”

The flower glared in confusion before it dawned on him. “ … Nnnno…” He slowly realized it, “ … You’ve been watching that show with Alphys too?!”

“ hehehe, what can i say? I love junk. Junk food, junk shows, junk posts-that reminds me, why did you watch it?“

“ Because Frisk wouldn’t let off and it has lotsa’ blood in it!” Frisk smiled wearily as they patted the pissed off plant. “ Don’t touch me!”

“ hey look at it this way… it symbolizes that asshole fairly well, just like you. you both wear gold, your both total little shits, and you enjoy running people's lives. see? perfect match… oh and you both are petty feminine.”

“ WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!” Flowey yelled out, fully enraged. Thankfully the taller dopier brother of the two skeletons ran over to them. Flowey’s screams of hate and rage subsided as his beady eyes landed onto the normally cheery looking monster.

“ SANS! I TOLD YOU NOT TO WALK AROUND BY YOURSELF IN FESTIVALS! EVERY-TIME YOU DO THAT, I FIND OUT BACK HOME UPSET AND EVEN MORE LAZY THAN EVER-OH HELLO FRISK AND FLOWEY!” Frisk felt slight tension while Flowey disregarded the other brother, now noticing Sans was silent but kept up is grin. Thankfully as Frisk looked around nervously to ease the atmosphere, they happen to catch sight of a booth.

At the booth, the hopped up and down excitedly to gain Papyrus' attention. He looked over with a gloved red hand going over his eyes to better view the booth. “ OHO! WHAT IS THIS? YOU DARE ME TO WIN THIS CHALLENGING CHALLENGE?” He smiled, heading over to the child, letting Sans sigh in relief. Sans found it funny… He hadn’t even shown any sign that he was in a slight bit of panic… Or was that kid starting to notice it more?

Flowey was busy explaining the game to Papyrus, known as a shooting gallery, making the skeleton wary and question multiple things before angering the stubborn plan even more as Sans made his way over t watch. “ OH MY GOOOD! FOR THE LAST TIME, THE DUCKS AREN’T REAL!”

“ ARE YOU SURE? THEY COULD BE PRETENDING…” Papyrus puzzled.

Frisk sighed from the… conflict? Before Sans’ cheeky grin came to face. “ just like how the weeds pretending that he isn’t holding that tiny bat toy.”
Frisk and Papyrus’ attention drew to the fact that when Frisk had placed his pot on the booth’s counter-scaring the hell out of the person running the stand, that Flowey was in fact holding the plush dearly with secured vines.

“ SHUT IT SMILEY! Besides… I doubt your dimwit of a brother could win a game…” He muttered, trying to get a rise from Sans, but instead giving the skeleton a plan. Frisk watched as is grin grew more, getting an unsettling feeling of their new family members.

“ WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET THAT FLOWERY? OH! DID FRISK GET YOU IT?!” Papyrus asked, noticing the toy Flowey held tightly with his tiny leaves.

“ hehehe, nope. that was all me.”

“ …. YOU ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING FOR ONCE?! AND TO FLOWEY NONE THE LESS! FINALLY, MY OLDER BROTHER IS STARTING TO GROW UP!”

Sans chuckled, “ yeah, but I had to actually win a game. but frankly since you won’t shoot down any of those cut-out ducks… i’m not sure 'waddle' I do if your still gonna’ be the baby bones around the house.”

Frisk couldn’t help but cover their snicker as they watched Papyrus’ face go dark like in one of Alphy’s animes. “ HMPH! SO BE IT! I DO NOT NEED SUCH A DEVICE TO WIN THIS GAME MY GOOD SIR!” He told the person running the game. The slim skeleton grinned, summoning bones, managing to hit each ad everyone to be knocked back without causing so much as a dent. The person watched, astounded by Papyrus’ aim and skill before handing him a large plush f a buff looking robot character. ‘ NYEHEHE! THANK YOU! SO SANS. YOU WERE SAYING?-S-SANS?"

The moment the three looked back to the short structured monster, they found him nearby a ferries wheel, watching people ascend slowly into t air by the large mechanical ride. The three made their way over to wait a turn in order to ride the calming ride. Sans’ snapping out of his slight trance to catch an eye of the flower, “ what? scared of heights?” Sans grinned, mocking the plant… However ha had not gotten a respond as Flowey stared at the ride. It was a bit more creepy when he didn’t respond. Frisk however dragged her dunkle over, both getting in a seat and getting in a closed part of the ferries wheel, letting them look out the glass at the world below them. Frisk happily sat on one side, putting the potted plant next to them before peering out the window, watching the world below them go by. Along with Papyrus who listed all the sorts of things he could see from his side and angle,. Sans was busy watching the night sky and stars from his side of the cart. And Flowey… Kept looking at the skeleton in a stunned state of shock.

The flower gulped as recollection of his past flooded and poured themselves into his mind, that he had so desperately tried to seal up. Frisk soon to notice of the flower, now watering itself with sated tears that slowly dripped by. The child pet the golden flower, but only got another non-responsive look afterwards. Flowey was far too busy recalling his youth to the better days… All because of him, was why he was stuck like this, forever…

Chapter Text

The day was right after the lovely and peaceful festival of the small snow town of Snowdin. While monsters packed away their booths, foods, and rides, there, left over stood the rather large and decorated house. Inside, thee children sighed in unison as they lay there on the blue clashing purple like carpeting, staring at the main source of light overhead. There lay the blue and feisty fish, the small lovable skeleton, and the fluffy kind prince. Undyne sat up, looking over to a clock and gritted her razor teeth together, her hands scrunching up into fists, before bellowing out, “ NGAAAAAAAH! WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?! IT’S BEEN TWO HOURS!” She snarled, he slit pupil of a cat or snake threatening it’s gaze upon the numbers

Asriel soon sat up along with the toddler, stroking his chin, “ Yeah… Normally if their late, it’s around a hour or half. This is kinda concerning.”

“ WHY DON’T WE JUST GO CHECK UP ON THEM? YOU GUYS CAN BLAME ME, JUST TELL THEM I WAS GETTING REALLY WORRIED AND SCARED.”

Undyne sighed out, crossing her arms, “ Ugh, I hate lying to your dad. That guy ALWAYS figures it out. Maybe we should just go back to playing the floor is hot lava…“ She folded her arms to pout.

“ But Undyne, this could be serious! I-I mean… Papyrus would become worried sooner or later.” The prince gulped, getting a nod from the small skeleton. With that in mind, the blue scaled girl agreed and lead the two over to the river nearby.

Once there, the cloaked figure looked over to them, noticing Asriel, still feeling rather guilty, they lowered their head down. “ Ah, young prince. I am sorry, but I much rather not risk you falling in aga-“

The goat spoke up, “ It’s okay. This is-or might be an emergency. Pappy’s brother and father aren’t back yet. And it’s been two more hours than it normally is when we watch over him.”

The Riverperson remained silent as they were cut off, listening with full attention to the royal monster. The nodded and let the three climb aboard the dog like boat, making it sprint off on the water’s surface with a quick slap of the paddle against the water. The four finally slowed their way down for the wooden dog to pull in its legs, making it float on the river’s water, parking right next to a piece of walk-able area in Hotland which led straight to the elevators and small lab where Alphys and other scientists bunked at. The Riverperson watched each child hop out, before dismounting their boat for once; which was a rare sight considering, not many monsters around had ever seen them be detached from their water paddling steed. Right as Undyne was to question the sudden movement of the older monster, the Riverperson said calmly, “ It would not be wise of me to just leave you three to your own devices and intentions. I just do not want any of you to get hurt along the way.”

“ Oh, pth! Don’t worry, we’ve done this hundreds of times-” Undyne was shortly cut off.

“ I insist… After what happen to the young prince a long while back. Think of it as an… overdue IOU.” Asriel shrugged off the fish and let the more experienced monster tag along with them to the small labs and home.

However, as they came closer to the metallic doors, they could perfectly see a letter written out, saying that the scientists were working off in the abs near The Core. With a gruff huff of air from Undyne, the four made their way up the elevators and past the small and oddly shaped village of Hotland’s residents. The four headed over into The Core where the main lab was located. Undyne walked over to the large metal doors, knocking in a specific way that the shy lizard taught her. The two and Sans were the only ones who knew the secret knocking technique, thought Papyrus was taught it, but soon forgot it’s complexity. Sans said he’d have taught Asriel the knocks after the festival, but had to rush to the laboratory to escalate some overdue work on his part.

The door opened ajar, letting Sans stick his skull out to see the small group, smiling, just to annoy Undyne, “ whose there?”

The fish’s expression boiled, “ My foot…”

“ hehehe, never heard that one before, but ehhh, i’ll go with it. my foot who?”

“ MY FOOT THAT WILL GO UP YOUR ASS AND HIP BONES IF YOU DON’T MOVE IT!”

Sans soon slammed the door in her face, almost… literally slamming it in her face. “ SANS!” Papyrus called out, making the doors open up, letting them in. Sans stood there holding the door, dressed in his scientist coat, waggling his finger to the fish.

“ first off, the joke wasn’t good. second, rude. and third, why are you all here at our humble abode~?”

“ Dude, you and your dad are like two hours late! You guys worried papyrus!” The tiny skeleton played along, sniffling, thou in all fairness he had been growing rather worried. The older brother gave a sadden smile, kneeling down to hug his sibling and calm him down before getting back up again.

“ ah shit, sorry guys… it’s just… we got so caught up-and well…” He rubbed the back of his neck bones, soon giving a wide proud smile, “ we did it!”

Asriel tilted his head, is floppy ears dangling to his sides, “ D-Did what?”

“ hehehe, come on, i’ll show you!” He said with much ambition, grabbing onto Papyrus’ and Asriel’s sleeves to a much larger room. The main room had most if not, all the hallways of The Core leading into it, and there in the center were railings, surrounding a huge gap in the middle of the room. Above the gap, stood out a large piece of machinery that had wires strewn all over the ceiling, lugging into various machines and devices spread a throughout the room. Asriel only knew what Sans had told him, just like Alphys to Undyne. The large device above the hole was the one thing that absorbed the ever radiant energy of the magma far, far below in the bubbling pit, converting it into energy for the whole Underground.

And there, near the railing around the hole stood Gaster and other scientists, along with three guards. They all seemed to be celebrating with wine glasses filled up with sparkling juices. None of them seemed to want to get drunk, and to keep their intelligence up with them. As Sans led them over, Alphys gasped out, seeing Undyne, upon seeing her friend, she ran over and tackled her into a hug. This was a first since the nervous wreak of a girl had never been so bold before. It seemed like whatever they had accomplished, gave Alphys a dose of courage. Gaster even looked happy as he watched them come along, smiling like Sans, which was rather surprising to Asriel The tall looming skeleton always seemed bitter at times, stubborn, and normally rather stressful. Though he was generally a nice guy who would laugh and smile a bit, but that usually only tended to be when he WASN’T working.

A strange machine was placed next to the railing, plugged into with various wires, right beside the railing’s locked up opening which led to a sturdy platform, reaching out near the middle of the machine above and lava below. Asriel looked about, “ What did you guys do?” He asked his best friend gently, receiving a huge grin.

“ ol’ pop here-hehehe… ya now what… tell ‘em!”

Gaster nodded, raising his glass and tapping is pinky bone against it, gathering everyone’s attention. “ Everyone, everyone! Please, may I have your attention! We… Have finally created… A Time Machine! We will be able to reset time and with our knowledge, either stop the war, save those long lost lives of the fallen, or if need be… Win it!”

The quiet Riverperson tilted their shrouded head, “ Hmm? And do you figure? Has the king been told?”

Gaster laughed along with his fellow scientists, aside from Alphys and Sans. “ I’ve tried to explain it to him, but he never got the gist and grip of it. He said, as long as whatever you’re all working on can help end our suffering, I trust you from the bottom of my soul that you will do the right thing, my good friend! And yes, we have settled out the schematics, blueprints, and quantum physics of this great machine! You see, we sent a spider who thought they had not much to live for through a small portal of the machine, which needed a great source of power. We tied a diamond tether around them, and they were able to point out several things they saw-that we all saw and had never told anyone about only things we each know from specific days. We asked him to simply move a small rock somewhere around here, and thus! It was moved from where we initially saw it before, thus changing the past itself! Though the spider was too small to change anything larger… So… With the power of The Core’s energy… We will be able to start all over again! We dub it… 'RESET'!”

Again the scientists and guards cheered, finally letting this sink into the others head, making them feel the hope of their dreams come true. To finally be free, to finally see the sun, to finally… be truly happy without masking themselves day in and day out… “ hehehe, hey pops, tell ‘em what you said when you found this little time-rifting loophole~.” He said, being rather cocky.

Gaster grinned, putting his holed palm onto his son’s shoulder. “ Of course! I said to my boy and assistant… ‘ Dark, darker, yet darker. The darkness keeps growing’. Ohoho, how I thought it was just a mistake and just a black hole or void. ‘ The shadows cutting deeper. Photon readings negative’. Hah! And here we were, thinking something had actually gone wrong! 'This next experiment, seems very, very interesting… What do you two think’? I asked them, and well… The rest is now history in the making! Or rather… re-written history! … Now… Who wants to take a photo before we test the full power of this baby?!” He asked out, Asriel gasping out and flailing his arm, bouncing up and down happily.

Once the goat was handed the camera, he toggled it around, getting everyone of the workers in frame, “ Okay! Say cheese!”

“ CHEESE!” The scientists called out as the flash went off. Asriel, Undyne, and Papyrus watched as Alphys and Sans looked so incredibly happy. Possibly the happiest they ever had been from all the buildup, stress, and work, to have finally been paid off. Gaster and his crew decided to give it a quick test before planning how to go about their restart. Once the flip was switched, the machine, hooked up to the large energy conductor above, slowly but surely made way, opening a rift in time and space, enlarging a blackened like void cut right in the middle of the hole, being placed right in front of the platform that lead out to the middle. It took a moment… But then, the pure darkness of the portal started to ill with colors and shapes, forming into The Surface, so long ago. Again, this was just a test run, making sure it would stay open from so much energy being used. And thus after a long while, Gaster turned it down and off, happy with the results like the others.

However… Little had they known… From a the power the portal needed… Made the energy conductor above… Create a bit of backfire, sending some left over energy… Back down into the magma, where that energy was made… With the sudden surge of its own energy… It happened…

“ Wha-What the hell?” Gaster swerved around, everyone crashing to the ground from the sudden shock-wave. All the machines around the room began to go absolutely nuts with half of them either having too much power or not enough. Failing or going over the energy they needed, they soon began to break down.
The tiling around the railings began to snap, cracks popping up and spreading around as the machine and sirens blared out. A small scientist with wide eyes scurried to one of the main sources, only for a wire to snap out and electrocute him, zapping him into the some of the railing, before slipping in between the now freshly made gap and plummeting down into the magma. As the from rumbled, Papyrus cried out in pure fear, only to have a rock fall down above and it his skull, cracking it, but not leaving an opening. Asriel ran over to him, snatching his passed out body, avoiding falling debris, “ U-UNDYNE GET ALPHYS!” He called out, rushing out the room’s doors. Meanwhile the Riverperson and three guards tried to rush to other monsters and children to scoop them up and save them, only for their progress to be cut off as the magma down far below spewed out a large chunk of newly fallen debris into the cloaked monster, knocking them back behind machines, hiding them away and knocking their frail body out.

Next was a monster with a rather large head and small slithering body, trying to turn off some valves, only for blazing fire to spurt out of one, after the metal nearly hitting their head. They screamed out in pain, none of their magic could extinguish the flames that were now melting and melding their skin together, before accidentally bumping into and over the railing. Undyne and Alphys cried out, the fish grabbing her friend up over her head and throwing her away, making her slide on the tile and out the doors and heading over before looking over, “ G-GUYS! FUCK IT! LET’S GO YOU NERDS!” She tried to warn the others as she ultimately watched the mantis, cat, and dog guards fall into the flooring from the cracks, making their ground sink in.

A lanky cat tried turning the pumps off manually with his wrench, only to have a mix a searing hot and freezing oil shoot out at him, pushing him into the railings of the cracking flooring. The rails gave way and he dropped over, snatching the flooring with his claws. The weight of the oily tar began dragging him down, his caws digging into the ground, breaking a nail here and there. All before a metal beam from above creaked, snapping off and hanging by a single wire, which proceeded to swing into some machinery, making the tip sharpened up. The pipe then let loose, falling down as the sharp tip sliced right into the cat’s face, making his grip to drop him down into the pit below.

Asriel opened the door, pulling the shocked fish out into normal like room, “ U-UNDNE! S-stay here with Alphys an-and Papyrus! G-get them out of here-n-now!”

As the goat rushed to the doors, Undyne grabbed hold of his shoulder, “ ASRIEL! What the hell are you doing?!”

“S-Saving my friend!”

“ B-Bu-But-“

“ NOW!” Asriel snarled out, pushing the older monster off and storming back into the room. Leaving Undyne to grit her teeth and help Alphys get Papyrus out of there. On the way out, she happened to notice a Temmie who followed her holding a stack of pizzas.

“ WHY R WEE RUNNING?!” She chirped out gleefully.

“ CORE! BAD! EXPLODE! RUN! NOW!” The Temmie stopped and watched the fish continue her run. The small hybrid shrugged and waddled into the room.

“ I GOTS UR PIZZAS-“ She was then suddenly crushed by a machine, falling over on its side, and thus on her. “ AWAWAWWAWAWA! NU LEIK!”

Back where hell was going on, the last scientist who helped the others, tried to make a break for it, stumbling around, finally tripping with lack of arms. As she hit her face against the floor, a machine nearby over-stimulated on its energy and exploded. Glass shards launching out and sinking into the back her head. She yelped out before laying back down, unable to get up from the sudden pain. She gurgled out on some cyan like liquid from her mouth and head before the ground snapped around, making a slope, letting her slide and finally fall into the abyss below.

Gaster all the while was concerned with his machine, trying to regulate it, “ COME ON! COME ON! YOU BLASTED THING! COME ON! I-IT HAS TO WORK-IT NEEDS TO WORK-IT MUST WORK!”

Sans nearby had tried turning some things off, but was mostly dodging glass, debris, and other things, teleporting around, growing more and more tired. He would have originally gotten Papyrus, but once he turned around, he saw his dear friend run out with him, saving the tiny skeleton. Knowing he was now safe, he turned t his father, “ d-d-dad! dad! we-we have to go! we have to go now! D A D!” He screamed out, while his father kept yelling out to the machine he had created. Upon seeing the dismay, the shorter skeleton tried to grab hold of Gaster with his magic… Only for the stubborn skeleton to slap it away with his own purple essence.

“ N O ! I’M SO CLOSE! I NEED THIS TO WOOOOOORK! I-I CAN SAVE EVERYONE! I CAN FREE US ALL! I-I-I C-CAN FINALLY SEE MY WIFE AGAIN!” Gaster cried out, noticing the crumbling around him. He shot bones out to the falling debris, clearing it out to protect his creation he poured all his work into.

Asriel managed to struggle his way to Sans who stood there, watching his father go mad right before him. “ SANS! COME ON!”

“ n-not without dad!”

“ Sans!” He grabbed hold of his shoulders, their eyes locking on, “ Think about Papyrus! He needs you! I need you! We need to g-“

Sans noticed a large chunk of the ceiling's machinery started to descend down. Sans reacting quickly, sent his magic to shove Asriel out of the wave, and try to blast the falling chunk with his bones. But alas, his bones were far too weak compared to his father's, and the rock combined with machinery, falling onto him. He groaned, he eyes opening up as he breathed harshly before spitting up bright red liquid. His upper torso stuck out as his other half was trapped under the crushing weight of the debris. In his sights he saw nearby that Asriel had debris surround him.

Asriel’s shirt, pants, and fur torn up about his battered body. However he was still breathing, much like Sans himself. Sans could make out that in front of Asriel was the now destroyed railing leading to the center platform that led off into the middle of gap. And there, Gaster clutched onto the platform as it tilted down slowly, creaking. Sans concentrated to teleport but was too close to the radiation of power of the core and the machines. Sans groaned, trying to pull himself out from the rubble and kept trying to teleport. Concentration of magic and energy in the air lowered their own magical abilities. That or his body was to exhausted. His eyes landed on the goat who was nearby Gaster, “ a-a-asriel! g-get my d-dad!”

Asriel groaned from the bruises all around him and crawled over to Gaster who held on for his life as his lower half his body dangled. Gaster looked up to the prince with that eerie purple gaze and terrified yet angry expression. Asriel whimpered and tried moving closer as more debris fell around them, hitting the ground near him, making the gentle goat yelp in fear and jump back. “ a-azzy!” sans yelled out, he reached out for his magic to grab hold of Gaster… Only for the blue aura to bounce off, sending the magical energy to almost hit his friend, who at this point shook violently.

“ Grrr-S-Sans! The conductor's energy i-is to powerful of a current! Magic w-won’t work on it!” Gaster yelled out, desperately, his sense returning to him. He started to slip, "Y-Young prince, pl-please help me up!” He begged out, Asriel getting closer. He grabbed hold f Gaster’s hollowed out palm and pulled, only to find the scientist and himself starting to slide down more. He wasn’t strong enough… He was becoming more and more scared… Until he let go, backing away and crying to himself. “ A-Ahhh! Prince Asriel! Please… Look... I-I know you’re scared… I-I'm scared too. but you ne-need to help me.” Another try, was what Asriel did. And just like before he failed upon seeing the converter in the back starting to crackle and spark out.

Asriel sniffed and tried once more, third time was the charm right? The platform below Gaster started to creak more to give way, making Asriel frightened again. The floor under him rumbled out, sparks swaying with wire and metal rods falling here and there. Asriel reached out and grabbed hold of Gaster, pulling him up. He backed away from the sudden sparking wire which almost hit him, and teared up even more, thus making him back away and cower. “ I-I can’t do it! I’m too weak! I-I’m too scared! I’m too much of-of-of a CRYBABY!” He shouted out, his eyes turning puffy from all the crying as his heart beated around in his chest. He curled up and cried, mumbling how weak and scared he was. How he just wanted to go home. How wasn’t meant to be a king.

Gaster sighed deeply before looking over to his frightened son, soon smiling to him as he held on. “ Sans! … Please take care of your brother!”

“ wh-w-what? d-d-dad? wh-no! nononon!”

Gaster growled out, “ SANS ASTER WINGDINGS! Listen! T-There is a away to stop The Core from blowing up the entire Underground! A powerful soul or much determination is needed to counteract the energy from above to balance that energy from below! Now, please pay attention! I love you! I love you and Papyrus both! Don’t become like me and live with regret in your heart! Don’t be like me! Be better than me! Now! ……. Always smile and keep moving forward!” He smiled as he closed his eyes, tears bubbling out and floating up. It took a moment before Sans’ eyes caught the sight of a large dark and crackling portal float up from where the magma had been, until it was in the very middle behind Gaster, moving him up by its own gravitational pull. Gaster then… let go.

“ D-D A-D A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A D!” Sans called out, reaching out, mouth a gaped as he saw his father get sucked up into the rift of space and time, his own magic entangling with its energy until… The portal was gone…

Suddenly a huge flash of black and purple, shot out, hitting in order from who was nearest… The wave shooting and passing into and out of Asriel’s, Sans’, The Riverprson’s, and Temmie’s bodies before a gust of forceful wind pushed them all away from the middle area. A bright light of pure white dazzled and spread over the room before everything was back to normal and broken forever…

After The incident. Nobody knew about any of the scientists, except for their families… Zack thought is uncle had abandoned him with is two younger brothers… The armless monster child now having to grow up without a sister who supposedly went missing, moving onto having a family… Sans and Papyrus… Seemingly to have appeared from nowhere in Snowdin as orphan brothers who somehow owned a house that wasn't paid off. Asgore had positioned Alphys as his new royal scientist soon afterwards. No one remembered or knew of Gaster ever again except for four monsters… Sans, The Riverperson, and Asriel. Temmie would come to know when the new fallen human, Frisk was killed and had to reset, lowering down The Temmie Armor’s price... The Riverperson would give out cryptic messaged about a man who spoke in hands… Sans soon noticing when Flowey or Frisk reset, and being stained with nightmares… And most of all… Asriel… Who was the closest to the blast… He was given the incredible power to RESET… But he never knew of it, because he was never determined enough… Once he was made solely and purely of determination as Flowey… He gained the power… But how did Frisk gain power over Flowey’s restarts…? That’s for another-
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Time and time again, Sans would idle with the ‘glorified machine’ his father had built so long ago. He didn’t do this too terribly often, as he would have to worry and tend to the resets coming and going, setting back his precious time he spent on the damned thing, just to get it to work. With a wrench in his hand, the skeleton flopped down onto the cool blue floor as the machine’s shadow loomed over the weary skeleton. The thing had been pretty busted, but all in all, after the years of neglect, Sans was able to get it up and looking a bit chipper than it use to when it stood alone n the back of his house.

Sans panted out, resting his spine on the floor before taking out a stained rag and wiping it against his skull, absorbing sweat… somehow. He then pulled up his safety goggles and stared at the daunting machine. He hated the device s much, resented it… But, it was the only thing that could work to turn back the clock and make things better. All these long years of a changed heart pushed him close to insanity at times as he just wanted to go back all the way to when a large portion of The Core blew up. And here he was now… One f the few survivors of the carnage and time ripping reality.

Ever since that day, the monsters were able to make various rooms and hallways to switch out everyday t fool any humans who may try to go through it, like a maze. Sans knew it was useful for the monsters, however, e didn’t enjoy the fact and idea of because it blew up, it was easy to make room layouts so well.

He finally stood up, chugging down some of his drink from a small work table before putting it back down and viewing his patched up machine. Sans walked over and pulled a lever as his other skeletal hands idled with dials, switches, and buttons. All until a whirring sound radiated form it, making him back u Just then a ray of light blinded over him, Sans putting his sapphire sweatered arms over his face before it dimmed n it’s on. Right there in front of him, stood a horizontal rip of time ad space combined, rippling at the air in seems. He smiled brightly for once and shook with eagerness. He did it… HE ACTUALLY DID IT! With just a few steps closer, his entire future could be changed. It made his soul swell with such joy and hope… That he didn’t even realize the room around him was starting to set off alarms while it shook violently. He reached out to the torn fabric of time, inches away until… It faded away into obscurity in the air. This snapped his attention, turning his back to the machine, to see what was wrong, still unknown to the baring alarms and tremors.

And there his pupils lay on none other than that damned flower… DESTROYING THE MACHINE! Thick vines lunged themselves into the machine, tearing it apart bit by bit. It took a lot of force to pierce the blasted thing, but Flowey’s determination didn’t let up. In an instant, the flower was covered in a blue mist and thrown harshly but quickly away from the device. Sans ran over to it, trying to re-calibrate it, but only failing miserably afterwards. He gritted his teeth and looked at the now broken machine, his hands balling up into shaky fists. He swerved around for his single blue ignited e to stare at the plant. “ W H Y? W H Y D O Y O U H A T E M E S O MUCH?!” He teleported right in front of Flowey who was readjusting himself after being tossed away carelessly.

Sans was split between sadness and anger, meaning he could be highly dangerous to the flower’s health. But also too unstable to fight. And with Sans, the outcome could go either way honestly. Flowey stood his ground and gave a hard stern glare, “ SHUT UP! I JUST SAVED YOUR SORRY ASS! You would have been ripped apart atom by atom if it wasn’t for me! That portal was unstable as hell! Can you not hear the alarms?! Feel the ground under you rumble?! Feel the buzz of the electricity running around in the air, you idiot!” The skeleton paused, finally reality catching up with him, noting all of the things the flower just said were happening. Eventually the room itself calmed down.

Flowey continued,” It was about to blow up again! I-I can’t risk you leaving me all over again!”

“ w-what? i don’t even know you! you’re just an abomination that keeps killing us over and over for your amusement!”

Flowey’s face slowly morphed into the once gentle sweet prince, only to snap out at the skeleton with bitter tears stinging is eyes. “ I CAN’T HELP IT!”

Sans backed away suddenly, fear now replacing his anger, “ a-azzy?! wha-but how-"

“ It’s a long story, and I’m not telling it again! YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT! Did y-you really think this would actually work?!”

Sans’ fear however was soon taken back, “ i had complete control of it, i could have made a difference! i could have gone back! i could have made things better-“
“ HOW?! By jumping into a faulty and glitchy portal?! YOU HAVE NO CONTROL!” He panted out a bit, “ I-I… I don’t want to lose you again Sans…”

The skeleton stood silent or a moment before turning around and grabbing his wrench from before. He knelt downy the machine and started to tinker with it, despite Asriel’s warnings. He ignored that constant banter of the gold flower to fix the machine up again. He had to make this work, for the entire Underground. Eventfully he found himself dropping the wrench suddenly. Looking down, he could see a thorned and barbed vine skewering him, his soul and health rapidly depleting. He turned to find the prince and flower hybrid crying, with actual fear strewn down his face. He hiccuped like a little kid, shaking from his actions. “ …why?”

Asriel gulped, hearing Sans ask in a hurtful way of emotion. “ Y-You’re the o-only one who matters anymore.” He replied before Sans faded out into dust. Asriel soon took his leave with the dust in Sans’ sweater, far away from The Core to reset. He didn’t want to risk resetting near the unstable piece of machinery, afraid it might make something irreversible, along with resetting with what was left of the skeleton. He sighed and watched the snow mix with the dust as the wind carried it away. He couldn’t stand the sight f it and dug away from it to properly reset.

While doing so, Papyrus had been on his daily patrol to notice Sans’ sweater. Thankfully the dust had already been blown away making him ponder as he picked the blue sweater from the cold ground. “ SANS SWEATER…?” Dots started to form in his head, as he gasped out, “ OH MY GOD! HE’S STREAKING OUT IN THE NUDE!” All before a bright flashing light bathed him and the entire Underground to be reset.

Chapter Text

A week after the monsters were nursed back to health from The Core’s incident, the two skeletons were finally released back to their snowy home… New empty and void of their father, leaving a painful and stinging reminder to the two of them. Everyone but three other monsters in the entire Underground had no memory or recollection of the scientist. Pictures and films both erased him, as if he never existed. The only thiiing left were mysterious written blueprints for the time machine since Gaster had not wanted anyone to snoop and try to recreate his creation. The only one who could read such handwriting was Sans.

Papyrus was still rather woozy from that rock bashing his head, and continued to rest at home for a bit while his brother tried his best to take care of him and the now vacant house. He was very protective now, not wanting anyone to take them in or take his brother away because he, himself was too young. He figured he’d have to learn how to do many things by himself alongside his smaller brother, who was all he had left. Due to Papyrus’ new yet fully healed wound, he forgot many things, making him slightly slower. He had very few memories of his father, Undyne, Alphys… Almost everybody but Sans. He remembered he had a father, but didn’t know much of him, while Sans suffered immensely as he remembered every little thing.

The now orphaned skeleton was walking back to his cozy home to take care of his brother, trudging through the frosted ground with a bag of groceries he had managed to get with the help of his fiery friend, Grillby. Sans wasn’t one known to be sad, so it shocked his friends, who noticed how depressed and desperate he was to cling onto what little he had left. He also became more… Aggressive. Ever since he tried to explain to Alphys and Asgore about his father, only for them to think he was making up things, drove him to a breaking point that irritated his determination. And with the weighing stress of taking care of his brother, the home, money, food, being a judge really wore him down to be more snappish and unlike himself. It tended to scare people away, even Papyrus as Sans would accidentally yell at him, sending the small skeleton crying. So much was on is mind as he made his way home, clouded in his own thoughts.

Until… A voice called out to him. He stopped to look about, finally his pupils landed on the kind-hearted young prince running over to the skeleton. Asriel had been passed out for a few days from being so close to the explosion, that he needed to rest much more than any of the others. But finally, his mother let him out to go play, only he didn’t want to play. He only wanted to see his best friend. And from what he’s heard about him recently thanks to Undyne and Alphys, it seemed Sans needed more help than he did, shoving royalty aside for something more important to him.

“ S-SANS!” He waved wildly as he got closer, with a bright smile, overjoyed to see the other boy. He felt so happy to see him again, he had even worried about him and the younger brother more than his own health. As he dashed over… A sudden force pushed him back and into the snow, landing on his tushy. He quickly got up to run to Sans again, this time falling back flat on his back. He got up once more, making his way over. This time nothing pushed him back, letting him finally manage to run over and put his paw on the shoulder of the sapphire sweater. “ Sa-ACK!” The skeleton ad dropped the bag of food down, turned over and shoved the prince off with his arm. As Asriel fell into the now, his eyes crossed that of a single blue glowing pupil with the other eye socket, hollow as that portal. “ S-Sans?”

“ go home.”

“ Wh-What? But… But Sans, your all by yourself. Y-You need someone to help you and your broth-“

“ I S A I D G O H O M E… you’ve done enough already, so just… leave.”

Asriel’s face contorted sadly, “ Wh-What… But, I can help you an-“

“ i don’t need your help! you were plenty of help back at the lab! i-i asked you to do one thing! i’ve done so much for you, but-but… grrr.” Sans put his hands on his skull. The goat monster slowly rose up, reaching over to comfort him, only to have his paw be slapped away roughly, making him yelp out. “ i said to leave dreemurr! go home and learn to be a ‘real king’!”

Asriel was mortified, Sans had never once yelled him out by his last name. It… It kind of hurt. “ Wha-what… What do you mean…?"

“ if you were a real king, you would have saved him! that’s what a true leader does! they care about their people! an-and you couldn’t even manage to save one!”

“ S-Sans! Please, listen to yourself! You and I both know I tried! I-I tried my best t save him! I-I… I was scared-“

“ so was he! so was i! we were both scared, but you just gave up and cried to yourself! crying about how ‘weak’ you were! you’re a boss monster! their so much stronger than normal ones! he could have probably send out a gaster blaster if he could concentrate instead of focusing on keeping himself from falling to counter the magic so it wouldn’t blow up. but you-Y O U just huddled away like a coward and cried like the little bitch that you are! that’s all you’ve ever been! your no leader, you’re just a weak, sniveling, little, cowardice crybaby! a-and that’s all you’ll ever be asriel!” He panted out heavily, upon seeing his now former friend. Angry tears ran down the sides of his cheeks bones.

“ ……” Asriel squeaked lightly before he put his paws to his mouth with the most hurt expression Sans had ever seen on any monster. “ I-I…. Sa-Sans…” He took a step back before looking at his paws, curling them up into tiny balled up fists, tears now pouring down his own soft velvet cheeks. “ ….. Y-You’re right… I am weak. I am a coward. I-I am a-a. A crybaby….. Sans… Pl-Please… I’m so sorry.” He looked up trembling. “ Please… Please forgive me… Not as a Judge… But as my best friend. Please.”

Sans sighed out, both eyes now hollowed out, “ ….. i’m not your judge. i’m your dad’s judge. and besides that… we’re not friends anymore.”

The soft spoken prince gasped lightly, shaking more and more violently… His heart and reality now being shattered. He fell to the ground on his knees, looking broken and lost. Tears flooded down his face, “ I-I’m sorry… It’s all my fault… SANS! Please! I-I’m so sorry! Please don’t leave me! Lease-please-please!” He clutched the sides of his head, plunging to despair and guilt. Sans watched him and shook his head before picking up the bag and walking away. Along the way home, the prince followed and begged him for forgiveness until they got to the front porch.

Sans sun around and gritted his teeth, his one eye flaring u his blue magic dangerously he held back any tears from the sight of the desperate prince, “ you have no idea what it’s like to lose someone close to you! you don’t have a sibling to care for! you don’t know what it’s like to be all by yourself without anyone there to guide you! you don’t know what it’s like when the world around you changes and can never become normal ever again! Y O U D O N’ T U N D E R S T A N D!” Sans screamed out before slamming the door on Asriel.

Papyrus eventually watched a program with his brother before noticing some sounds from outside which Sans must have blocked out, considering he was fully asleep from working around so much to keep up the house’s pay, getting food, getting money, and helping Papyrus. The small skeleton climbed off from the couch and went to the front door, leaning over to listen. On the other side he could hear constant wailing and mourning of another child crying on the porch, repetitively asking for forgiveness and apologizing over and over. Papyrus then frowned and waddled to his brother, poking at him, with a worried expression. “ huh… wha? o-oh, hey paps. s-sorry, didn’t mean to doze off. sup?”

Papyrus fiddled with his tiny hands, “ U-UHM… THERE’S SOMEONE CRYING OUTSIDE THE DOOR. THEY SOUND SUPER UPSET. S-SHOULD WE LET THEM IN? OR MAYBE WE COULD GO CHEER THEM UP?” The innocent toddler asked, only to get a heavy groan from his brother.

“ ...i’ll get it…” Sans said as he lazily slide off the emerald couch, walking to the front door to open it, yet swiftly walk out to close it. Papyrus waited in silence before hearing an angry yell from what sounded to be like his brother. A moment or so went by before the festive door opened, outside now silent as Sans glumly walked in, slamming the door behind him, making the other jump. Papyrus then noticed how angry and tired his brother looked… He never got a real good and thorough look at him until now, because he knew his brother was now very busy. However what tuck out the most… Was some type of small splatter on his dear brother’s knuckles. The white clean bone now stained with a mix of dark red and black.

“ S-SANS…WHAT IS THAT ON Y-YOU HAND?” Papyrus asked, even more concerned about his brother’s mental health which seemed to be almost non-existent since they were released. Of course the once playful and cheeky skeleton shrugged it off, letting the small brother fear for the worst…Especially now that the constant whimpering was finally gone outside. “ Y-YOU’RE… YOU’RE LYING!” Papyrus shouted, catching his brother off guard. Papyrus gave the other skeleton an irritated face with angered eyes, “” I-I KNOW Y-YOU DID SOMETHING!”

“ paps…” He sighed. “ look. it’s better if you don’t understand. it’s not your problem. it’s just better this way-“

The concerned toddler cut him off, “ IT IS MY PROBLEM! I’M YOUR PROBLEM NOW B-BECAUSE NO ONE ELSE IS HERE WITH YOU… I’M SORRY TAT YOU HAVE TO DO SO MUCH OR ME NOW-BUT-BUT THAT DOESN’T GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO NOT TELL ME ANYTHING F-FOR MY OWN GOOD!”

Sans groaned his finger bones clacked against the back of his skull. “ paps, calm down. it doesn’t concern you, okay? everything will be just fine, as long as i have a hold of it, by myself.”

“ N-NO IT’S NOT YOU NEED HELP! YOU CAN’T KEEP THIS UP JUST ON YOUR OWN!”

The older skeleton twitched lightly, hearing the statement just like he had from Asriel, “ yes… it is. it’ll be fine as long as nobody helps me.”

“ NO IT’S NOT SANS! NOOOOO IT’S NOOOOT!” Papyrus screamed out before retreating to their room… or well his room now that Sans had moved their dad’s supplies out from the other room, letting the smaller skeleton have lots of room to play in. Sans let out an stressful huff under his breath as he followed the tiny stomping Papyrus had made on the way up to his room, finding him in his car bed under a blanket pouting. The older monster sighed lightly, sitting beside the lump in the blanket before snagging it open to find Papyrus curled up, wrapping his arms around his leg.

“ paps, listen, i-“ He reached out to have his bones clack against the other’s hand.

“NO YOU LISTEN! I SAID THAT, NO IT'S NOT! NOW GET OFF MY BED! He quickly stood up, yanking a pillow along, smacking it against his brother.

The older skeleton put his skeletal hand up, trying his best to talk by the toddler’s tantrum, “ n-not until we talk about this.”

“ YOU’RE NO HELP! I WISH DAD WERE HERE!”

Sans was wounded a bit emotionally as his precious brother said he was no help at all. “ i'm doing the best i can!” He said, grabbing the other soft end of the pillow.

“ WELL IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!”

And with that, he let go of the pillow, letting the smaller child fall back holding the pillow up as a shield once Sans leaned over with a desperate sad and angered expression. “ don't you think i know that?!” The smaller skeleton shuddered underneath his pillow, clutching onto it like it was someone else and whined out. The sight and sound broke Sans out of his small spite of anger, now having guilt shadow over him, watching his brother cry… Because of him. With a sigh he backed away in a slump, looking down from shame, “ welp… i don’t know everything. But I think dad would at least be proud of you, for still being you…” He mumbled out a ‘thank god’. He much rather have his brother continue to be himself… Sans had already known he, himself had already changed is ways after being more aggressive, stubborn… And yelling at his best friend. It was too late for him… He had already changed before anyone could truly help him see beyond the pain, trauma, and sorrow.

He didn’t expect the sudden hug that was thrown at him from his little brother, curling up and sniffling, hands tightly clinging onto the blue sweater while Papyrus buried is head into his sibling's chest. “ YOU TOO…”

Sans cooled down, resting his chin on his brothers skull wearily before flopping over onto his back, tired from all f the day’s exhaustion of work and stress. He forgot he was on a soft bed, and with his brother snuggling against him, nearing his nap-time, he didn’t waste the opportunity to close his eyes, rubbing the back bones of his brother,” heh…thanks paps…”

“ CAN… CAN YOU TELL M A STORY..?” Papyrus whimpered out, still fairly upset or cranky.

Sans’ teeth turned up for once in the past two weeks and formed a heartfelt smile,” hehehe…” This had been the first time he chuckled as well, but hearing it helped soothe the baby bones. “ sure thing paps… a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call. the snake prince brought the fluffy bunny back to the castle. over time, the snake prince and the fluffy bunny became like siblings. the king and queen snake treated the fluffy bunny as their own, showing that the snakes had become omnivores. the snakes underground were full of hope to change over new leaves. then... one day... the fluffy bunny became ill. the fluffy bunny told them that it needed carrot medicine. the carrot medicine was over in the rabbit village. but no snake dared to go there since no rabbit would reason with them. the next day. the next day... the snake prince helped the fluffy bunny sneak out. the fluffy bunny told him the directions. so, the snake prince pulled along the Fluffy Bunny in a small sled. With the Fluffy Bunny, the Snake Prince crossed through the threshold of the snake kingdom. he carried the fluffy bunny into the sunset. back to the village of the rabbits. the snake prince reached the center of the village. there, he found a bed of carrots used for the medicine. he gave the carrots to the fluffy bunny. suddenly, screams rang out. the rabbits saw the snake prince holding up the fluffy bunny. they thought that he was going to eat the fluffy bunny. the rabbits attacked him with everything they had. he was struck with blow after blow. the snake prince had the power to gobble them all up. but...” He stopped as he heard small nasally snoring. The older sibling slowly drifted to sleep, thinking solely about his brother who he had to care for now. It was a large responsibility he placed upon himself… But if Papyrus left him… He wouldn’t know what to do…

Much like Asriel… The only difference being that, he had no one else. Sure he ad is parents… but it just wasn’t the same. Sans was the one who brought him out of hiding, making new friends. But now without Sans by his side, he felt lost and hopeless to be around the others he had spent time with. The first week since the prince healed up, he would sit at the skeleton’s charming and lit house by the porch, apologizing over and over to deaf ears. He would sit out there for about an hour or so every day until Troggle or Finton found him crying his eyes out, making his fur so wet that he would soon get colder for not wiping the tears away. He kept apologizing, skipping lunch just to sit outside the home, begging to not be left alone, ignoring any o the other older children, putting cooked meals outside the door, and so on. If an adult wanted to talk to the glum skeleton, Asriel would forbid it, he didn’t want them digging a deeper hole. He wanted to do it on his own… But the only way he knew how was by apologizing.

Soon, the week after that, Sans was a bit relived that the prince was no longer there. He had been avoiding talking to him for the past week since their little break-up. Guilt slowly gnawed into Sans’ soul, but he had to think about him and his brother now. He didn't have time to think about others… Not even Alphys at this point. Meanwhile with Alphys and Undyne, they didn’t even see the once shy and friendly goat the whole week. Asriel kept himself hoarded up in his room, not even coming out when his parents told him too. He felt too ill, and Toriel or Asgore didn't want to push their sensitive son, knowing he’d get over it… Sometime. Asriel would mostly sleep, sing songs to himself, pretend to have group therapy sessions with his toys, and fuss with his black eye Sans had given him two weeks ago. He hit him pretty hard, but the goat kept messing with it so it would stay bruised and purple as a reminder of his old friend. T was a bit morbid to keep the bruise there so he could think of the skeleton, mentally telling himself to avoid him or else this may happen again. All he had else to remember the happy skeleton physically was that bracelet, his pet rock, and a gold heart locket Sans had won him at the festival, with a picture of himself and Sans inside.

The third week, Asriel came out of his room but avoided talking most of the time, along with any social interactions who weren’t his parents. If Undyne bugged him, the prince would ignore her until she got angry, which frustrated him as well. He would behave rather aggressively to her, catching her off guard and become shocked. He would often turn around and take his leave without apologizing. His parents tried to console him, but he wouldn’t respond, making them become more and more worried. Thankfully no one was around when he would walk around the castle by himself, staying near home. He began practicing his magic to get his mind of things as well taking his anger out on rocks and various objects until he tuckered himself out.

The fourth week, now hitting a month since h last even saw Sans, he was back to his old self… More or less. He would help around with his parent, talk with them, go outside, play like he use to with his toys. He could finally laugh and smile again, but some things were still upsetting. Like one day when his parents were about to wish him a goodnight, only to find him by his bedside on his knees. “ It's me again... I need someone to be my friend. Someone who won't leave me. Maybe send me an angel... The nicest angel you have.” This was the only thing his parents had noticed… But outside the castle and not with his parents, he continued to avoid talking to any kids or teens, either ignoring them or reacting harshly. Like when he was going to his favorite bug hunting ground to catch up some snails, slugs, and grubs for his mom. He even walked around Snowdin just to avoid eye contact from anyone there, shrugging off anyone who tried to run over and greet him. On this fine day as he headed to The Ruins, he ran into Jerry who was still being an asshole, even though his group had left him. As Asriel kept walking his way, Jerry would follow him trying to get a rise. Until the prince stopped and swung at the bully, knocking him into the frozen ground before heading on his way again. Sure Asriel didn’t want anyone with him, but that was because he wasn’t scared anymore… For the most part. His courage came from a smooth stone in his back pocket. At least his pet rock would always be there for him…

Once he made it to The Ruins, he stopped to sit down on a metallic bridge for a quick rest. He looked into the rippling reflection under him as his furry feet dangled over the side. He took out his pet rock and calmly bushed his paw over it. The rock had given him courage, but it also tugged onto some painful memories he just wanted to forget about ever since he accepted the fact he had messed up and Sans more than likely hated him… Sans was the one who had given him this stone that lay in his white paws. He gripped it, his small claws digging into it just to slider off, repressed memories leaking trough. He was strong-he didn’t need some stupid lucky charm anymore ever since is real lucky charm discarded him. He gritted his teeth as he thought to himself. He didn’t need anyone to care about him, hell this rock would have probably wanted to leave him to if it could. HE DIDN’T NEED ANYONE! Asriel wound his arm back, clutching the stone, close to throwing it into the water so it would vanish from his life just like the person who gave it to him. His breath hitched as he saw his reflection… For the first time in a month… He finally saw what he was close to turning into.

This… This wasn’t him… He had almost changed like Sans had. The anger in his eyes and grinding teeth of spite… That wasn’t him. He was better than that, he was… He was better than Sans. His arm slowly trembled as his eyes softened, his snarl turning into a distressed one before tears hit the water below. He sniffle and held the rock closely to his chest. He just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t get rid of the rock. No matter how tough he tried to make himself… He was still a weak crybaby deep, deep inside.

As he put the stone back into his pocket, his floppy white fleeced ears perked up to a sudden sound of pain and crying. The goat quickly got up, jogging to where the sudden crash and whimpering had been heard. “ H-Huh? I think it came from over here...” He said out loud to himself… Or to his pet rock. He suddenly came into a large room where he would try and catch butterflies that hovered down to sip the sweet nectar of The Ruin’s lowers.
After he went under the arched door, anyone outside that large room could hear him so clearly and worried. He couldn’t just leave someone whose hurt and crying for help alone. “ Oh! You've fallen down, haven't you…? Are you okay? Here, get up..… Chara huh? That's a nice name… My name is-“
-------------------------------------------------------------

“ As real as it can get Sansy by~!” The demonic soulless flower chuckled out from the other side of the shining and gold Judgment Hall. San winced a bit, nobody had called him that pet name in years. He always did hate being called that, unless it was one of his friends, teasing him. All except Asriel… He was slightly glad he wasn’t around, that way he wouldn’t have to see this disturbed freak of life tear him open and crush his soul. “ Cooooome on~! What are you waiting for? I know you hate me, I know you want to see me suffer, I know you want to reset this dead end of a run, I know you want to hurt me… I know ehehehe… I know you want TO KILL ME!” Flowey egged him on, clearly only having one thought in his mind. A fight. Sans was always fun to fight. Every time, they fought, it would be different… The only difference Flowey could latch onto by giving into the never ending cycle of the same thing.

“ why don’t you just kill me and reset…?” Sans sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Flowey snarled, “ BECAUSE YOU’RE THE ONLY FUN ONE TO PLAY WITH!” He shouted out like a small child having a hissy fit.

Now that Sans thought about it… “ hehehe… ‘play’ huh? you've got a very twisted taste of playing. i don’t see what the point is."

The flower grew more agitated, “ Yeah… You know… You’re right. I should just kill you and ‘play’ with your brother. It’d be sooo much easier without you in the way~.” He giggled deviously, winking to the short skeleton.

Sans knew he was just laying bait for him… But damned if it didn’t hit a nerve. “ i got a better idea. i’ll play. but, let’s make it a 'real' game."

Flowey’s beady eyes shined at the word, gathering his full attention. Originally he just wanted to fuck around with Sans, maybe not even kill him, but at that one word, he was entranced. “ Game?”

Sans smirked, “ heh… looks like i’ve got your attention now. if i win, you either reset so i don’t gotta’ deal with you, and... you leave me and paps alone for a good while. deal?”

“ TCH! What kinda dumbass wouldn’t ask what happens if I win?!”

Sans mentally slapped himself, “ hey, can’t blame a guy for trying to be sneaky...”

Flowey gave a confused and irritated look as if he saw Sans suddenly grow an extra skull, “ HOW… Was that sneaky?!”

“ ohhh, you wound me~.” Sans lay the back of his hand against his head dramatically. “ you win annnnd…” He had to think, finally looking for some proper wording which made him shudder. “ if you win… i’ll let you take complete control of my body…” His spine shivered as Flowey gave an overly cartoonish smile of glee t him.
“ GOLLY~! That’d be a first without actually forcing you to submit to me! Gosh, I feel a giddy inside~.” Or rather metaphorically.

Sans struck out his arm, holding up a bony finger, “ B U T! ….. if we need to… we need to forfeit if it gets too bad… otherwise, heh. you won’t be able to have a willing host.” Flowey huffed out before agreeing to the deal.

Their battle begun, Sans carefully and swiftly dogging anything thrown at him from vines, pellets, to chunks of the tiles Flowey had uprooted. Sans held a wide smile, knowing fully well it’d piss the flower off, hoping to tire him down so he could strike. Bones and vines cashed against one another before Sans teleported away from nearly getting sliced with a thorned vine sweeping the air. He focused on the feisty plant and brought out a cold skeletal hand from his pocket, calling upon a Gaster Blaster by his side which then started whirring and unhinging it’s large maw. However… Bulky vines shot out from the floor bellow, shattering the tiles and actually rising up, piercing the draconic like skull. Sans’ eye went wide as he saw the blaster’s lower and upper jaw small into each other from the vines, still charging up the sot. Sans quickly teleported behind a pillar where as Flowey dug into the ground, both getting away from the large explosion of energy.

As a large cloud of dirt and dust from the hall began forming, Sans coughed and hacked a bit from the stuffy air. He looked around, squinting, his left pupil glowing to be some type of light. But, Without being able to see properly, vines snatched him up, pinning him to the pillar behind. He gasped out n pain upon impact, a vertebra making an audible cracking sound when it hit the sturdy column.

-5/50

He panted lightly, regaining the wind that had just been knocked out f him. The vines help his wrists above his head, letting him dangle there. As the cloud of dirt started to dissipate, the flower leaned over near the skeleton with an elongated stem, giggling. “ You know… I could just save you the trouble~. I’m in a charitable mood ehehehe~! I’ll make you a deal if you just let me win~…” He grinned a jagged smile, his eyes narrowing down onto Sans. Sans… On the other hand… Started to chuckle… With his pupils gone, with that permanent grin, made the flower feel rather uncomfortable. “ WHAT’S SO DAMN FUNNY?!”

Sans’ small fit of laughter died down, “ h-hehehe… you-you almost sound like someone i use to know who use to say that when they took the role of a villain in our games.”

“ Sh-Shut up! I’m not that scared, weak, crybaby!”

San’s soon stopped, his pupils returning as they drew full attention to Flowey. “ … i-i… i didn’t even mention it like that… how did you know who i was referring to? unless...” Flowey felt his stem and vines tighten up. He had just given away his real self without noticing. “ … a-azzy?”

Flowey hung his head low and trembled before snapping out, “ I’M NOT ASRIEL! H-HE’S DEAD! HE’S GO-GONE! GONE FOREVER!” From where Sans was, his eyes caught those of Flowey… He looked rather worried. The same kind o worried Sans had gotten to know until the prince’s death. E ad to try something. It might have been a dirty shot, but he had Papyrus to look after for. That, and if this really worked, then Flowey really was his old friend beyond the dust. “ let’s go in the garden…” He began to hum out peacefully, making Flower slink back, his expression changing into one of fear and sorrow. He snarled out, the vines around Sans’ wrist pulling him off and slamming him into another pillar and into the floor before letting go.

-5/45

-5/40

“ SH-SHUT UP! I-I’M w-w-warning you!” Flowey’s vines slithered back away from Sans who got up and groaned.

“you’ll find… find, something waiting-“ Heavy lumbering vines filled with thorns lashed him across his skull, making him slide away. “ r-right there-“ Again, another slice, the vines warning the skeleton that they might just skewer him.

-5/35

-10/30

“ I SAID STOP IT! JUST STOP! STOP IT NOOOW!”

Sans weakly pushed himself off from the floor panting harshly from the attacks. “ r-r-right… right there… wh-where you… yo-you left i-“ Another slice was added, clubbing the skeleton further way, the vines frantically squirmed round their owner who was on the verge of a breakdown.

-15/20

Sans lay there on the golden and orange tiles, hanging on with only 5 heath left. But it didn’t stop him from looking to the plant and resting his eyes, “ ly-lying u-u-up…ups-upsi… upside d-down.” He pushed himself up one last time, getting t his knees and holding a damaged arm to his side. He took in a raggedy breath before getting up fully and looking to the golden flower, pleading. Flowey watched the other monster as he himself panted from using so much energy and quaking rage. He bit his lip, shifting his eyes around to avoid looking at his broken old friend, finally shutting his eyes tightly.

“ … When you finally find i-it, you’ll see how it’s faded.” He mumbled out. He was unable to fight off against his inner self who always loved that song.
Sans took a few steps forward over to the distressed plant, “ the underside is lig-lighter when y-you turn it around.”

Flowey noticing the skeleton getting closer, made him more nervous. Slick vines came out but didn’t attack where Sans was, and more of just carefully and weakly pushing him away, while their owner couldn’t help but sing along his favorite pastime lullaby. “ Everything stays… Right where you left it…”

“ everything stays, but it still changes.” Sans kept walking, even if the vines gently pushed him away.

Eventually the vines gave way as Flower cracked down more and more, “ Ever-ever so slightly… daily and… n-nightly…”

Sans finally made it over, falling to his knees right next to him, reaching out and petting his head, making Flowey change face, both metaphorically and quite literally. “ in little ways, where everything stays.”

Asriel shook and bundled up, glaring sadly up at him, “ W-Why… Why are you doing this? Why… Are you being so nice to me? All I’ve done is hurt people-I can’t stop it!” Tears flooded down his cheeks, confused and scared.

Sans sighed, sitting down and leaning over, hugging the sniveling flower as best he could, petting the back of his stem to calm him down, “ shhhh azzy… somewhere in there. i can feel it. there's a glimmer of a good person inside of you. the memory of someone who once wanted to do the right thing. someone who, in another time, who was my friend. c'mon, buddy. I know you remember me. please, if listen... let's forget all of this, okay? just calm yourself down, and... well, my job will be a lot easier.”

Flowey, deep down knew what was coming from previous fights, but this one sounded different. It sounded genially regretful. He sniffled and buried his face into the skeletons shirt, whimpering.

“ hehehe… friendship... it's really great, right? let's quit fighting.” Flowey nodded tearfully.

“ Please… Please don’t kill me out of spite.” Sans initially froze up, making him sigh again and old Asriel closer.

“... i’m not… azzy. pal. i know how hard it must be... to keep this up and not being able to quit. to go back on everything over and over again, to not get any satisfaction from anything you do anymore. i want you to know... i won't let this moment go to waste...” He said, soothing the small flower. Just as Asriel predicted, he braced himself before spiked tips of bones suddenly skewered into his stem, letting him yelp out, his health depleting slowly. As for the next part… He didn’t here Sans be cocky like he normally would, instead he remained silent and started to shake. Asriel soon felt tears drop onto his gold petals.

“ S-Sans…?”

“ yeah?”

Asriel closed his eyes as pain kept giving way, “ I miss you.”

“ i know…”

“ I’m so scared.”

“ i know…”

“ I’m so lonely.”

“ i know…”

“ … I don’t want to be a flower anymore.”

“ i know…”

“ I just want to be me again...We c-could sit in the living room, telling stories... Eating butterscotch pie... We could be like... Like fri-fr-friends…”

“ ..... i know… shhh… this is all just a bad dream…”

Asriel managed to open his eyes to see his friend he once knew before resetting, only to notice a gray feline figure stand near them, Sans not sensing it there as it grinned widely. They let out a distorted laugh that only Flowey could hear, “ AnD YoU’r NeVeR WaKiNg-“
-----------------------------------------------------------

“ sup flower? What the heck are you doing down here?” A tired yet fully awake Sans stood there in the kitchen, looking over to the living room from the counter island. He originally couldn’t sleep and decided to make a snack for the millionth time as Undyne would put it. He however notched some rustling and turned on some dimmed lights to see what the ruckus was about. And there in the living room to the side was Flowey’s pot on the ground, on its side while the plant’s stem stretched out and sat upon the window sill.

Flowey looked about nervously, “ ….. going for a jog?”

Sans walked over, smiling, chuckling to himself. He was actually amused from the nonsensical answer. “ hehehe, coulda’ just asked for my treadmill. hehehe, and paps says my jokes are bad. but seriously… the hell are you doing?” His amused voice lowered down int a serious one.

Flowey sighed and looked up at him, seeming rather tired, “ Sans, do you hate me?”

Sans blinked, thinking to himself about the sudden odd question. “ well… you were just resetting out of frustration for not being able to love. what you weren't made up of... i understand that, really, i do… but with that being said… you have one twisted personality. and to be frankly i'm never gonna' feel pity for you. you really are nothing but a sick freak.”

Flowey looked hurt before looking down, vines opening the window up to let the cool breeze of the night inside. “ They we were right…” He muttered to himself, thinking back on the distorted figure that plagued him earlier that month. “ Fine, let me answer your question then. I’m leaving.”

“ hehehe, nice one, again you’re gonna’ hafta’ try harder for a joke bud-dy. you’re not going anywhere.”

He looked back up up the skeleton, looking more exhausted, “ What’s the point? What’s the point to continue this? Wasn’t that your philosophy? Why try when you know it’s going to be reset? But it’s not about resetting for me… It’s why go on, when the only other person besides Frisk, I want to be with, hates me?”

Sans was taken aback, “ whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it… W H E R E did this suddenly come from?!” H yelled out quietly, not wanting to wake up anyone, especially Toriel, Undyne, or Mettaton.

“ Heh… You really are an IDIOT aren’t you Sansy? You think I kept resetting time and time to mess with you-okay well, I did. But it was only because I wanted to be around you. L–Like old times. Like when we use to be friends.”

“ back it up weed, we were N E V E R friends…”

“ … You just don’t get it, do you? You think I wanted to fix your rock because I felt guilty? No. I only did it because I remember how much I use to cherish it, and seeing you broken down like that reminded me of when you broke me down the same way. I can’t do anything right anymore. Just like before when I couldn't save Gaster from falling down into The Core.”

Sans’ left eye fluttered with a blue glow, “ wh-what… what did you-… but the only one who tried t-to save him was-………..” Realization started to sink into him.

“ It’s best to forget about me. I’m not myself anymore. All I do is hurt people. I want to stop hurting you and Frisk. I’m going back where I belong. Back to where I deserve to be. Alone, forgotten, covered up, trapped, right next to Chara. It’s better this way. If I can’t be with the two people I who mean the most to me, then what's the point of me staying here?”

Sans slowly reached out only to get a sudden glare from the tiny plant. “ azzy…”

“ I’m not Asriel anymore. I can never be him again. J-Just… Take care of Frisk for me, okay? That’s my only request.”

“ b-but asreil-“ The skeleton protested.

“ If we were really friends… you’ll never come back looking for me…”

Chapter Text

“Ohhhh, I have all my fingers~. The knife goes chop, chop, chop. If I miss the spaces in-between, my fingers will come off. And if I hit my fingers, the blood will soon come out. But all the same, I play this game, cause that's what it's all about. Oh, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. I'm picking up the speed. And if I hit my fingers then my hand will start to bleed. Oh, I’ve got all my fingers!~. The knife goes chop, chop, chop-“

“ Erm, h-hey Chara?” The light brown haired human child stopped, slamming a pocket knife into the toy table. They looked up to their sibling with a grand smile. “ Ahhh-plese don’t do the scary face right now.” Asriel whined.

“ Oh, hahaha, sorry Asriel. What’s on your mind?”

Asriel gulped, rubbing his sleeves as he watch them pick out the knife, starting t stab at the table at the spaces in between their fingers. He knew they were in one of their ‘moods’. Which normally didn't mean well for any other monsters aside from him and his family. “ C-Can’t… You-er, we play another game?”

Chara stopped, holding the knife in midair, thinking themselves. “ I thought you enjoyed this song.”

“ I-I do, it’s very catchy. B-But… Look, I’m just worried that you’ll cut yourself is all.” He gave a weak smile.

Chara smiled back sweetly, leaning over to hug the fleeced prince with their free arm and hand. “ Okay, okay. I’ll stop… But!” They sat up straight away from their brother. “ You hafta’ fix that heart locket.”

Asreil’s attention perked up, instinctively grabbing hold of the golden locket across his neck. He took it off and opened it up to view the two pictures inside of him and the once joyful skeleton enjoying themselves at the festival. ” Chara… I-I’m not so sure…”

“ Well, he is the one who made you be all ALONE right?” Chara questioned tilting their head.

Asriel closed the locket’s photos away, clutching it with a trembling paw. “ I-Yeah…”

“ So why have a picture of the stupid jerk, when you can have your REAL best friend in there besides you? Don’t get me wrong, you told me he was your friend… but he’s just a big butt now. I don’t want you to open that up and get hurt by it. Instead, open it up and remember your true best friend will always be by your side.”
Asriel nodded , smiling and took their advice as he went into another room to snag a photo of his newest family member and started to cut it out. It took a bit but he finally managed to get the right shape down to fit into the locket. He paused, seeing the bright and cheery skeleton he once knew. Something tugged onto his soul and heart deep down. He couldn’t just up and burn the photo that had meant so much to him. Asriel looked about carefully before sliding Chara’s picture over Sans’, that way when he was by himself, he could just easily push Chara’s portrait aside to view the older one beneath it.

Months went by as Asriel and Chara grew closer together, even with Chara’s odd tendencies and habits. One day Asriel had questioned them on how they fell into The Underground. Apparently their village wasn’t one known for technology like the rest of the world and instead it was a humble place where people still used candles and lanterns in a way. They were so behind with technology terms, that they called any device witch-craft. And of course without having much communication to the true outside, they handled things the old way. Chara had told the prince that the people in their village thought the orphan was inflicted with that of a demon. While in all honesty, they kind of were in a way. Turns out, without having an actual doctor, and more of listening to the elders who use to bring out Witch trials, didn’t help so much.

Chara was either bi-polar, or more than likely had a split-personality. And with having another personality, they were shunned, making both sides of the same person see that humans were just awful creatures who only fought against anything that was different because they were afraid of the unknown. Thankfully, the monsters seemed much wiser than Chara’s shitty little village, an far more accepting. Much like the kind prince who told Chara that it didn’t matter what side was shown to him, that he’d love both. Chara was his new safety blanket, and would tend to follow their advice, no matter how bad it got. He couldn't afford to lose another friend who meant so much to him.

Chara did indeed love the goat monster back. Their peaceful personality cared for him deeply but seemed to rarely be in control most of the time. Meanwhile, their more hostile side came out more than often from years of growing the distaste of humanity. Sure they acted rather bitterly to Asriel’s taste and even picked a fight with someone, but even they loved their new founded sibling. There always seemed a few times where Chara wanted to take a trip to Snowdin just to beat some sense into Asriel’s old friend. But the monster child would protest against the violence and calmly tell them that he had cut off all ties with the skeleton… When in reality, Sans was the one who did that instead, but it was best not to anger their sibling.

A year soon passed by, making Chara grateful for having such a loving family for once… But it still irked them to no end, that out of everything… These gentle beasts had to remain down below, whilst the humans got to roam free in the sunlight, able to go where they pleased. It tore them up inside. They were sure even if they had grown somewhere else, that people would treat them differently, probably locking them away or having family after family dump them. Each and every day that passed by, made their fighting spirit grow and grow with determination. All until… One day where they had devised a plan to save the underside of monsters.
They always sympathized with the monsters that took them in, especially Asriel. The prince had the right to see The Surface, instead of rotting down here. They knew how Asriel felt all the way down… They had experienced it all before. Loneliness, no friends, no siblings, people hating them, lost, and scared… He deserved better, just like the king and queen gave them the taste for a better tomorrow. It finally got to the breaking point of them risking their own life to make things-
------------------------------------------

Better is what he was feeling… Or well, rather mostly. Sans’ soul still weighed heavy onto him. It had been a year, and still he felt horrible inside his soul. He started thinking about the friendly prince who loved every moment that the two had spent together. The only reason his mind began to nag at him was because the annual Snowdin festival was about to start up within a few days. Memories of his best friend leaked out, reminding him of how happy and innocent the two use to be…
He shook the feeling off for the moment as he made his way into the local Inn to pick up Papyrus. Upon entering and asking about, the inns-keeper had told the younger brother had ran off and many of her siblings ran around to search for him. He thanked her, telling the pinkish rabbit that he’d find Papyrus.
Within the year as Sans grew stressed and tired, eventually he was learning how to fake a smile for most occasions. He slept much more from over-working himself, which made his treasured baby brother worry for him and feel guilty in a way that Sans ad to take care of him so often that it made the other irritable at times. And sometimes the smaller skeleton would worry so much that he began swinging his own mood, trying to settle in with their constant situation. This tended to end up in wanting to help about and become a better citizen. But most of the time, he’d accidentally ruin certain things or just wasn’t bright enough to help out. And seeing Sans usually mope about, hit him the hardest, making him not act like himself, which bothered Sans immensely. He just wanted his baby brother to be happy…

Sans came home to find the door locked, which led him to groan out, “ it just had to be the day when the royal guard had to come by and see if I can still maintain him…” He rubbed his temples, knowing the young couple would be here in a matter of minutes to discuss with the brothers if Sans could still handle Papyrus’ custody. It went well for the past year, but with Papyrus’ attitude dropping, made people question the older brother a bit. Sans peeked in through the window, his eyes darting to Papyrus laying on the ground listening to an old record player their dad had. He knocked his knuckles on the window, “ oh, paps! paps, open the door!” Sans could make out the words of ‘ GO AWAY’ from his brother. “ paps?! paps, we don’t have time for this!” Another reading of his brother’s jaws, ' LEAVE ME ALONE TO DIE’. Sans groaned, trying to open or pick the window, “ paps c’mon! the royal guards are going to be here any minute! urgh! you are getting dunked once i get in there, mister! oh, i’m gonna’ dunk you down into a mulch shredder and give the bone-meal to the king! and when he says ‘ oh, this is great fertilizer for my garden, what’s the secret?’ i’m going to say-“ He stopped as his pupils fell upon two distinct reflections in the glass standing behind him. He latched onto the window sill and bent backwards to see the two white beagle like couple. He smiled nervously, “ love…and nurturing… uh hi.”

The gruff dog who looked like they were trying to grow a fluffy stache, raided a large brow “ Was this the love, or the ‘LOVE’ you’re talking about?“

“ oh-oh! oh… y-you know i meant out of compassion and not lv, dogmy, right?”

Sans had only really known Dogamy from words with Doggo, but not much of the guard’s girlfriend, who then spoke up. “ (Are you the guardian in question?)” Sans blinked, wondering what was up with the parenthesis...

“ er-yes… i’m sans… and you arrrrre…?”

“(Dogaressa.)”

“ miss dogaressa… do all of you guys have ‘dog’ in your name? cuz if so, that’s pretty funny-“

“( I know.)” Said the girl dog with an unamused look. “( Are you not to invite us in?)”

“ o-oh, hey i thought could just hang out here and talk.” He kept his fingers latched to the sill.

“( I don’t think so.)”

“ r-right… uhhh… hold on a moment.” Sans let go, landing into the snow and rushing behind the house, mental slapping himself for not teleporting in sooner. The young couple heard panicked footsteps as a record player scratched off.

“ HEEEY!”

Sans then opened up the door panting lightly, “ so… can i get you two hotdog?!” He chuckled nervously to offer the dogs who then walked into the festively decorated home.

The girl pup spoke up, scanning Papyrus nearby, “( Do you leave your brother alone often?)”

“ wha-no! never! well, besides today. i’m a very busy monster and had to get some-“ The two canines started howling, pawing at their floppy ears as a high-pitched alarm blared off. Sans rushed to the oven to find the smoke detector had gone off from a flaming pot. With a quick flip of the oven’s switch and smoke alarm, he shoved the boiling pot aside with his magic.

Dogamy snarled, annoyed from the shrill buzz,” You left the oven ON while you were working?”

“ l-low heat! just a simple simmer. it’s coming along great~!” He opened the pot’s lid quickly to peek inside, only to slam it shut,” A H H H H!”

“ I FOUND THAT THIS MORNING.”

Sans swerved his head skull around to see Papyrus, “ papyrus! There you are-best bro… this is dogaressa and dogamy.”

Dogamy smiled down, kneeling besides the skeleton, “ Nice to meet you.”

Papyrus squinted to look at both guard’s knuckles. “ YOUR KNUCKLES SAY DOGI AND HERS SAYS DOGE. DOGI DOGAMY AND DOGERESSA DOGE… YOU GUYS DON’T LOOK LIKE SOCIAL WORKERS.”

Dogaressa cleared her throat, “( We’re a special classification.)”

“ DID YOU GUYS EVER HURT ANYONE?” He looked rather skeptical.

“ (We’re getting off topic. Let us talk about you, are you happy?)”

Papyrus sighed before blandly saying, “ I’M ADJUSTED, I LOVE MY BROTHER, I EAT NON GREASY FOODS, TAKE SHORT NAPS ANNND…” He trailed off as Sans pumped a fist into the air from behind the guards, cheering him on. “ GET DISCIPLINED?” Sans froze up and quickly shook his hand and hands.
Dogamy quirked his fuzzy brow, “ Disciplined?”

“ YEAH! LIKE THREE TIMES A DAY!” Sans put his hands over his eyes muttering a silent, ‘ nnnno…’. “ SOMETIMES WITH BRICKS~!” He chimed out, making Sans look up even more disturbed.

“ Bricks?” The two asked in unison.

Papyrus nodded,” YEAH. IN A PILLOW CASE-“

Sans quickly dashed over, covering up the smaller skeleton’s mouth and pushing him away, “ ooookay, that’s enough cooking for you. why don’t you go play, you little sweetie? aherm… h-hungry?”

Dogaressa huffed out and glared to Sans as her boyfriend followed the toddler, “( Let me illuminate to you the precarious situation in which you have found yourself. We are the ones they call when things go wrong. And things have indeed gone wrong…)” She snarled grimly.

While Dogamy watched Papyrus sprinkle some water into a small pot as a packet of echo Flower seeds lay nearby. He looked up to him, “ I NEED TO GROW MY FRIENDS…”

Dogamy gave an odd look before giving the skeleton a card, “ Call us if you’re by yourself again.”

“ YEEEP…” Papyrus said, snagging the card away from the guard’s paw.

Dogaressa growled to the short skeleton slightly as she grabbed hold of the front door’s hand, snapping it open even though it was locked, “ (In case you're wondering, this did not go well. You have three days to change our minds.)” Afterwards the two left.

Once the guard dogs left, Sans locked onto his smaller brother with an irritated glare, making Papyrus run, screaming his skull off. A blue mist grabbed hold of him, dragging him back to his older brother who took a firm grip to his arm as the blue magic dissipated into the air. “ why didn't you wait at the inn?! you were suppose to wait there! papyrus! do you not understand? do you want to be taken away?” Papyrus felt a sting at his eyes while pushing at his brother's wrist to let go. ” answer me!”

“ NO!”

“ no, you don't understand?!”

“ NO!”

“no, what?!”

“NNNNO!” Papyrus screeched before dropping into the carpeting face first, “ MRFMRF!”

“ ugh! your such a pain!” Sans finally let go, rubbing his sore skull.

“ SO WHY DON'T YOU SELL GET RID F ME AND ADOPT A TEMMIE INSTEAD?!” The younger skeleton got up, yelling tearfully, making his way down the living room.

“ at least the temmie would be better than you!”

“ GO AHEAD, THEN YOU'LL BE HAPPY, CAUSE IT'LL BE SMARTER THAN ME TOO!” He yelled back out, getting to the top of the stairs.

“ and quieter!” Sans rushed to the bottom of the stairways.

“ YOU DON'T LIKE IT CAUSE IT'S STINKY LIKE YOU!” The door was soon slammed shut by the younger child.

“ go to your roooom!”

Papyrus peeked out from his doorway for brief moment, “ I'M ALREADY IN MY ROOM!” The both simultaneously grabbed a pillow, pressing their skulls into it and yelling loudly…

The morning soon turned into day or the early afternoon, again it was always hard to tell when one lives underground with the lack of sunlight and moonlight. Papyrus’ door creaked open, Sans shyly peeping his skull in before walking in calmly holding a pizza slice on a plate. “hey i brought you some pizza incase you were hungry…” He said quietly, regretting how often he had been getting onto his brother over the last year or so. He sighed lightly, sitting on the dashing race-car bed while Papyrus looked up to the ceiling, almost in a trance. " WE'RE A BROKEN FAMILY, AREN'T WE?”

Sans sighed, with a pained face “ n-no... maybe... a little... maybe a lot. i shouldn't have yelled at you.”

“ WE'RE BROTHERS, IT'S OUT JOB.”

“ yeah well, from now on-“

“ I LIKE YOU BETTER AS A BROTHER THAN A DAD…”

“ oh yeah?" An invisible brow arched.

“ YOU LIKE ME BETTER AS A BROTHER THAN A TEMMIE RIGHT?” He soon sniffled, cracking Sans down more.

“ awwww, oh, ohhhh, of course i do” He said gently, helping his brother sit up.

Papyrus ran a sleeve past his skull as he sniffled out, “ I HIT JERRY TODAY…”

“ you hit him?”

“ … BEFORE I BIT HIM”

“ you... bit him?” Sans was surprise by his normally non-assertive brother. “ paps you shouldn't-“

“ PEOPLE TREAT ME DIFFERENTLY.” Papyrus cured up, clinging to his legs, burying his skull to try and hide from the other monster

“ they just don't know what to say... i tell you what, you promise not to fight anymore, i promise not to yell at you, except on special occasions.”

“ TUESDAYS AND IN HOTLAND WOULD BE OKAY.”

“ really? would that be okay?” He smiled, tickling the small skeleton, letting him giggle out, but stopping as he heard is brother laugh along, pushing the skeletal hands away. “ huh? something wrong paps”

Payrus looked up to him with tears threatening to come out, “ YOU LAUGHED.. YOU HAVEN'T LAUGHED IN SO LONG… OR SMILED. I MISS THAT SMILE. Y-YOU KNOW… I ONLY BEHAVED LIKE THAT BECAUSE F I BEHAVED LIKE I WAS SUPPOSE TO… YOU WOULDN’T PAY ATTENTION TO ME… I NEEDED YOUR ATTENTION.”

Sans sighed, “ sorry… i-i really don’t mean to ignore you-i’m a lousy brother.”

“ YOU’LL BE ONE IF YOU DON’T LISTEN TO ME.” Sans’ eye lifted to the toddler. “ YOU’VE BEEN LIKE THIS FOR A YEAR NOW. E-EVER SINCE SOMETHING HAPPENED. I CAN’T RECALL ‘CAUSE OF THAT ROCK… BUT SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED. I KNOW YOUR TO BUSY T PLAY… B-BUT YOU DON’T EVEN TALK TO ALPHYS AN-AND UNDYNE ANYMORE. I JUST WANT YOU TO SMILE AGAIN…”

The older brother took in a large breath of air, exhaling it heavily. “ it is because i’ve been busy… but. whenever i see undyne or alphys, all I can think of is my other friend being with them when we all use to play together. you won’t remember him because of that rock... but he was a really good friend-and i… i-i… hurt him.”

“ GO APOLOGIZE. GO MAKE UP. I’M SURE HE’LL UNDERSTAND IF YOU JUST EXPLAIN YOURSELF!” Papyrus hopped up in is bed, curling is tiny hands into fists.

“ paps, it’s not that easy, i-“

“ NO MORE EXCUSES SANS! EVEN IF IT DOESN’T GO WELL, YOU’LL FEEL MUCH BETTER WITH THAT WEIGHT OFF YOUR SOUL! PLEASE… DO IT FOR ME… I JUST WANT TO SEE YOU SMILE AGAIN.” He snaffled, shaking in his stance. It made Sans feel… Determined.

The short blue sweatered clad skeleton ran up to the homey building atop a hill nearby The Capital. With a bright smile, a determined spirit to patch things up, his cyan colored scarf, and a type of quiche like substance, he was ready. It had been a while since he wore the old scarf, throwing it off from when he avoided the young prince. But now… Now was the time to make things right! He did overhear Asriel had gotten a sibling; a human none the less, but tat didn’t matter! In fact, Sans would be glad to meet them, get to know them. Maybe he could hang out with the two sometime. He made his way up to the enlarged wooden door and rang knocked n it. He stood there, full of hope to be reunited with his old friend. He waited for a bit, buzzing the door bell next. Again he stood there with happy thoughts gushing out from his mind. He was about to ring the buzzer again, but the door finally opened up, revealing the mighty king himself.

Sans smiled up to him, “ heya mister dreemurr! is azzy home?! i got something to give him! oh-and stuff to tell him! and-and… and… w-why do you look so sad?” For the first time in months or maybe even the past year, emotions blossomed out for him to go back to caring about other monsters than Papyrus. The king couldn't help but look miserable, his eyes puffy from crying, as well as his furry cheeks breaking out in red spots as his magic boiled within. Asgore looked to the side grimly, Sans peeking his head to see if anyone was behind the great and mighty monster.

Asgore knelt down, trying to get to Sans’ eye level, only to be a foot or so off. He gulped down saliva that had been swelling up in his throat before placing a gentle heavy paw on the skeletons shoulder. His saddened eye meeting with Sans’. “ My Judge-…. Young One… I… I am sorry, but you cannot talk with him.”

“ o-oh… is he still upset with me?”

“ … I doubt he ever was.”

“ well, can’t i see him?”

Asgore remained silent for a moment, a horrible sense of foreboding blew at Sans’ feet. “ ….. I-I… I am so sorry Sans.” Tears started to form in the great king’s eyes. Sans shook bit, he had never once seen the mighty Asgore, the cheerful and happy king ever look so… So… Defeated. “ Asriel… Is gone, Young One.”

The words shattered Sans’ mind, hitting with a full blow that made him crumble to his knee-bones. His pupils fading into his eye-sockets, “ w-wh-wa… n-no… h-h-he… he was just a-a kid. h-how… w-why…” Asgore let his tears fall while Sans broke down into them first. Asgore pulled way, retrieving something something near the door, inside the once cozy home. He handed a small box to the skeleton before giving him a careful hug and standing up. Sans looked to the box, his hollow eyes stared at it blankly.

“ He had asked me to give this to you… If something were to ever happen… I had never thought of what could have happened until it was too late. I am sorry Sans… Please keep it safe.” He turned around, closing the doors. The big sensitive push-over would continue crying if he stayed there, Sans knew that. But Sans couldn’t move… Not an inch… Until a blue flame engulfed him.

Next thing he knew, he was at The Waterfall’s hidden area. The one that he and Asriel helped make along with his brother and Asriel’s mother. He slowly fell back, holding the box as water fell from his eye-sockets and onto the surface of it. He shakily opened it up to find Asriel’s half of their friendship bracelet, his old music box, a blank VHS tape, a photo from the festival, a flower crown, a rock, and a letter. He carefully plucked out the piece of paper, while his other hand instantly grabbed the flower crown, putting it on himself, letting his eyes scan the elegant penmanship of words.

‘ – To Sans Aster Wingdings
Howdy! It’s me, your best friend! I just wanted to let you know… I could never hate you, no matter how much you do with me. Nothing will ever replace my memories with you, though Chara says other-wise. But they can be a meanie at times. I wanted to write this but to you in case… In case something goes wrong.. Again. But hopefully it won’t! Because I’ve got my awesome sibling by my side! Now I know how you and Papyrus feel like! But anyways, if something does happen… I wanted to let you know, you’re my best friend, you taught me so much and protected me for so long! You gave me courage to not be a crybaby all of the time. Though I still kinda am. But I will always remember you and your kindness no matter what! If you are reading this, then I guess… Or plan didn’t go right. And f so, please don’t be sad. Because, It'll be mine turn to watch over you! So please… Hang in there, for my sakes and Papyrus’. I don’t know what would happen if he lost a awesome brother like you. Also, take care of our pet rock, I don’t want it to get lonely without me taking care of it. So, just remember the good times we had and stay determined t do what’s right! Keep smiling for me!
-Love Sincerely Asriel Dreemurr’

On the way home… Sans covered his skull with his light blue tinted hoodie, noticing a new statue in what could be called rain. It started to hit him that it had been there for a little bit over a week. It looked like it was wearing a ruin robe, much like Asriel’s mother… Speaking of which… He hadn’t seen her about lately. E frowned, seeing the brand new piece of architect laying there in the ‘rain’. He want back over, putting an umbrella it one stone cold and wet hand. It still wasn’t enough to settle his heart-broken state at peace. He looked down to the scarf, pulling it off and folding it to be put in the statue’s lap. He then opened his new gift and wound up the music box, somehow making it to where it would keep winding and spinning. The music echoed it’s sweet melody through the corridors, flooding it with its wondrous hum.

Once Sans got home, he couldn’t help but notice his brother was half asleep on the lumpy green sofa. " MMM... HOW'D IT GO?"

Sans sat next to the tired baby bones and patted him, thankful he was nearly asleep. " i'll tell ya later... you want a story?" Papyrus nodded hazily. " a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call. the snake prince brought the fluffy bunny back to the castle. over time, the snake prince and the fluffy bunny became like siblings. the king and queen snake treated the fluffy bunny as their own, showing that the snakes had become omnivores. the snakes underground were full of hope to change over new leaves. then... one day... the fluffy bunny became ill. the fluffy bunny told them that it needed carrot medicine. the carrot medicine was over in the rabbit village. but no snake dared to go there since no rabbit would reason with them. the next day. the next day... the snake prince helped the fluffy bunny sneak out. the fluffy bunny told him the directions. so, the snake prince pulled along the Fluffy Bunny in a small sled. With the Fluffy Bunny, the Snake Prince crossed through the threshold of the snake kingdom. he carried the fluffy bunny into the sunset. back to the village of the rabbits. the snake prince reached the center of the village. there, he found a bed of carrots used for the medicine. he gave the carrots to the fluffy bunny. suddenly, screams rang out. the rabbits saw the snake prince holding up the fluffy bunny. they thought that he was going to eat the fluffy bunny. the rabbits attacked him with everything they had. he was struck with blow after blow. the snake prince had the power to gobble them all up. but... the snake prince did not fight back. clutching the fluffy bunny one last time... he smiled, and slithered away. wounded, the snake prince stumbled home. he entered the castle and collapsed. his parents rushed to his aid. the kingdom fell into despair. the king and queen thought they lost one child, and were about to lose another-" He stopped, hearing the tiny snores of his brother.

He teleported up into his room, drawing his cell-phone out and typing in a number he hadn't called in what seemed like an eternity. With a few rings, someone picked up, nervously asking, “ He-H-Hello?”

“ alph…”

“ S-S-SA-SANS?!”

“ w-why…” He felt his vice beginning to crack. “ why didn’t you or undyne tell me-me… about asriel?”

There was a long pause before Alphys replied, sensing Sans was not angry, but scared, lost, and sad. She herself sounded broken down, “ B-Because. L-L-Last year, y-you told us to n-never call you if it had anything t-to do with him. I-I’m… I’m so sorry Sans… I w-w-was just… To scared to tell you… Pl-Please, if y-you hate me or it, i-it’s okay…”

How long had Alphys sounded so… down? “ n-no, no. alphys, you're my friend. it’s okay. it’s not your fault. i-thank you.”

“ Haha, you-y-you almost sounded like your old self just then… I-I miss that…” After chatting with a friend he had long ago cut off, though not as bad as the prince, he started to think. Laying on his mattress, gritting his teeth as his left eye was inflamed by a mist of blue and yellow. Memories poured down from leaks in his mind. He clutched onto the smoothed stone tightly as he mourned his close friend. Soon he started blaming himself until… The rock slide away from his grip and onto the floor. He leaned over to snatch it back up, but the blue fog sparkled in his father’s old mirror the brothers had not gotten around to move yet. He looked at his reflection.. It looked so miserable, crushed, and broken. That wasn’t him… It hadn't been him for such a long time. He then remembered what Papyrus had told him, what Alphys had said, what the dear prince requested... Sans’ ever so permanent smile came back to his face as tears flooded down onto-
--------------------------------

The floor was where the small twelve year old lay. Everyone but Sans and Alphys was out and about, searching for the demonic flower, thinking he had ran off to cause mayhem. Frisk knew he wouldn’t, but would not tell anyone where he probably went to. They had promised Flowey that… As well as not trying to get him back to The Surface for a week at the very least, so he could think to himself. Frisk for once felt… Hopeless. Soon enough, their dunkle walked over, looking down at them, upside-down from Frisk’s perspective. The child showed no emotion, but Sans could easily tell something was clearly wailing deep down. He felt slightly proud, but also guilty. They had learned to mask their emotions in very desperate times, such as this. They only seemed to do it when they were sad or pissed off, restraining themselves.

“ how’s the weather down there?” No response. Sans sighed, rubbing the back of his neck-bones, making them rattle with a clacking noise as they met with his bony fingers. “ look kiddo… you don’t have to be like me. no one else is around to see yo-“ He was cut off as the young child jumped up, shoving their face into his chest and letting out pained tears they had been fighting back.

“ I-I w-was going to fix him! He’s just broken! That's a-all! I-I PROMISED HIM! WE EVEN GOT IT TO WORK!” They soon babbled into a mess f gibberish, breaking down until they started to hiccup out loudly.

Sans took in a shaky breath and patted their soft brown hair. Frisk’s cries ceased as they felt something drop onto their sleeve. In silence they looked to what was falling onto them. They were… Tears, and not their own. “ S-Sans?” They looked up to see the skeleton cry along.

“ sure he was a little shit…b-but he was our little shit-wait… got what to work?” He cracked out.

Both remained stoic as they got to Alphy’s nearby lab, watching her re-check her video footage and surveillance. Each screen had a different cameras view, but nearly in one second by another, they would cut off into a heap of static. She tried desperately to rewind and replay them t get a look at Flowey, seeing if he went into the ground or was instead oddly enough kidnapped… Or if he offed himself and was just a normal flower now. “ A L P H Y S.”

The shy lizard nearly leapt four feet in the air, swiveling her spinning chair around, “ SANS! DON’T DO THAT-Ehh? Frisk why aren’t you helping with the search? I mean I-I can understands Sans a-and his ‘too lazy to teleport’.”

“ hey, rude. anyways, kiddo here tell me something about some type of soul mold a monster can help build up a soul?”

“ We-W-Well yes… We were going to try to give Flowey one, b-b-but… His determination is too great! It could take years for that molded soul to build up t match that power! W-W-We were going to tell Fowey a-a-about it today… But h-he left before… W-We could tell him…” She looked down ashamed with herself. “ D-Dammit, things like this… A-A-Always happen. I-It was a nice thought I-I couldn’t screw anything up again.”

Frisk walked over, their boots clacking against the like blue tiles. They gave the nervous wreck of a monster a hug.

Meanwhile Sans stayed back, stuffing his hands into his pockets, “ heh… this is why frisk believes in ya alph. you can make things that no one could imagine. we’re taking the mold.”

Alphy’s eye shot open, “ WH-W-WHAT?! D-D-DIDN’T YOU HEAR W-W-WHAT I JUST SAID?! I-IT COULD TAKE YEARS! A-A-AND FRISK’S ADVENTURE I-IS ALREADY DONE! THEY CAN’T GO ON ANOTHER JOURNEY TO-TO-TO BUILD UP THEIR DETERMINATION-“

She was soon silenced as her old lab partner teleported right in front of her, putting a single finger to her scaly lips. He winked, “ what if we told you… we have a ‘reset fragment’?”

Aphys slowly fell back into her seat, speechless, “ ….. Wh-What… But… H-How, I-I read the blueprints, but… I couldn’t translate them that well… A-And even so, it was so… S-So advanced.”

“ we’ll just say, the kiddo isn’t all what they seem, right frisk?” He asked, poking the child's cheek. Their only response was them poking their tongue out. " can’t argue with that.”

Alphy’s mind started to race with the possibilities but soon stopped with a sigh, “ … E-Even if they could do that… I-I-I highly doubt it’d work… The mold needs a monster’s soul in order for the small b-bit of the soul in the mold t-to grow. S-Someone would ha-have to go along with them on their adventure through The Underground… A-A-An I doubt Lady Toriel would assist them, considering she only came right before Flowey attacked.”

“ i volunteer.”

“ WH-W-WHAT?! Bu-B-but! BUTBUTBUT! BUT IT’LL BE A PAST YOU! YOU PROBABLY WON’T EVEN REMEMBER THEM! AND SINCE WHEN DO YOU HELP OUT WITH SOMETHING AS GRUELING AS THAT”

“ alph…” His white snow pupils looked to her own set of eyes. “ i haven't done much. and i know i’m stubborn… but i’m sure frisky here can get me to cooperate. their determined and pretty damn persistent. and let’s just say… i feel like i need to help them, just this once… i owe ‘em that.” He thought abut seeing the flower’s chaotic face reform into his old friend’s, as well as never once helping the child, letting them die over and over, all because he didn’t care. But now… He had something to hold n for other than just Papyrus.

Sans walked around, listening to the only audible noise around them; lava. The magma bubble along far below in Hotland. He and Frisk had told no one about them going back into The Underground. And now… There they were, off to find the other half of the RESET button Sans ad grown to fear and hate with every fiber of magic within his soul. “ how’s the mold on ya kiddo? to tight or loose? uncomfortable?” Frisk showed them their bright crimson soul which had a red mold around it, in order to blend in. It blended in against them so much, that it was hard to tell there was a small piece of their soul broken up and put into the mold. They gave him a thumbs up before stopping. “ huh?"

Frisk put a hand to their chin and squinted, thinking hard-though they always squinted, “ … When I broke the RESET button… had Flowey put the other half in a hidden place so I wouldn't reset again. But… I don’t know where he’d put it.”

Sans’ pupils lazily rolled to the side, “ i might have a hunch…"

Once teleported, Frisk looked around the bountiful hidden room of small waterfalls pouring down from the walls, the overgrowth of plant life, and the various rocks and statues all about. “ Woaaaah! I never even fund this in my fifty runs! Or well, thirty-seven runs!”

Sans seemed to twitch involuntarily, “ what do you mean fifty?”

“ O-Oh… Uhm… I-I kinda… Went through The Underground fifty times?” The fussed with their hands, lowering their head down in shame. “ B-But it was for a good reason!” They bounced up, “ I was trying to help Flowey! T-Try to help him feel positive again. T-To feel love.”

“ ….. your sure are an angel kiddo. though, one things kinda bugs me… what happen to the thirteen runs?”

“ …..” Frisk remained silent before approaching the skeleton, lifting up his shirt and pointing to a scar faded away on his rib cage. Sans quickly took a step back, “ I didn’t do it. I’d never hurt anyone. No-Not even in self defense… That wasn’t me. It was… Someone…. Someone else.”

He looked at their face, which looked like they were about to break down and cry again. He could clearly tell they were telling the truth. Somehow… Someway… Frisk didn’t harm anyone. “ it's okay kiddo… i believe ya.”

Frisk smiled, whipping a stray tear away, glad that he understood, if not fully. The two kept searching the hidden garden, which Frisk had question multiple times. The only answer from their normally cheery dunkle was something about how Frisk never even found this area. Frisk was also surprised and shocked as Sans mentioned once they reset again, he wouldn’t hold it against them… Making the child wonder just why the skeleton was helping n the first place. Finally the two took a small break, Sans sighing, watching the child look worried. " hey, turn that frown upside-down kiddo... her, i've got a story to make ya feel better"

" a long time ago, a fluffy bunny fell into a hole. injured by its fall, the fluffy bunny called out for help. a young snake, the king's son, heard the fluffy bunny's call. the snake prince brought the fluffy bunny back to the castle. over time, the snake prince and the fluffy bunny became like siblings. the king and queen snake treated the fluffy bunny as their own, showing that the snakes had become omnivores. the snakes underground were full of hope to change over new leaves. then... one day... the fluffy bunny became ill. the fluffy bunny told them that it needed carrot medicine. the carrot medicine was over in the rabbit village. but no snake dared to go there since no rabbit would reason with them. the next day. the next day... the snake prince helped the fluffy bunny sneak out. the fluffy bunny told him the directions. so, the snake prince pulled along the Fluffy Bunny in a small sled. With the Fluffy Bunny, the Snake Prince crossed through the threshold of the snake kingdom. he carried the fluffy bunny into the sunset. back to the village of the rabbits. the snake prince reached the center of the village. there, he found a bed of carrots used for the medicine. he gave the carrots to the fluffy bunny. suddenly, screams rang out. the rabbits saw the snake prince holding up the fluffy bunny. they thought that he was going to eat the fluffy bunny. the rabbits attacked him with everything they had. he was struck with blow after blow. the snake prince had the power to gobble them all up. but... the snake prince did not fight back. clutching the fluffy bunny one last time... he smiled, and slithered away. wounded, the snake prince stumbled home. he entered the castle and collapsed. his parents rushed to his aid. the kingdom fell into despair. the king and queen thought they lost one child, and were about to lose another. the fluffy bunny soon became better and ran off once again. the fluffy bunny decided it was time to end both village's suffering. the fluffy bunny returned to the castle, fully healed. the fluffy bunny helped the snake prince recover like he had. they decided it wasn't long now. the fluffy bunny and snake prince joined forces. they gave the villages hope. they gave them the opportunity to live side by side. with that, the fluffy bunny and snake prince smiled. ' aren't you excited?' asks the snake prince. 'aren't you happy?' asks the fluffy bunny. 'we're going to be free.' they both say..."

" You really know that story by heart huh?"

" hehehe... yeah... it always gives me a bit of hope... shame things turned out differently than they do in a book." He said, leading Frisk to his old sitting spot, putting their backs against the chilly and mossy statue near the middle part of the room’s edge of water. Frisk jumped up, startled by something they had sat on by accident.
But low and behold… There it was… The other half f the RESET button. Sans watched them take a hold of it and combines it to their own half, letting an orange glow fill it up, levitating there with amber radiance. Frisk took hold of the sides and closed their eyes. Sans didn’t question a thing, letting them concentrate, wondering if this is how they reset. Until his pupils locked onto some words being sketched in and out until… The RESET button read out, ‘ TRUE RESET’.

Frisk flopped onto the old wild grass panting. “ Whew, I haven't used so much determination in such a long time.”

Sans smiled brightly, placing a hand on their shoulder, “ hehehe, you did great kiddo. now, just get some breath back and… i guess i’ll meet ya there.” He winked to them. Frisk then propelled themselves forward, giving the skeleton a tight hug. “ hehehe… aww, kid… stop… you’re gonna’ make me start crying. and trust me, you don’t want that. i get all snuffly and gross, and-“ He stopped, confusing the child, letting fear seep into them.

They turned around quickly, fearing Flowey was there. But instead saw the grey monster like teen or child with no arms, standing there, staring at them both. “ …… We told you to forget about us. You told us you’d never reset again. We always remember…..”

Sans groaned, “ yeah, yeah, yeah, we are one, we are legion… tell the old man to back off this once, okay?” Frisk’s mind ran about, now adding this puzzling information as to who Sans was referring to and that he could see them as well.

“ These things do not concern you… I must warn ‘HIM’…” The reptile swerved around to either run off into the caverns or glitch out into another reality. But before she could, Sans teleported right behind them, tackling the other monster down. With a yelp from falling the gray monster began to take in a deep breath, “ G-“ Sans covered their mouth, looking over to Frisk.

“ F R I S K! N O W! H U R R Y!” Sans screamed out, scaring the small child. Frisk could start to see the other three figures forming from the air nearby. They quickly held up the RESET button which began to glow a brighter orange until, white took over and lit up the entire room, engulfing it fully with the rest of the word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frisk opened their eyes-or at least how much they could slowly, seeing a bright light singing down upon them. Flower petals brushed up against their skin as they sat up an looked about the oddly dark room. They gasped and patted themselves down before sighing in relief and checking their soul. Sure enough, the mold was still latched onto it, as well as the mold’s 4% of soul. They smiled in a warm manner as they admired it. They figured once they got to a save point, their own soul should heal them up. But for now, they’d have to deal with 19 out of 20 health points.

However… A chilling cold breeze flushed by them, making the child quickly put their soul back inside before turning around to see pixles and matter forming in the air behind them. All until the blob of tar with a ghastly grinning skull was formed from the emptiness of space. “ … Human… You are very lucky I am sparing you right now… Helping you not land onto that damned and cursed grave… I just saved you from being possessed again. But pray tell… Why did you RESET?!” It gargled out with a mix of ear piercing screeches of gibberish. Frisk held their ears for a moment.

“ I’ve come back to save my brother.”

The gaggle of sludge laughed manically, “ Ohhh… Like the other thirty-seven times… You amuse me Human… Ekekekeke… Did you forget our little ‘arrangement’?”
“ Oh, you mean the one about if I reset and you aren’t there to help land me down softly on the grave, that I’d be possessed and kill everyone?” Frisk asked smugly, earning a silent glare from the anomaly.

“ ….. I meant as in no more resets, but since you brought THAT up… I guess so… Maybe I shouldn’t have given you the RESET power if you’re just going to abuse it… What a horrible experiment you are.”

“ Thank you. Now, look, I’m doing my own experiment, so could you please shoo?” Frisk moved their fingers to signal the odd monster away.

“ Fine, fine…So be it..” He slithered to the side, letting Frisk walk by, only to stop them halfway down the corridor. “ Oh, and Human.” They turned their head back to catch a glimpse of the monster behind their striped shoulder. “ YoU WiLl NeVeR SaVe HiM…….” It grinned madly before breaking away into time and space. Frisk waited before it was completely gone and stuck out their tongue.

After they walked under the purple arc, there they saw him… Waiting for them. They took in a deep breath before walking to the lone gold flower with a cartoonish smile plastered on his face. “ Howdy! I’m Flowey! Flowey The Flower~!”

Chapter Text

Once Frisk was done seeing their sugarcoat of a mother good bye as she to care of the bed of flowers in The Ruins, they braved out the stone doors which slammed shut behind them. A chilling frost of cold air blew into their face, making them rub their sleeves. The tiny red bow in their had wasn’t the best for warming themselves up. The small child eagerly looked to a snow encrusted bush, noticing a small glint in the leaves. They smiled and got out of their chilly stupor to pose for it, clicking their tongue and pointing their fingers to the camera. They could have sworn they heard a loud squeal from miles and miles away. Waving a piece of brown hair out of their way they grinned, knowing they had gotten the nerdy lizard’s attention.

Soon they started walking down the trail of lighter snow, enormous trees lingering over on the sides. All up until they saw a large branch poking out from the snowy ground. They were never able to pull that thing free. So thy shrugged and tugged at it, but alas getting nowhere. Frisk also had to act like this was their first run to avoid and suspicion of the flower and skeleton. They let go of the ice of wood and continued their way, hearing a sudden snap and crackle from behind. Frisk turned around to see the branch in pieces, torn apart as if it was a piece of soil. They gulped and took in a deep breath. No matter how many times they had done this, this part always got to them… Especially when they heard the sudden shuffling noises from behind, making look back from paranoia to find their normal environment not being disrupted.

At the small point of the bridge, Frisk stopped like always, hearing the heavy and ragged shuffling noise get close and closer as they pretended to be stuck at the gate… Or rater being so terrified, they’d be too frozen to budge. The wood underneath them creaked as someone else walked onto the wood. The shuddered, feeling a cold tingly sensation worm it’s way down their spine.

“ H U M A N. D O N' T Y O U K N O W H O W T O G R E E T A N E W P A L?” A deep husky voice asked from behind, filling their arms with goose-bumps. “ T U R N A R O U N D A N D S H A K E M Y H A N D...“ After the ominous voice told them that, Frisk turned around slowly with their eyes shut tightly, there and quivering as it stretched out away from their body. Their hand soon met the cold touch of bone and something rubbery… A loud splatter of wind spewed out from both of the palms, letting Frisk open their eyes-as much they could to see their dunkle pull away with a whoopee-cushion in his palm. “ hehehe... the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. it's A L W A Y S funny. anyways, you're a human, right?” His old cheeky grin grew upon his face, making the child’s heart warm up. “ that's hilarious. i'm sans. sans the skeleton.”

The human bowed their head, smiling up to him, “ Hello, Mister Sans, I’m Frisk.” They continued to play along.

“ nice to meet cha’. ya see, i'm actually supposed to be on watch for humans right now. but... y'know... I don't really care about capturing anybody. now my brother, papyrus... he's a human-hunting F A N A T I C.” He grinned as his pupils darted up to look behind the human. “ hey, actually, i think that's him over there. i have an idea. go through this gate thingy. yeah, go right through. my bro made the bars too wide to stop anyone.” Frisk followed through his instructions as their dunkle scouted the area. “ quick, behind that contently-shaped lamp.” Frisk dashed over to hide behind the oddly shaped lamp… Which looking at it right now, was indeed lovely. Then came the familiar crunching of snow. Peeking out a bit, they watched as one of their best friends stomped over. All while Sans lazily looked over,” sup, bro?”

“ YOU KNOW WHAT 'SUP', BROTHER! IT'S BEEN EIGHT DAYS AND YOU STILL HAVEN'T... RECALIBRATED. YOUR! PUZZLES! YOU JUST HAND AROUND OUTSIDE YOUR STATION! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING?!” Papyrus yelled out, making Frisk hold a laugh back. They always found it hilarious how much Sans would tease his brother, and how Papyrus acted when upset… But not to upset or angry.

“ staring at this lamp. it's really cool. do you wanna' look?” Sans’ gaze went to the purple lamp before Papyrus’ red boots stamped into the snow, crushing the ice even more.

“ NO! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT! WHAT IF A HUMAN COMES THROUGH HERE?! I WANT TO BE READY! I WILL BE THE ONE! I MUST BE THE ONE! I WILL CAPTURE A HUMAN!” He posed, letting a sudden gust of wind pick up and carry his crimson scarf to wave around as he put a gloved and to his hollowed chest of armor. “ THEN, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS...WILL GET ALL THE THINGS I UTTERLY DESERVE! RESPECT... RECOGNITION... OTHER THINGS THAT START WITH AN 'R'! I WILL FINALLY BE ABLE TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD! PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY… 'FRIEND?' I WILL BATH IN A SHOWER OF KISSES EVERY MORNING.” Frisk concealed a smile, they had always felt bad for the poor skeleton. They knew what it was like to not have a friend for what seemed like the longest time… In fact, Papyrus was actually their first friend from so many resets ago.

“ hmm... maybe this lamp will help you...”

The red boots slammed into the ice again, “ SANS! YOU ARE NOT HELPING! YOU LAZYBONES! ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE! YOU GET LAZIER AND LAZIER EVERY DAY!” Frisk knew that reason fr to well.

“ hey, take it easy. i've gotten a ton of work done today. a skele-ton.” He winked to his taller brother who screeched out.

“ SANS!” A smile contorted into his skull.

“ come on, you're smiling.” Sans grinned more, making his younger brother flail about.

“ I AM AND I HATE IT!” He then took in some cold air in, to sigh. “ WHY DOES SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME... HAVE TO DO SO MUCH TO GET SOME RECOGNITION...?”

“ wow, sounds like you're really working yourself...” He received a sudden glare from the taller skeleton.

“ DON’T YOU DARE…”

Sans held his smirk for a moment, letting the wind rustle by, “ …. down to the bone.” He winked, shrugging and chuckling to himself

“ UGGGGH! I WILL ATTEND TO MY PUZZLES... AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, 'BACKBONE' INTO IT! NYEHEHEHEHEHE!” Papyrus tried to mock him or get back at the cheeky brother as best he could before running off, only to run back over. “ HEH!”

After he ran off again, getting a small chuckle from Sans, and a fit of laughter from Frisk, the blue sweatered skeleton looked over, a little happy someone else had enjoyed their little tangent “ ok, you can come out now.” Frisk hopped out from behind the lamp and walked over to him. “ you oughta' get going. he might come back. and if he does... you'll have to sit through more of my hilarious jokes.”He said, waiting for them to move on… But they just stood there, not smiling anymore, looking rather worried. “ what's the holdup? look, there's nothin' to be afraid of. it's just a dark cavern filled with skeletons and horrible monsters. well?” Sans was starting to sense something off about this child once they didn’t leave, but instead got closer, making him tilt his skull and get a better look at them.

“ ... wait a second. that look on your face while i was talking... you've already heard my spiel, haven't you?” He sighed lightly, “ i suspected something like this. you seemed kinda like how you know what was gonna' happen. like you've seen it all before. so... if what i think is true, tell me my special codeword, that only i know. so i know if someone tells it to me... they'll have to be a time traveler. crazy right-“

The small child cut off his sentence, “ I got it.”

Sans was slightly taken aback inside, but he still wore his smile, “ ... huh? what? you got the codeword? oh really?” Frisk got up on their toes to whisper to the side of his skull. “ did you... just say ' i'm a stupid doodoo butt'? hehehe, wow. i can't believe you would say that. not only is that completely infantile... but it's also my secret codeword. that, however, isn't good enough. what you need is the 'secret, secret codeword'. it's only for people that know the secret codewor-“

“ Yeah I got that too.”

“ … hehehe, your serious huh? you know that one too huh? oh really, then what is it?” Again another whisper was let out. ” did you really... just say 'i'm the legendary fartmaster'? wow. that's... uh... really childish. why would you think that was my 'secret, secret, codeword'? whoever told you that is a dirty liar. i don't have a 'secret, secret codeword'. however... i do have a secret-secret- triple-secret codeword, which you hadn't said. so your obviously lying to me-“

“ Gaster fell into The Core...”

Sans froze up, he was DEFIANTLY not expecting that. His pupils hid in his eye-sockets before he slowly turned his skull to the child who seemed to put on a stubborn yet sad face. “ …w-what… how would you...“

Frisk sighed, “ Because you told me before in the future.. Or I guess technically the past… Maybe in another time-line. I didn’t really get what you were going at and didn’t understand what it meant, but you told me if all else fails since you’re stubborn to work with me, that that would seal the deal. I’m just going to say it now but Sans… I’ve seen this all before. I’ve done this many times, but not out of spite. I never hurt anyone. In fact we lived on The Surface as a family for almost half a year. But… I had to come back… I have to save someone who I could never save before.”

Sans took n a deep breath from all the sudden news hitting him. “ so… all because of O N E monster… i have to relive this yet again and nobody will go free…? hehehe, not to be insulting but… is one monster really worth all of this?” He asked, rather cynically… Until he noticed something he couldn’t stay mad at… Frisk was broken into tears, dropping their knees into the cold floor.

“ I-I just want everyone to be happy! They deserve to be happy too! They’ve done so much and went through so much! It’s not fair for them to stay down here all alone and cry for no one to help them! They means so much to me… L-Like a sibling… You know how that feels right?! I know that you only cling on because of Papyrus! W-Would you let everyone go, including yourself if it meant leaving him behind?”

As cynical as Sans could get… He couldn’t bring himself to yell at a tiny child… Especially since it reminded him of someone who tried so hard to strive to the best with the harshness of life beating them into submission. He was at a loss of words for once… “ … if it never worked before, why would it be any different?”
And that’s when Sans was fully shaken up. Frisk got up sniffling, showing their bright red soul to him. However, they seemed to pluck something off of it to reveal a small perchance of their soul in some type of soul shaped mold, while their actual soul was full and healed. “ Alphys in another time helped me. The one I’m looking for is filled with a lot of determination. So much, that it’s more than any normal person could have. Apparently this mold grows with determination. The only determination that could equal it was me, because my own grew with this journey. Except… If we’re to make a monster soul, it needs t be placed with a monster’s soul to replicate it.”

“ wait, so your friend doesn’t even have a soul?”

“ … More or less, but if I tell you, you won’t wanna’ help me. And if you don’t help me… I’m not so sure I could stay determined to free you all again and live up on The Surface… I’m at my wits end… You know what that’s like don’t you?” They gave him a weary and almost defeated look, making the skeleton rub his skull, sighing.

“ … yeah, yeah i do. so… what your saying is… you need a monster to hold onto that mold soul thing… and it will copy a monster’s soul by getting determination… but you need a monster willing and determine enough to go on a crazy adventure with you?”

“ Yeah… A-And you volunteered…”

“ … gonna’ be honest… if ever meet that other me… i’m either going to kick is ass or thank him… well, seems like you’ve got nothing to lose… B U T… how do i know you didn’t hurt anyone?”

Frisk was able to drag the sentry to The Ruins' door, knocking on it, signaling what they had worked on with their small friends on the other side since Toriel wouldn’t understand or listen. “ Hey guys, it’s Frisk! I got the guy whose gonna’ help us!”

Before Sans could ask if Frisk was telling the monsters in The Ruins to talk to him by threatening them, he was shocked to receive a number of voices that sounded so hopeful and happy. Like how Asgore had announced certain things in the past. “ Ribbit, ribbit~!”

“ Yeah, yeah! I never liked anyone till they came around, they danced with me and talked t me!” Chirped a Migosp.

“ They didn’t pick on me, even when I tried to pick on them! They also helped wash something out from my eye! Their cool with me!” That sounded like a Loox.

“ Their a healthy eater and didn't even mistake me for a vegetable!” Shouted out a Vegatoid, accompanied along with tiny spider squeaks and bubbling from some Moldsmals.

But what really caught Sans off guard was a meek voice… “ T-T-They tried to t-talk to me and play. B-But I ran off because I was scared. B-But they never once chased after m-me~…” A FRIGGEN WHIMSUN SPOKE! The monsters beyond the heavy door cheered out and laughed, making Sans look to Frisk who wore a small smile.

He couldn’t help but sigh and wish the monsters luck, as he left he heard Frisk say their goodbyes before running up to his side with a huge grin to compare with his own. “ ….. jeez kid… okay, yes, you've proved yourself. but-“

Frisk jumped in front of him with puffed up cheeks, spreading out their arms and hands with the look of determination or just huffiness. “ I made them a promise! A pink promise! I-I can’t break that! Would you break someone’s pinky promise?!” Sans stepped back, again another emotional blow struck him to the core. “ Why are you so stubborn?! What is there t be afraid of?! Because you think I’ll reset?! I don’t want to reset anymore! Even though I have the power, I have to go through all of this over and over just like you! Except, I remember… I have to see everyone’s faces. I have to help so many people every time! I-I… I just want them to be happy… I have to see them be sad and depressed over and over… It hurts. You know how that feels…”

A long sigh came from Sans, “ you’re killin’ me kid, you’re killin’ me….. i was going to go with you on this… but I just wanted to say… i see your LV and EXP, and lemme’ tell ya… that’s a mighty fine zero.” He winked to them, soon he found himself being propelled back a tad by a crashing hug. He intensely started regretting everything until he felt something brush up against his soul. Frisk stepped back letting the mold envelope with Sans’. It hummed out, giving t skeleton anew feeling and warm sensation… He felt… determined.

As the two started on their way, Sans felt rather… Nostalgic. I felt like he was playing on of Alphys’ old LARP games, but this time, he could actually make a difference, and maybe. Just maybe, he could finally help someone who could be there for him to lean on, other than just Papyrus. Speaking of which… He spoke up, “ hey... if i'm going through with this, which i didn't ask for exactly. but can you do me a favor? i was thinking... my brother's been kind of down lately... he's never seen a human before. and seeing you might just make his day. don't worry, he's not dangerous. even if he tries to be, or maybe you know that already. thanks a million.”

Frisk nodded with a cheerful smile, but ran off behind his station to wave at something. That was odd, he could of swore he heard Alphy’s shrill fan-girl squeal from here. Frisk ran back over, only to look over their shoulder. This made the skeleton skeptical, swerving is head a swell. The two caught a faint glimpse of something near The Ruin’s door… But it moved to fast to actually get a good look. They then ran into something Sans never saw before. A glowing and twinkling star like object floating in the air. “ uhhh, kid… you sure this mold thing wasn’t drugged?”

“ Pttth! You're so silly! This is a save point! I can’t save willy-nilly! But these points regain your health, save if you die, so you can wake up here but most of all fill you with determination! These are going to be very important to us.” The explained as they poked the yellow glowing star. Seeming unharmed by it, and it actually healing up a small burned singe on them. So Sans reached out getting a zap… that oddly felt nice… It shined out with a mythical voice.

~The convince of that lamp still fills you with… DETERMINATION~

As Sans was baffled as hell by the save point Frisk read the sign nearby, fussing with a red and brown box. They stuffed a large jar, their ribbon, and-Was that a knife? “ whoa, okay hold it kiddo!” A blue field of magic engulfed the child, bringing them over to Sans. Frisk blinked as they were levitated over. “ what’s with the knife…?” Frisk looked down to their hands and proceeded to push the blade into their pal, gaining a startled noise from Sans until… It bent over… The child smiled waggling the rubber end of the ‘knife’.

“ I never use it, but it’s good to sell for later. That’s why I was putting it away. I just kinda found it was all.” They said as they stuffed their hands into a pocket, pulling out some gloves they had gotten from the box and put them on. “ There we go! Now I don’t feel so chilly~!” Sans’ eye twitched once, involuntarily before putting the child down who ran back to the box putting the toy knife away.

“ you’re killin’ me over here kid, you’re killin’ me…”

The two arrived at the lazy yet dangerous river, Frisk pulled in the stuck fishing pole, reeling into get a photo off an odd and ugly monster with a number written on the back of it. Sans’ raised a non-existent brow before putting the line back out. “ do you normally wander about? i thought you knew what happens.”
“ Yeah, but you have to take time to appreciate the little things.”

They soon walked away leaving Sans rather… Baffled… That was until they spotted the taller skeleton’s back to them while Papyrus looked both ways to his side. Frisk nodded over to Sans who grinned, for once he actually rather happy, knowing the human was up to the task to excite his brother's duty. He walked to his side, smiling wide. As soon as Papyrus looked over, he was met with Sans’ permanent grin and nearly fell over, “ AHH! SANS! YOU KNOW I HATE WHEN YOU DO THAT! URGH… ANYWAYS, I NEVER GOT TO FINISH UP MY STORY FROM EARLIER…SO, AS I WAS SAYING ABOUT UNDYNE-“ He turned around to start looking about and keeping up the story, only to get a view of Frisk who tilted their head. “ SANS! OH MY GOD! IS THAT... A HUMAN?!”

Sans squinted as Frisk tried their best not to giggle out. The always did enjoy Papyrus’ and Sans’ antics, making Snowdin one of their favorite places. “ uhh... actually, i think that's a rock.” He pointed to a rock behind Frisk.

“ OH...”

“ hey, what's that in front of the rock?”

“ OH MY GOD!” e leaned down is tall stature to Sans, putting up a red glove and whispering… Or as best as e could whisper. “ IS THAT A HUMAN?”

“ yes.” His shorter brother relied, mimicking Papyrus.

Papyrus then gasped and jumped up, “ OH MY GOD! SANS! I FINALLY DID IT! UNDYNE WILL-I'M GONNA'-I'LL BE SO-POPULAR, POPULAR, POPULAR! ….. AHERM... HUMAN! YOU SHALL NOT PASS THIS AREA! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL STOP YOU! I WILL THEN CAPTURE YOU! YOU WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CAPITAL! THEN-THEN! I'M NOT SURE WHAT'S NEXT. IN ANY CASE! CONTINUE... ONLY IF YOU DARE! NYEHEHEHE!” With that, the younger skeleton ran off laughing.
Frisk walked over snickering, “ well, that went well. don't sweat it kid. i'll keep an eye socket out for ya ... for the most part.”

As they made their way… SNOWDRAKE FLUTTERED FORTH! Sending them both into battle, Frisk poked Sans to look at something. Just then did Sans see his health. It was… 2/2?! “ uhhh, that can’t be right… I only have one health.”

“ I think it might be the determination?”

While the two were boggled with the sudden increase of Sans’ condition, Snowy spoke up, “ Ice puns are ‘snow’ problem!” Summoning crescent shaped ice shards, he flicked is wing, firing them to mainly Frisk with one going off course and gong to Sans. Both dodged them with ease, as Snowy smiled at his own bad joke. However… His response was a tilt of the head from Frisk who didn’t hear it because they were to captivated by Sans’ health going up. Sans walk over to the fowl and smiled.
“ pst, buddy…” He leaned over whispering something, getting the bird gasp out and smile with its new ‘cool’ joke. “ remember… just strike up a ‘cool’ conversation.”
Snowy waddled up to Frisk, ceasing his attacks,” U-Uhm… It’s ‘ice’ to meet you, and good to ‘snow’ ya.”

Frisk blinked blankly before smiling to the bird and clapping along with some laughter.

The frosted drake smiled slightly, before realizing its own name was a pun. “ See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong! I’m going to start to ‘snow-flake’ up some more jokes!” Again the child giggled, along with Sans, making the chilly bird’s eyes grow big from the sudden exception of his jokes. “ You guys have good tastes! In jokes~! Sorry for getting in your ‘sleigh’. I’m Snowy.”

“ so kid, why ya’ all the way out here?”

“ I-I ran away from home. W-Why? 'Cause my father was so 'cold' to me... But I don't care if he doesn't like my jokes!” Frisk sighed silently before giving the fowl a soft warm hug, letting him whine and let out his feelings.

Sans patted his feathered shoulder, “ it’s gonna’ be okay kid.”

The two soon departed from Snowy after calming him down a bit and giving him a hotdog from Sans’ station. Frisk had told their new partner that there was nothing to do for the moment, but it would eventually get better. Frisk stopped to look over at a hand-crafted sentry station made from cardboard boxes, with crayons written on a letter, taped-or rather some frozen taped onto it. They read it out, imitating Papyrus as best they could, “ YOU OBSERVE THE WELL-CRAFTED SENTRY STATION. WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER... I BET IT WAS THAT VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN! NOTE: NOT YET A VERY FAMOUS ROYAL GUARDSMAN.”
As Sans burst out into a fit of laughter, the child roamed around t the back to wave at a hidden camera. Sans’ laughs were soon cut by a shrill squeal from somewhere… “ huh… thought I heard something… oh well, let’s keep snow-plowing kiddo.” The nodded, following right beside until they both reached a sign that said ‘ No Moving’. “ ahhh… snowdin's canine unit… this’ll be good, i haven't talked to ‘em in a while.”

As Sans thought about how to tease Doggo today, Frisk had already moved to the station, making the husky slowly rise up from behind the stations’ view. “ Did something move? Was it my imagination? I can only see moving things. If something WAS moving... For example, a human... I'll make sure it NEVER moves again!” As Frisk remained still, Sans started to come to their side, making Doggo’s paranoia get the better of him. “ AHA!” Doggo quickly swung his blade, shooting out a blue magical slash out, sweeping past Frisk and heading to the skeleton. Sans froze up, letting it go by him.

“ whoa! doggo what the hell man?!”

“ Huh? Sans?! Oh crap! Sorry! I thought I saw something else besides your friggen’ blue sweater! I coulda’ swore I saw something else!” Doggo hopped out from his station looking around. Now was Frisk’s chance, the husky leaving himself wide open. They reached out ominously and… Pet him! The pets and scratches made Doggo's black and white fur poof up against is pink shirt. “ WHAT?! I'VE BEEN PET?! PET, PET, PET, PAT, WAN, PET, PET, POT, PET, PET?!” He quickly looked about to try and pinpoint the anomaly, only to sense Sans’ magic nearby but not next to him. The human smile and pet his soft fur again, “ WHERE'S THAT COMING FROM?! THERE'S NO END TO IT!” He quickly yelped, panicking from the nothingness petting him. Jumping back into his station he shuddered, yet his curled tail wagged happily. “ S-S-S-Something pet me... Something that isn't m-m-moving... I'm gonna' need some dog treats for this!” He shouted, slowly lowering back into his spot, having a small conniption.

Frisk moved on while Sans walked over and grinned, ringing the bell of the station and then not moving. Doggo; too confused to sense his magic, darted his eyes around, “ Hello? Is anybody there...? No?” Sans quickly rung it again when the canine’s head was turned. “ Are you two playing a trick on me?! Real funny!” Ring “ Big guy? Is that you? Come on...” Ring, “ Well, it's not the tall skeleton... He's too loud.” Ring, “ Whoever you are, knock it off!” Finally he was able to lower himself into the safety of his warmed station. Sans received a furious wave from the child who picked up a smoked dog treat and threatened to fling it at him.

“ Did you really hafta’ mess with him?”

“ kid… please, let me have this.” They rolled their eyes, shaking their head, yet had a smile on their face. “ hey so, here's something important to remember although, you probably already knew it… buuuut, my brother has a very 'special attack'. if you see a 'blue attack', don't move and it won't hurt you, course you already know that. here's an easy way to keep in mind. imagine a stop sign. when you see a stop sign, you 'stop', right? stop signs are 'red'. so imagine a 'blue' stop sign instead. simple, right? when fighting, think about yellow stop signs.” Frisk swerved heir head to the cheeky skeleton and puffed up their cheeks in slight annoyance. Sans’ grin grew an inch, before waving his fingers about, “ remember... blue stop signs~.” As they got to a crossroad of ice Sans shrugged, “ welp… north is ice, south is ice, west is ice, east is snowdin... and ice. so let’s get goi-“ He paused as the child immediately turned to their left and went to the upper path. At first Sans thought it was just another detour much like the fishing pole… Only for his eyes to come across a snowman out by a cliff looking over the forests below. It turned it’s frozen body to see Frisk.

“ Oh… Hello. I am a snowman. I want to see the world...” The sentient pile of snow turned around to look at everything out his reach. “ But I cannot move. If you would be so kind, traveler, please... Take a piece of me and bring it very far away-Huh? Odd, you look familiar…” The snowman said as it turned around giving Frisk a lump of itself. Sans remained silent and looked away before walking off. “ Hm… Well, thank you... And good luck!” The frozen monster wished their blessings to the striped child who nodded and ran after the skeleton.

Chapter Text

Frisk walked into a small clearing where the two skeleton brothers stood, obviously in a conversation of sorts, “i forgot, but did i miss anything this morning?”

“ YOU'RE SO LAZY! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!”

“ i think that's called... sleeping.”

Papyrus waggled a gloved finger as he crossed his bony frame arms, “EXCUSES, EXCUSES-“ His beady eye sockets happen to see Frisk nearby, waiting patiently at the other end of the small patched in snow. “ OH-HO! THE HUMAN ARRIVES! IN ORDER TO STOP YOU... MY BROTHER AND I HAVE CREATED SOME PUZZLES! I THINK YOU WILL FIND THIS ONE... QUITE SHOCKING!” He smiled deviously, rubbing his mitten like gloves together. “ FOR YOU SEE, THIS IS THE INVISIBLE... ELECTRICITY MAZE! WHEN YOU TOUCH THE WALLS OF THIS MAZE, THIS ORB WILL ADMINISTER A HEARTY ZAP!” He posed, showing off a small light bluish ball from under his ‘body armor’.“ SOUND LIKE FUN? BECAUSE! THE AMOUNT OF FUN YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE-IS ACTUALLY RATHER SMALL I THINK... OKAY, YOU CAN GO AHEAD NOW!”
Frisk took a single tiny step as the tall thin skeleton got zapped for a moment. Sans’ raised his invisible brows and couldn’t help but snicker to himself. He was thankful the orb wasn’t too harmful, and instead just annoying. “ SANS! WHAT DID YOU DO?!” He held the orb up and away from his head as if to think it was possessed by the fucking devil.

“ i think the human has to hold the orb.”

“ OH, OKAY.” He then dashed through t patch making heavy footprints in it before tossing the orb to the child. “ HOLD THIS PLEASE!” He requested, rushing back to his brother's side. The ball landed perfectly on Frisk’s head. Somehow the orb never seemed to drop off of them once during their runs. ” OKAY, NOW TRY!” The child merely shrugged to Sans and followed the crushed snow of footprints out of the patch and walking up to the two. “ INCREDIBLE! YOU SLIPPERY SNAIL! YOU SOLVED IT SO EASILY... TOO EASILY! HOWEVER! THE NEXT PUZZLE WILL NOT BE EASY! IT IS DESIGNED BY MY BROTHER, SANS!” He twirled around, stopping as his gloved hands gestured to the shorter brother who just smiled and waved.“ YOU WILL SURELY BE CONFOUNDED! I KNOW I AM! NYEHEHEHE-OH!WY THANK YOU!” He said, grabbing the orb Frisk held out to him after getting closer as Papyrus went on about his speech. The lanky skeleton then moon-walked out of the area, leaving the two alone.

“ hey, thanks... my brother seems like he's having fun. by the way, did you see that weird outfit he's wearing? Oh-right, you already know that old story-“ Sans was about to turn, but was suddenly stopped as Frisk tugged on his sapphire clothed sleeve with a pleading look. “ … you’re killin’ me kid, you’re killin’ me… okay, okay, we made that a few weeks ago for a costume party. he hasn't worn anything else since... keeps calling it his, 'battle body'. man... isn't my brother cool?” Frisk smiled cheerfully and nodded, skipping off down the trail. They seemed to enjoy stories… Even ones they’ve heard so many times… That was good to know, Sans thought to himself, making sure he’d jot it in a mental note.

Once Sans caught up to the happy child, he happened to overhear a familiar voice he gotten to know over the years.“ I don't understand why these aren't selling... it's the perfect weather for something cold... OH! A CUSTOMER! Hello! Would you like a Nice-cream?! It's the frozen treat that warms your heart!” The tall blue bunny had really taken a growth spurt in his early teenage years, and now here he was, doing what he wanted to do since he was young; making nice-cream.“ Huh?” His long ear flickered, letting his eyes gaze over and gather up a happy smile, “ Sans! Heya buddy!

“ hehehe, sup nice? How’s the business going?”

“ Oh, uhm well… Ehehe” He chuckled nervously, rubbing one of is thin arms, “ it’s… going. Though the only person whose bought anything in the past month has been this sweet little kid!” Frisk huddled over to Sans, handing him a Nice-Cream bar as they enjoyed their own. “ Oh, they seem to know you! Ohoho, Saaans, is there a double life you’re not telling anyone~?” He giggled out from his buckteeth, leaning his elbows on is stand.

“ pth, does this kid really look like me? sides, you’re only half my age. if i’d have had a kid, i’d have to have ‘em at least when i was younger like the old days. hehehe, but thanks kiddo.” He patted them as he took his bar.

Nice laughed out, “ Ohoho Sans! You know I just like teasin’ you! So, adopted or babysitting?”

Sans looked to Frisk, placing an elbow on their head, making them puff up their cheeks in a slight bit of irritation. “ you gotta’ be ‘kid-ding’ me. I’m obviously baby sittin' a kid from the capital. They never been here, and ya know how Japhet's neighbors ask him to watch over the tykes.”

Nice whistled, “ Boy, all the way from the city! Man, I haven't seen Burg’s brother in moths! Must e stressful living in The Big City. No wonder he called you… Or He called Burg who called you-Well, anyways have a super-duper day!” He waved to them as they said their goodbyes.

“ So that’s why Nice was at Alphy’s LARP that one time. I didn’t know you guys knew each other when you were younger.”

“ larp? holy crap, I haven't been in one of those in yeeeears… but, uh, yeah. he and paps were friends, speaking of which, they both got their growth spurts around the same time… while me and burgs…”

“ I like you just the way you are.”

“ pth, your just being a suck up. though… this is my favorite type of ice cream, how did you-… oh right. welp, wanna’ try some?”

Frisk stuck out their tongue, “ Blech! Coffee might smell nice but it taste nasty!”

“ mm, suit yourself. you probably got some weird flavor too, huh?”

“ I got cookie dough.” Frisk hummed out, not noticing the skeleton had stopped his walking with his cold treat in his teeth. A sudden rush of a memory he had buried in the vaults of his mind played back, showing his father getting him, Papyrus, and Asriel their favorite ice-creams from Muffet’s parent’s store in Hotland. He always knew Papyrus’ favorite, but he learned Asriel’s wasn’t even snail flavored, which caught him off guard. It was the simple cookie dough that he enjoyed…

“ ans….aaaaans?!” A voice called out to him before he snapped out of his trance to see a worried Frisk looking up to him, having finished their treat. “ SANS?!”

“ oh, hehehe, sorry, blanked out there for a moment. i was just thinking about the treats and…” His mind quickly searched for an escape route, “ it reminded me... that i've been thinking about selling treats too. want some fried snow? it's just 5g.”

“ O-Oh.. Uhm, sure.”

“ did i say 5g? i meant 50g.”

“ Okay.”

“ really? how about 5000g?”

“ Fine.”

“ 50000g. that's my final offer.” They gave him their upsety-spaghetty face, folding their arms. “ what? you don't have the money? hey, it's okay. i don't have any snow.” He chuckled with them. As Sans was finishing up his treat, he watched the small human run around with a snowball. He remembered Aphys and Undyne had made this game as kids to piss off Jerry and his gang. But now, it was just another memory left over time.

Frisk ran over to him as he headed up north to another detour, considering the kid liked small things. “ Bravery. Justice. Integrity. Kindness. Perseverance. Patience. Using those, I was able to win at ‘Ball Game~!"

“ wow, that’s really good kiddo. good on ya. ah, yes, and here we have the wonderful, 'his' and 'hers'.”

“ Smell danger rating. Snow Smell - Snowman white, can become 'yellow'. Unsuspicious Smell - Puppy 'blue', smell of rolling around. Weird Smell - Humans 'green' destroy at all costs… Sans why is green red?” Frisk asked after reading out the sign.

“ their colorblind, but no one wants to tell them.”

As they went back to their normal path Frisk hopped over to a single snowball, “ It looks like a snowball... But it's actually, it's a snowecahedron.”

“ whoof, jeez kid, where’d you learn that from?”

“ … A friend told me when I was visiting.” His eye twitched slightly. He remembered that pile of snow had always been there as long as he could remember. When him and his friends were playing the golfing game, one of them asked Alphys why the snowball was stuck there. She then told the group that it was stuck due to some permafrost and it wasn’t actually a snowball… But how did Frisk learn this…? Maybe the time before they reset, they wandered down her wit Alphys… Speaking of which, a sound cracked through the air sounding like her as Frisk gave a little blowing kiss to a camera nearby it.

“ there he is again. be right back.” Sans chuckled as he made his way over to his brother , dropping a piece of paper along the way, waving to him.

“ THERE YOU ARE SANS! WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING OFF TO GO SLEEP- AHA! HUMAN! I HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR...” He began to trail off, his eyes darting around.” SANS, WHERE'S THE PUZZLE?”

Sans pointed to the paper.“ it's right there. on the ground. trust me. there's no way they can get past this one.” He nudged the other with his elbow. Frisk grabbed it and took a good hard look at the Junior Jumble to remember where each word was so that they could circle them for later. Then came that large gibberish word with one misspelled letter. This bit their lip gently, walking up to the two, putting a finger up like a student would for a teacher, about to ask something.

“ SANS! THAT DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!” Papyrus threw his arms out.

“whoops... i knew i should have used today's crossword instead.”

“ WHAT?!” The thin skeleton’s jaw looked like it would have unhinged and dropped into the snow.“ CROSSWORD?! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT! IN MY OPINION... JUNIOR JUMBLE IS EASILY THE HARDEST.”

The shorter monster snickered, “ what? really, dude? that easy-peasy word scramble? that's for baby bones.”

“ UN... BELIEVABLE... HUMAN! SOLVE THIS DISPUTE!”

The human blinked from the sudden bursts of conversation… They had just walked over to ask for a crayon and why one word was messed up, like they had on previous runs. “ Jumble.”

“ NYEHA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT! IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT! NYEHEHEHE!” Papyrus jumped up with a great deal of enthusiasm before booking it.

“ thanks for saying 'junior jumble' just to appease my brother. yesterday he got stumped trying to 'solve' his horoscope.” Frisk couldn’t help but put their hands up to their lips to suppress a giggle.

After Papyrus’ goofy antics, they came across two tables, one with an unplugged microwave which had all of the settings say spaghetti, while a plate of spaghetti was frozen and stuck to the other table. Frisk picked up the note set by the plate, imitating the ‘Great Papyrus’ again, while Sans got a kick out of it. “ HUMAN! PLEASE ENJOY THIS SPAGHETTI. LITTLE DO YOU KNOW, THIS SPAGHETTI IS A TRAP... DESIGNED TO ENTICE YOU! YOU'LL BE SO EASY EATING IT... THAT YOU WON'T REALIZE THAT YOU AREN'T PROGRESSING! THOROUGHLY JAPED AGAIN BY THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEHEHEHE, PAPYRUS”

Sans shook his skull chuckling, “ alright kiddo, let’s save… kiddo?” He peered over his shoulder to find Frisk’s tongue stuck to the frozen plate. “ ptttth… okay hold on.” He teleported away in a blue veil of smoke, to return the same way with a cup full of lukewarm water. He handed to Frisk who poured it, letting their tongue snap away from the meal. “ you normally do that?”

“ Mrmmm!” The rubbed their cheeks like a hamster would, “Nnnno. But with you by my side, I always wanted to try it, but I was scared I might get stuck. Thank you.” Sans averted his eyes, a small bit of blue magic flushing his cheekbones from the compliment. An honest thank you… He hadn't gotten one of those asides from his brother in a while.

“ heh… yeah, no problem. c’mon let’s save.” His usual grin replaced his nervous smile, winking to the human. Both touched the bright star.
~ Knowing the mouse might one day find a way to heat up the spaghetti. it fills you with… DETERMINATION~

It wasn’t long until trouble brewed… Or well a narcissistic monster saw them. An Ice Cape strutted over to them, “ I just loooove my hat, okay?” Sans gave a thumbs up, complimenting the hat, only for the short stubby snow like monster to turn its head dismissively, letting it’s icicle like hate shine. “ DUH! Who DOESN'T know?”Sans felt his smile falter a tad, while Frisk simply ignored it. “ HELLO?! My hat's up here!” Being ignored made the selfish monster lash out, summoning sharpened ice looking much like it’s hat from the tundra floor. Both jumped out of the way, letting the piercing ice shoot up, turning around in the sky to fall back down. The two leapt out of the way of the ice crashing down and shattering into the snow. The Ice Cap looked over to secretly see if they were looking at the marvelous hat. Frisk managing to tear their eyes away from the genially cool hat. “ HMPH! Better a hatter than a HATER!”

The Ice Cap put its stubby hands into the ground, large jagged snow walls rose up and started to truck it’s way to the other two in a snake, or zigzag like pattern. “ whoa, jeez, this little guy is mad as a hatter!” Sans and Frisk put their backs to each other, weaving around in the middle while the sharp edged snow walls charged through. Evading the large attack, the snow melded away into their surrounding, leaving the Ice Cap panting. Frisk rushed over and snagged their hat, reviling… A large ice cube, meanwhile the hat meted in their hands. “ … kid-“

" I-I... So... Cold... I just wanted you to see me as cool...What's the point…” The cube of ice shifted away to look elsewhere, seemingly defeated.

The child knelt down beside it and gave a warm smile, patting it’s cold top side, “ I think you should just be yourself. I’m sorry about your hat, but I think it was just making your head get really big. Does it matter what people say when they see you? Cause, I think your really cool, just being you.” They poked the cube d ice on the side, receiving a giggle. “ You can impress people just on your own, you don’t need anything else. You just gotta’ believe… And besides, I like your hair.”

“ S-So I can still impress you? Yeah...hehe, I like my hair too...I just wanted you to see me as cool... Heh, hats are for posers anyways.” The snow around them started to slide over to the cub, making it into an Ice Cap again, but this time… It didn’t have a spiked ice hat. Instead it had a flat cubed chunk of ice on it. Feeling better with identity. “ Thanks. We all live in the woods so no one can tell us what to do. But everyone ignores us... I don't want freedom if it means no one's gonna' pay attention to me… Maybe I can come up with something better than a hat.”

“ wow, didn’t expect that… i thought you were….uh…”

“ Being a jerk?”

“ well that’s a blatant way to say, but I guess so-“Sans’ eyes shot open, withdrawing his usual half lidded demeanor as a blue spear was thrown at Frisk. He quickly grabbed hold of them and restrained them from moving, letting it pass by. Frisk’s eyes caught the sight of the spear turning normal and coming right back at them. They tugged the skeleton, both falling into the snow as the spear passed by overhead and went back the way it’s came. A fairly tall tan Pomeranian in armors stepped out from some trees, cocking its head to one side, as it panted out happily.

Lesser Dog appears! “ watch it kid, the guy wields a stone dogger made of pomer-granite.” Frisk slowly tilted their head to an almost painful looking way as if to say, ‘… REALLY?’.“ hehehe, don’t give me that, it’s true.” Frisk began making their way over, reaching their hand out, just barley, and Lesser Dog let out an excited bark. Leaping to one then the other, though with Frisk… It had gotten it’s doggar out.

Frisk stumbled over and gave a light touch, resulting in the canine raising its head for a better pet of the hand. It was a good dog as excitement knows no bounds. Frisk soon got to critical pet! Lesser Dog’s neck stretched out after each pet, soon Frisk had o jump to pet it’s head. Sans sat down, hearing a motor rev up while the child jumped up trying to pet it’s head. Lesser Dog was quite excite, a plane take off noises insinuated that. Lesser Dog shows no signs of stopping, as there was no way to end madness, with a kettle blowing far away. It soon entered the realm of the clouds, Frisk trying to call it back as it’s neck kept growing, getting a faraway bark. The two saw the long neck bend and was now lowering for Frisk to jump up to pet it again, letting the canine bark out with joy to be reunited with the pets.“ it’s possible you have a problem.”Frisk kept petting it until it went into the snow, now unpettable but appreciating Frisk’s efforts. Lesser Dog put down it’s doggar and pulled out a book, learning to read…It whined out under the now since it couldn’t see the human or skeleton. Eventually, a fuzzy head popped up from the snow below, “ hello there… perhaps mankind was not meant for this much-annnnd it continues” Sans commented as Frisk went over to pet it.

Lesser dog tilted it’s head slightly, as to question the child's choice before stretching off to where no dog has before and was soon beyond any reach again. Yet Frisk jumped up to try and pet it one last time. “ … really?” Finally Frisk hugged the ever extending neck and stepped away, letting the neck zoom down, pop out from the snow and lower down back to normal. It’s tail wagged so much that it seemingly propelled itself away. “ well… that certainly was a thing…”

“ Warning: Dog Marriage (Yes, you read that correctly)” Frisk tilted their head as they reread it before waving to a camera perched up in a tree. This time Alphy’s squeal was muted out by three monster walking over to cause trouble for the pair. An Ice Cap, Chilldrake confronted them, but alas sighed because of… Jerry.

“ oh wow, didn’t realize the kids needed a baby sitter… or are you two helping this little hobo out?” Sans smirked, the tentacled monster growled a bit.

“ Shut it Sansy! Okay boys, let’s go and-… Well hello, a new kid on the block huh? Give us your lunch money!” Jerry wriggled his arms abut, eyeing Frisk who stood there, more of paying attention to the other two instead. “ Come oooooon! Let’s get ‘em!” The two teens sighed and groaned… They weren’t actually with the blobby monster. In fact they were just hanging out until he happened to run over and join them without any notice. The Ice Cap nodded in respect to Frisk and Sans, wobbling to the side not participating in the fight. “ Cap what the hell man?! Ugh! Whatever-“

“ Ugh! Whatever!” Frisk imitated, flapping their arms about to mimic him. Sans cracked a wider smile along with the other two monsters. Chilldrake laughed out from the imitation of his cohort of sorts.

“ GUHUHUHU! IMITATED IT SPOT-ON!”The Ice Cap put its small pudgy hands to its now wide grin snickering as it’s stumpy feet kicked about off the log it sat on.

Jerry growled a bit, “ SHHHH! I'm THINKING, guys! So shut u-“ Chilldrake sauntered over, shoving Jerry aside and into the snow.

The larger sea green bird cracked it’s neck a bit, adjusting its sunglasses. “ Yo, I’m the leader of the bunch, they know me well. I’m finally here, to kick some tail. With my icy strips, that fire and spurt, if they hit ya, it’s gonna' hurt. I’m bigger, faster, and stronger too, if ya rap like me, I’ll let ya through!” Both wing crossed each other, summoning a large ice crescent much like Snowy before letting it go, whipping around. Sans hopped away as Frisk ducked just barley, the sharpened edge of the ice nearly slicing their hair or scalp off.

“ Haha! Wow! Drake, you suck!” Jerry mocked the much larger monster for missing is targets. The now angered bird’s beak started to gnash and grind. Sans and Frisk however moved away when Jerry was laughing, signaling the other two to follow. With a small celebration of ditching Jerry, Chilldrake folded his wings along side with Ice Cap, posing like bad guys.

Frisk took in a breath and sang out their part, letting Sans work on his own in his skull. “ I’ve got style, so listen up dudes, I can dodge whatever that suits my mood. I’m quick and nimble when I need to be. I spare many monster, and climb up trees. If you let me by, you’ll not choose wrong, because you’ll love this song~!” They twirled around a bit, jumping up, receiving some nods from the two.

Frisk only stopped as Jerry returned and clinged to them. As the child struggled, but receiving help from the Ice Cap, Sans sighed lightly in the cold air. “ i have no style, i have no grace. but you must admit, i’ve got a funny face. i can zip all around if i ever need to, and give out some dogs, just for you. inflate some hand pranks, just like a balloon.” He kinda sang out, pulling out his whoopee cushion from a pocket and blowing it up, letting it go, flying around in a sputter. “ i’m a simple guy, who just digs his tunes.”

“ Wow, you SUCK Sans!” Jerry commented once he was torn away from Frisk. He then sniffled a bit and sneezed without covering his nose, grossing the child and teen out.

The large frosted bird nodded a tad, ignoring the rude slime-ball and smirked, “ Yo, yeah, ya two are pretty okay in my book. From here on out, my gang won’t mess with ya, ya dig bone-man?”

“ hehehe, yeah… though since i’m already a skeleton, doesn’t that mean i’ve been dug out?” He shrugged, wining to him. This made the three aside from Jerry laugh out.

Jerry gobbled up some powdery food without watching his hands and glared, “ What?! Are you serious Chill?! These two are total narks! Would you knock it off and go kick their ass!” Jerry demanded, putting a slimy and greasy tentacle on the bird. The two left, slowly walking away since Sans wanted to hear what would happen. “ Huh? Did they ditch you...? SOME friends! Right Chill?!” Sans had once told Chilldrake was one teen no one wanted to mess with. However Sans had always been that one cool guy, but with that, he wouldn’t be able to squeeze Frisk by like Papyrus. The bird’s eye shrank to that of a cat’s as he noticed the sludge now on his feathers. Ice Cap scurried off to hide behind a tree, watching as his friend picked up Jerry.

“ You got my feathers dirty… Heh, I’m not a big sissy like my older bro…” He smirked, cracking his winged fingers. Jerry gulped and smiled nervously as his noodle arms dangled. “Guhuhhuhu. Us teens rule these woods with a smaller-than-adult fist… And you Jerry… Are an adult…”

While Frisk pushed a hidden button, they dashed over to Sans who waited at the cleared out map on the ground, looking over then walking up to him. “ Uhm… Should we help him?”

Sans curiously looked up for a moment, assessing the situation, “ mmm… nah, that guy use to pick on me and my friends.”

“ Oh, okay… Sans, who were your friends? I mean, I might know some.”

“ tch, i don't like getting nostalgic kiddo. especially when i had to take care of paps and avoid the royal guards as social workers, so they wouldn’t take him awa-….” His pupils vanished, which f course Frisk questioned. “ …wait… didn’t we just pass by the dog marriage sign?” They nodded. “ ohhh crap…”

“ What's that smell?”

“ (Where's that smell?)”

The two large white beagles ran over, wearing their hoods and drawing out their matching axes, seeming like canine grim-reapers. It’s not that Sans hated or even disliked the now married couple… It was just, that one bad time he had with them. But after what had happened… Sans began wearing his fake happy smile. Thankfully this calmed his brother down for the years to come… But that visit was on one of the most horrible days of his life. “ If you're a smell... identify yoursmellf!” The huskier voice commanded as the two ran about in a circle sniffing. Both stopped at Sans’ and Frisk’s side. “ Hmm... Here's that weird smell... It makes me to eliminate.”

“ (... Eliminate YOU!)” The more feminine voice barked out. The two hounds could see and smell Sans well enough, that they avoided any attacks on him while Frisk dropped down and rolled around in the snow, quickly evading two heavy hammers, slamming into the ground, making the human remained in the middle of the now heart shaped opening.

“ Let's kick human tail!”

“ (Do humans have tails?!)“ The two picked up the heavy axes and went to ac others side, giving the other a sweet kiss and Eskimo kiss. The romance was so overflowing it got a reaction from Sans, who rolled his pupils and Frisk making a disgusted face.

“ hey, hey, get a room, there's children here!” Sans called out, gaining both dog’s attention. Frisk hopped up and spread out their arms, letting the beagles sniff them, making them giggle from the tickling wet noses.

“What, that smell...” Dogamy exclaimed, backing away.

“ (Are you actually a puppy?)” Dogressa followed her husband’s movement. The two sat down, Dogamy tried testing the barking test with the human, barking out a ring of white hearts with one blue one. Frisk hopped t the side, standing still for the blue to pass and then getting out once the blue heart went all the way around. Frisk grinned, now they were close to the stashed dog… Unleashing their power of… Petting!

Dogamy gasped out, “ Wow pet by another pup!”

“(Don't leave me out!)” Dogressa whined out before risk trotted over to pet her. “(Wow, a dog who can pet other dogs! Our minds have been expanded!”)

“ Dogs can pet other doges?!”

“ (A new world has opened up for us...)”

“ Thanks weird puppy!” The two wagged their tails happily before yelling was heard nearby… Which was Chilldrake slapping around Jerry. “ H-HEY!” The two sprung up and charged after them, barking.

“ (NO ORAORAING ALLOWED!”)

The sign was simple enough, turn every X into an O. Sans shrugged and took one path as the child took the other, letting some spikes in their way slide into a metallic flooring in the snow. Papyrus had been behind the spikes, his back to them as he was seemingly fiddling with something. The sudden noise startled him to turn around. “ WHAT?! HOW DID YOU AVOID MY TRAP?! AND SANS WHY ARE YOU TRAVELING WITH THEM?! “

“ don't worry, i'm just keeping a close eye-socket on 'em. you know i'm too lazy to catch them.”

“ OKAY, THAT'S A FAIR POINT.... BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY... IS THERE ANY LEFT FOR ME?” He asked, referring to the pasta Frisk rally wanted to eat due to only have sweets thus far.

“ I-I left it… But not because I didn’t want it-“

“ REALLY?! WOWIE... YOU RESISTED THE FLAVOR OF MY HOME-COOKED PASTA... JUST SO YOU COULD SHARE IT WITH ME?!” The tall skeleton looked so hopeful… It had been a while since Sans saw his brother like this. Frisk nodded, smiling. Papyrus swung his arm out to a heroic pointing pose, “ FRET NOT HUMAN! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS... WILL MAKE YOU ALL THE PASTA YOU COULD EVER WANT! NYEHEHEHE!” He cackled out, running off again.

Before they continued, Frisk shuddered suddenly. Sans seemed to notice, his own spine shivering. He turned around to see something back to where the snow hidden map was… Catching a yellow figment tat buried into the ground. “ hey, you go on up ahead kiddo, i gotta' check something. don't worry, i’ll be right there.”

The child really didn’t want the skeleton to leave their side, but it may have been for the best considering the next area was where they could finally talk to Papyrus. Speaking of which, as soon as they came over, Papyrus looked down to them. “ MY BROTHER STARTED A SOCK COLLECTION RECENTLY. HOW SADDENING... SOMETIMES I WONDER WHAT HE WOULD DO... WITHOUT SUCH A COOL GUY TAKING CARE OF HIM? NYEHEHE-“ They knew he was just making idle chit-chat, but… The phrasing of that… A quick flash passed through their mind of the smiling skeleton, looking up to them, his body gone, and only his head rested in is scarf… And yet, he still smiled… Frisk looked up to view a small scar across Papyrus’ neck bones and started to tear up. Thankfully Papyrus happened to look down after he was done laughing. “ HUMAN! HMMM... HOW DO I SAY THIS... YOU WERE TAKING A LONG TIME TO ARRIVE, SO... I DECIDED TO IMPROVE THIS PUZZLE... BY ARRANGING THE SNOW TO LOOK LIKE MY FACE. UNFORTUNATELY, THE SNOW FROZE TO THE GROUND. NOW THE SOLUTION IS DIFFERENT! AND, AS USUAL, MY LAZY BROTHER IS NOWHERE AROUND. I SUPPOSE WHAT I AM SAYING IS...” He quickly put up his glove to his ‘body armor’ in a heroic fashion. “ WORRY NOT HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM! THEN WE CAN BOTH PROCEED! MEANWHILE, FEEL FREE TO TRY THE PUZZLE YOURSELF! I'LL TRY NOT TO GIVE AWAY THE ANSWER!”

The human giggled, after looking at the puzzle over and over, they saw more and more of Papyrus’ face on the ground, sometimes they would even go back just to make the puzzle steps look more like him with the help of shapes. They really did enjoy puzzles, remembering if they asked Papyrus a bit he'd just push a button on the tree letting them pass by. They waved over to him showing the were done and ready. “ WOW! YOU SOLVED IT! AND YOU DID IT ALL WITHOUT MY HELP... INCREDIBLE! I'M IMPRESSED! YOU MUST CARE ABOUT PUZZLES LIKE I DO! WELL, I'M SURE YOU'LL LOVE THE NEXT PUZZLE THEN! IT MIGHT EVEN BE TOO EASY FOR YOU! NYEHEHE!” He laughed out, sprinting off were some spikes were.

And behind those spikes, was Sans, “ huh... so you figured it out... good job on solving it so quickly. you didn't even need my help. which is great, 'cause i love doing absolutely nothing.” He chuckle, moving on with Frisk o the next area. But before they could ask him anything he waved over to his sibling. “ hey bro.”

“ SANS, QUICKLY GET OVER HERE!” Sans shrugged, winking to Frisk before walking to his brother’s side. “ AHERM... RIGHT WHERE WAS I? OH RIGHT! HEY! IT'S THE HUMAN! YOU'RE GONNA' LOVE THIS PUZZLE! IT WAS MADE BY THE GREAT DR. ALPHYS! YOU SEE THESE TILES?! ONCE I THROW THIS SWITCH... THEY WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE COLOR! EACH COLOR HAS A DIFFERENT FUNCTION! RED TILES ARE IMPASSIBLE! YOU CANNOT WALK ON THEM! YELLOW TILES ARE ELECTRIC! THEY WILL ELECTROCUTE YOU! GREEN TILES ARE ALARM TILES! IF YOU STEP ON THEM... YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGHT A MONSTER! ORANGE TILES ARE ORANGE-SCENTED. THEY WILL MAKE YOU SMELL DELICIOUS! BLUE TILES ARE WATER TILES. SWIM THROUGH IF YOU LIKE BUT... IF YOU SMELL LIKE ORANGES, THE PIRANHAS WILL BITE YOU! ALSO, IF A BLUE TILE IS NEXT TO A YELLOW TILE, THE WATER WILL ZAP YOU! PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY! YOU WILL SLIDE TO THE NEXT TILE! HOWEVER, THE SLIPPERY SOAP... SMELLS LIKE LEMONS! WHICH PIRANHAS DO NOT LIKE! PURPLE AND BLUE ARE OK! FINALLY PINK TILES. THEY... THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING. STEP ON THEM ALL YOU LIKE. HOW WAS THAT?! UNDERSTAND?!”

Frisk had been through this many times, but tended to decide that agreeing was the best answer… Mainly because they'd get to watch Papyrus spin around and somehow slide away. So with that in mind, they nodded. “ GREAT! THEN THERE'S ONE LAST THING... THIS PUZZLE...IS COMPLETELY RANDOM! WHEN I PULL THIS SWITCH, IT WILL MAKE A PUZZLE... THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE! NOT EVEN I WILL KNOW THE SOLUTION! NYEHEHE! GET READY...” The taller monster of the two threw down the switch which… not looking at the machine it was besides, resembled someone Frisk always had trouble getting by.

It didn't matter with any restart, the same puzzle path was always red at the sides and pink in the middle. They never questioned it though. And f course, right on cue, Papyrus smiled, saying nothing and started to spin around, somehow sliding away further into the forest as his brother stepped aside and watched until Frisk got over. “ pth… actually, that spaghetti from earlier... it wasn't too bad for my brother. since he started cooking lessons, he's been improving a lot. i bet if he keeps it up, next year he'll even make something edible.” Frisk quickly slapped their hand at his arm gently, ”pttth, okay, okay, i’m sorry!” He chuckled out.

“ … what did you D O?” Asked Sans in almost a horrifying manner as the two came across the field of a snowdog massacre. Long necks of snow shot out the ground, cracking over onto their sides, snowdog heads decapitated and broken… It was truly a scary sight… In a way. The human walked to the lone stain and looked through it while Sans read the sign, ‘ AWARE OF DOG. pleas pet dog.’ He smiled, finding it funny how Lesser Dog wrote broken English. He went to Frisk who hopped back from the station, handing him something and then dashing behind it. Sans blinked, looking into his hands to find a box of Pomerasins. He smiled, snickering at the pun before putting it back. And just like that, another shrill screech broke through the air. There must have been a camera behind there.

Sans and Frisk couldn't help but notice… A rather large frosted bird nearby in a snazzy business suit and tie with colorful kittens on it, Sans quickly averting his eyes while Frisk went to talk to them. “ Huh? Oh heya kid. Don’t mind me, I’m just heading to work.”

“ Then why are you all the way out here?”

“ Heh... The teens live self-sufficiently off the fat of the land... Oh, and the box lunches our parents bring us every day. Besides Snowy. Chill has to share with him because our dad’s in a stupor, and I’m constantly busy. I just came by to give it to them is all, have a good one kid… You too Sans!” The large bird fluttered off. Frisk ran to the skeleton’s side.

“ I liked that guy's tie... Are you okay?”

“ i… yeah, i’m fine. just… eh, that guy use to be a total jerk is all. he had a bit grudge against a friend of mine is all.” Frisk patted his arm, giving him a small smile. He returned the smile before the two saved.

~Knowing that dog will never give up trying to make the perfect snowdog... it fills you with DETERMINATION~

Afterwards, they came across another someone who Sans use to have a bad run in with. But not as much. “ hey faunly, sup with the puphalation?”

“ A dog just rushed in here, filled with inspiration. It kept trying to build a snowdog that expressed its own emotions... But, as it built, it kept getting more excited about the sculpture... It's neck got longer and longer, and it added more and more snow, until... It was rather sad to watch, but I couldn't turn away.”
“ glad you enjoy the arts of the world buddy, see ya around.”

Chapter Text

The two left the sweatered deer like monster to his own devices… Which were mainly sketching the travesty yet broken beauty of the snowdogs. They hadn’t been paying attention, slipping on some ice and falling off and into some sift snow below. The two spat out some frosted snow and got up, brushing the ice off. “ oh, so this is where are snowmen were, hehehe.”

Frisk admired the might snow-Papyrus and the lump that had ‘Sans’ written on it. They gave a warm smile to the fake Papyrus’ scarf… Up at The Surface, the joyful skeleton had snagged it before leaving and had given to them as a present. They hoped he’d do that again. But first… A questioned popped up into their head. “ Hey Sans? Why did you suddenly eve that one Snowman? He said you looked familiar.”

Sans shrugged as he walked along with them to the sliding puzzle, “ probably mistook me for paps. paps loves his ice sculpting.” He winked down to them, receiving a nod. That was a large possibility…

After solving the simple puzzle, they slid along the ice through a bustle of trees, finally making it out onto the other side. Frisk looked u on their head to see what appeared to be a dog made of snow in their hair before returning back into slush. They giggled, seeing Sans with a bowler cap made of snow. His only reply was him closing his eyes and smiling coyly, “ why, I do say old chap.” Trying to sound classy.

Before proceeding, Sans walked down the lower path, of course this enticed the child to follow him to a large ice wall with two enormous cracks in it with either lights or eyes shining and vanishing. “ what's up? i just need a rest is all. not use to walking around so much like this.

Frisk nodded to his slight argument, fully understanding. Normally when they had been by themselves, Sans was just doing it to-“ ya think we're lost?” Frisk nearly jumped from the skeleton suddenly being in front of them. They gave a questioning look before walking back the way they came.“ you sure do like exercising.” They gave him a grumpy face and went back the other way to find him standing there, leaning his back against the wall of ice and snow… and maybe rock. “ say... are you following me?”

Frisk looked over their shoulder to see Sans at his original spot, waving to them. When they turned their head around, Sans was now right there in front of them. The squinted their eyes more in a, ‘not sure’ way. “ hehehe, havin’ fun there kidd-O H! look out!” He grabbed tem and fell backwards. Sans apparently didn’t know about the magical Gyftrot that would confront Frisk.

The Gyftrot snorted a breath of heavy warm air out, creating a puff of warm air meeting cold. “ Hohohoh! Go ahead and laugh...” It glared at them both, conjuring up three presents, one being blue before concealing it’s color. They shuffled about and shut out to them both. Sans levitated the human away and rolled to the blue present, un-moving so it would pass by. With his own magic, a blue fog wrapped around a small candy cane, that said it was a walking stick, removing it from its horns. Frisk looked over t see Sans still flat on his ass, watching the odd looking deer… This…This wasn’t like Sans… Why was Sans just sitting there, his hands on the ground and cowering back a bit. The Gyftrot wasn’t even attacking him. It was just watching him, asking if he was alright; from one monster to another. It looked like… Sans was frozen in… Fear?

Frisk stood up and whistled, luring the Gyftrot’s attention by smacking their own rump at it. “ Grrrr, disrespectful youths!” It charged over, rearing back on its hind hooves, making snowflakes drizzle down. Frisk kept up and dodged them before jumping onto the ice wall, bouncing themselves above the deer , removing a sock of nuggets. Once they landed the threw it away, being grossed out, hearing the deer comment, “ That's a little better.” It went back onto its legs, turning around for Frisk to snatch away a picture on its horns. “ A weight has been lifted.” Without the Gyftrot being angry, the child pet the deer monster, receiving an empty present which they quickly grabbed and filled it as the deer sat down sighing. “ Sorry… It’s just, I've heard there's a local tradition based off of my own suffering... All because some punk teens think it’s funny to fuss with my horns… H-Huh? For me?” Frisk had set down the box in front of it, pulling the lid off to reveal a green Nice-Cream, the nuggies, and a few gold. The deer’s eyes softened up, “ A-Aww, you shouldn't have… Oh my! Grass flavored Nice-Cream! I-I… Heheh… Guess there still are some good kids but in the world.” Frisk smiled brightly to it, making the monster tear up from the sheer amount of generosity.

Once the Gyfrtot had left, the two went into the small nook of a cavern, enjoying the warmth of it, along with the beauty of the white glowing particles drifting above them, with the air of the glowing mushrooms Fisk enjoyed poking for a seeking sound.“ gonna’ be truthful kid… i really did need a rest. but then well-“

“ Sans, you looked… Scared. I’ve… Never seen you scared. Not in any of my runs, not even on The Surface.”

Sans gulped silently… Did he really get scared? Did he actually hesitate? How was he calm throughout everything else, yet scared this one time…? He was a Judge, the most resilient of monsters. Honestly he slightly blacked out in a state of panic, yet was still awake. “ sorry kid… it’s just-well it’s not gyfrtot itself… it… it was just its head, kinda rubs me the wrong way. he only attacked cause he thought we were going to laugh at him and put more crap on his horns.”

“ I guess that makes sense… His head reminds me of something…”

“ oh? and what does it remind you of?”

“ Depends, why did it scare you?”

Sans went silent for a moment, but luck was on his side. Some playful yapping echoed out and a small tubby white Pomeranian bounced over, jumping into his lap and wagging it’s curled tail. It looked over to the child and panted happily, squirming it’s way to them and licking their cheek. Frisk giggled and dropped the topic because… DOG! It soon nuzzled onto their laps as it was pet. “ hehehe, that’s a good boy. good toby.” The skeleton said, patting it’s soft squishy belly.

“ Toby? Wait! Isn’t this The Annoying Dog Papyrus hates?!”

“ hehehe, yup. that’s him. he’s not my dog, but he likes to come inside my home every now and then. all i know is that he likes exploring. heh, when i was going through some ‘ruff’ times, this little guy helped me out when I was younger. yet, he wanted to stay here. i know he’s got like a computer inside where that big door is. no one knows how it opens, so i just peeked through and then teleported from the door’s gap. he’s smart, clever, silly, huggable, adventurous, so i just call ‘em toby… while everyone calls him an annoying dog. while paps on the other hand, calls him ‘that dog’.”

The three rested there in peace, Sans silently thinking to himself while Frisk played with the pooch. He enjoyed the hermit, Gyftrot, often bringing him various foods and gifts… But when he attacked, it sent the skeleton into shock. Shock of an unrelated nightmare that had nothing to do with time or anyone he knew. It was solely on one thing… Something that his father built long ago… The DT-Extractor. Yes, it was a machine, but it still looked like a colossus skull from the bottoms of hell. Those huge empty hollow eyes, the grunge coloring, the heavy steamed pipes, and the ghastly snot or mouth it had. Once Sans witnessed that… monstrosity-no… that… that…hellish abomination when he was just a kid, scared the hell out of him. Even as a teen, it plagued his dreams. The very thing that could… and DID suck up souls. He thoughts started to trail into souls… Souls and this small cave. He smiled softly to himself, doing his best to keep away any tears. All he could think of was this place, back when he and Asriel use to come here, play, talk, or enjoy meals. It was also where he had met the tiny dog that helped him by after Asriel had passed away.

Those memories were sealed back up as Toby yipped out wildly up at the ceiling, pawing the ground and growling before yelping and running to the two heavy set of stone slab doors, somehow squishing itself down under the door’s gap. The two std up, preparing for a battle, which was what happened as Glyde swooped in!
Glyde lowered down from the ceiling like a booger, flashing his fins out and swooping near them with an even bigger grin than Sans. Frisk gulped and clapped wildly to the floating fish,” Heh! Ok! I rule. I admit it!” He said smugly, the tip of his tail lighting up, shooting a wavering pattern of stars. Thankfully the two avoided the strong magical attacks. Glyde then high-five'd himself somehow and did a few fancy flips. Frisk nodded to Sans who reluctantly clapped out, Glyde sucking up the attention like a vacuum. “ Wow! Check out my pecs! BODACHOIUS!” The tail lit up again… But no projectiles came out. Glyde was soon thinking of new slang for the word ‘cool’. Like ‘freakadacious.’ However… He didn’t get any applause. “ Eh? You forgot to clap…” He sounded a bit irritated. Again both of them did noting, making him quiver with rage, the tail rattling up and spewing out large stars. Sans snatched Frisk and teleported to the other side of the room as the starts burst into explosions. The fish looked over to see Sans smiling and doing his own type of flipping… Which was off. Glyde huffed and ignored them as they left.

Back to the field f small snow lumps, Sans sighed. Frisk gasped out, “ SANS! YOUR CHEEKBONE!” His fingers rubbed against his left cheekbone, pulling back to see some bright red liquid staining the bones. He checked his health; 2/3.

“ heh… i’ll be fine kiddo. you looked pretty anxious back there.”

“ Y-Yeah… He gives me a lot of trouble.”

“ can’t imagine why… come on, we’re almost to snowdin.”And thus started Frisk… Poking every lump of snow with Sans retorting, “ it's a snow poff. and this... is a snow poff. this, however, is a snow poff. surprisingly, it's a snow poff. mmm, snow poff. is it really a snow poff? .behold! a snow poff.eh? There was 30g inside this... what is this?!” Frisk giggled at every remark at how Sans pronounced puff. They looked at the small tiny dog house, seeing that it was much larger inside as the skeleton viewed the sign, simply stating, ‘ Woof’ in fancy writing. Finally they walked to the last snow poff, at which the cheeky skeleton was about to make a comment, only to be cut off by what looked kind of like Toby, sticking it’s head out and yipping… Before the pie of snow rumbled as a huge set of armor rose from the snow.

It’s The Greater Dog! Frisk quickly whistled for it, letting it run over, making the ground rumble a bit while it slobbered everywhere seeking affection. But of course since it was on duty, it threw its dog-faced spear flickering from blue to white and coming back to their large metallic hand. Thankfully Frisk was wondrous at dodging, and hadn’t gotten hit. It bounded over to the small human, being pet, then curling up and falling asleep from the soft pets. It then shot it’s head up excited before flopping over with its legs dangling in the air and squirming around on the ground happily. At which Frisk stopped moving. Sans tilted his skull, making Greater Dog’s ear flick, signaling it to jump at Sans who was able to dodge the sudden pounce. Greater Dog wagged its tail, reaching out to lick Sans’ cheekbone. “ aww, dude, seriously?!” Thankfully it wasn’t an attack as Sans’ health was now 2/3. It jumped away and batted at the ground, getting on all four.

Frisk built up a snowball, lobbing it pats ground it away, only for it to splat on the ground, earning Sans s small snicker. Greater Dog on the other hand-er paw, gathered a ton of snow, running back over letting it go, piling up on the skeleton. Afterwards, the mighty canine slumped over onto Frisk, tired. They pet it letting it sink down on them, making their pets become slowed, but Frisk still hadn’t pet enough! Pet capacity40%! Pet capacity 100%! It got off the tiny human, flopping over with legs dangling in air again, fully content. Frisk got up, wiping some sweat from their forehead to see the lumbering armor kneel down, letting the small dog pop out, lick them and them hop into the armor backwards, letting their tiny legs dangle out with their wagging tail.
Sans looked over, still in the snow mound, “ ….. don’t even.” He squinted as Frisk just couldn’t help it but laugh as they helped him out. “ yeah, yeah. i’m a bone and they buried me… ptttth.” Ah hell, he couldn’t stay made at something funny like that, and instead joined Frisk.

“ hold up kid, hold up. lemme' see if this bridge is stable.” Sans said, putting his arm out to stop the other. He lazily smiled, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“ … Hey wait a second!” Frisk knew they had kinda been tricked, but noticed a camera faintly glinting nearby under the bridge. The waved to it, but quickly dashed off after their soon to b dunkle.

But of course, there stood Papyrus with Sans by his side at the end of the bridge. “ HUMAN! THIS IS YOUR FINAL AND MOST DANGEROUS CHALLENGE! BEHOLD! THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR!” Sure this happened every run, and nothing happened, but it always made them tense up and scared. Large flamethrowers pointed to them, huge maces filled with spikes, enormous spears preparing to be darted out, a gigantic cannon ready to be it, and f course… Toby happily spinning around on some rope. “ WHEN I SAY THE WORD, IT WILL FULLY ACTIVATE! CANNONS WILL FIRE! SPIKES WILL SWING! BLADES WILL SLICE! EACH PART WILL SWING VIOLENTLY UP AND DOWN! ONLY THE TINIEST CHANCE OF VICTORY WILL REMAIN! ARE YOU READY?! BECAUSE! I! AM! ABOUT! TO DO IT!” Frisk just couldn’t shake off the feeling, knowing what just about each of them felt like-aside from the dog, tear into their flesh from other monsters. They shook and put their arms up onto their head, whimpering.

“ well? what's the holdup?”

“ HOLDUP?! WHAT HOLDUP?! I'M... I'M ABOUT TO ACTIVATE IT NOW!”

“ that uh... doesn't look very activated.”

“ WE-WELL! THIS CHALLENGE! IT SEEMS.... MAYBE... T-TOO EASY TO DEFEAT THE HUMAN WITH. YEAH! WE CAN'T USE THIS ONE! I'M A SKELETON WITH STANDARDS! MY PUZZLES ARE VERY FAIR! AND MY TRAPS ARE EXPERTLY COOKED! BUT THIS METHOD IS TOO DIRECT! NO CLASS AT ALL! AWAY IT GOES!” With a wave of his mitten like glove, the horrible machinery fucked off. “ PHEW...” His beady eyes caught Frisk now watching him. “ NEH! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?! THIS WAS ANOTHER VICTORY FOR PAPYRUS! NYEHEHEHE...HEH...” He quickly took off.

Frisk wobbled over to Sans with a glare, “ what’s with that look?” They sighed and rued their head. “ i don't know what my brother's going to do now. if i were you, i would make sure i understood blue attacks.” Frisk looked up and nodded, turning around to wave to the camera on this side of the bridge, only to stop, seeing a distant glimmer of yellow vanishing on the other side.

~The sight of such a friendly town fills you… with DETERMINATION~

The odd pair had finally made it to the peaceful and quiet town of Snowdin, with the slight hustle and bustle of people in town doing their own menial things and labor. Frisk smiled, absorbing in the festive little town’s cheerfulness, sighing in relief. Snowdin was always one part of their journey to look forwards to… But that might also be because it was the only damn town they actually go to in the entirety of The Underground. Any different, they hopped over to the station’s counter of the shop. Sans was busy talking a break, looking about, more than likely looking for his younger thin brother. “ Why hello, traveler. How can I help ya? “

“ Oh, hello there Miss!”

The plump bunny sporting a tank top and hat chuckled out from the sheer cuteness and obliviousness Frisk had lead on, “ Welcome to Snowdin! I can't remember the last time I saw a fresh face around here. Where did you come from? The Capital? You don't look like a tourist. Are you here by yourself?”

They shook their head, hair getting into tier face before pointing over Sans… Wait where'd he go? The rabbit clerk tilted her head, but kept quiet to keep from sounding rude, thinking maybe the child was pointing to an imaginary friend. “ Erm.. So, what is there to do here in Snowdin?” The smiled up nervously, not wanting to seem or act crazy.

The large rabbit rested her elbow on the counter, stroking some fuzz on her chin to think, “ Well, Grillby's has food, and the library has information. If you're tired, you can take a nap at the inn. It's right next door, my sister runs it. And if you're bored, you can sit and watch those wacky skeletons do their thing. There's two of 'em, brothers, I think. Can't particularly remember HOW they got here. They just kinda showed up one day with their house and... asserted themselves. The town has gotten a lot more interesting since then.” That last part always seemed to bother Frisk… What did it mean to just suddenly appear in town?

They shook it off, continuing their questions to relearn anything they may have forgotten. “ What’s the town's history like Ma’am?”

She burst out into a small fits of giggles, “ School sure seems like they don’t do their thing nowadays. Think back to your history class... A long time ago, monsters lived in The Ruins back there in the forest. Long story short, we all decided to leave The Ruins and head for the end of the caverns. Along the way, some fuzzy folk decided they liked the cold and set up camp in Snowdin. Oh, and don't think about trying to explore The Ruins... The door's been locked for ages. So unless you're a ghost or can burrow under the door, forget about it.”

“ Hrm… Right, so, uh, how’s life?” They gave a small smile for such a harsh question. Meanwhile before she could answer them, the short skeleton walked over. Frisk puffed up their cheeks in a slight bit of annoyance, “ There you are! See this is the guy I’m with.”

“ hehehe, hey hazel, how’s it going-ahhh!” The larger monster sprayed some water at him, looking mildly upset.

“ Blast it Sans! If you're going to watch over a kid, don’t just leave ‘em!” As Sans coughed at the water, the clerk’s nose fidgeted around. “ Life is the same as usual. A little claustrophobic... but... we all know deep down that freedom is coming, don't we Sans?” Sans just gave a thumbs up, still coughing from the sudden spritz of water to the skull.“ As long as we got that hope, we can grit our teeth and face the same struggles, day after day... that's life, ain't it?” She gave a concerned smile to them.

Unfortunately… The cheeky skeleton always knew a way to get back at the robust woman, “ so... can the kid here sell you anything?”
“ Huh? Sell somethin'? Sans, goes this look like a pawn shop? I don't know how it works where the child comes from, but... if I started spending money on old branches and used bandages, I'd be out of business in a jiffy! Also, you know better!” She grabbed a magazine, wrapping it up and just kinda sacked it lightly against his blue covered shoulder in irritation while he and Frisk just giggled at the mild threat of a woman’s wrath. The human sighed in a good manner and bought a cinnamon bun, bisicle, and the manly bandana. “ Bye now! Come again sometime!”

Frisk fussed with the box nearby the twinkling star, equipping the bandana around their neck. Sometimes they really had wised that they had found it sooner to help with the nipping air, but oh well.“ lookin’ swanky there kid.” Frisk rolled their eye, but with a stingy smile on their face from the humorous skeleton. Passing by an igloo that Frisk rarely ever used to get around, they noticed a rabbit kid nervously shaking, his eyes glued on another rabbit that seemed slightly older than him. “ hey fiver, what’s going wrong today?”

He nervously bit his bottom lip with his rather large buckteeth, “ That lady over there... something about her disturbs me... I think I've figured it out! No, wait... never-mind.”

Frisk always knew the bunny kid was freaking out because the other monster had a smaller rabbit n a leash… But they never knew this guy was always fidgety. “ eh, don’t sweat over him kiddo. if you already know alphys, he kinda like that.” Sans told them as they tried away from the bunny to go to the other one. “ hey boinga, how’s it going?”

The soft green monster turned over to smile, waving to Sans, “ Heeeey~! It’s going well Sansy. Is that you’re an adopted daughter you’ve got there? My, my, Sansy look at you maturing~!”

He chuckled, his thumb lazily pointing to Frisk. “ pth, please, me adopting… or do anything is like a paradox. nah, I’m just babysitting this kid, much like you are.” He gave a simple wink, letting the rabbit giggle as her attention went back to the tiny bunny on the ground.

“ Teehee, oh I know, isn't my little Cinnamon just the cutest? Bun-buns are so adorable, teehee~!”

Frisk scooted around to kneel down to the smaller rabbit’s level for the toddler to look at them and nuzzle up to their forehead much like a cat. “ Bunbunbunbunbun!”

After bidding the two rabbits adieu, they slowly walked over o the right and festive tree with multicolored presents all under it, wrapped up in bright paper and fancy bows. “ hey, i’ve been meaning to ask this, but are you a girl or a guy? i mean, i’ve never really met a human before, but i don’t wanna judge-“

“ Does it really matter? Call me whatever you want. That’s how others on The Surface did. And besides that, aren't you constantly judging?”

Sans’ smile stiffened, “ … let’s not bring my other job into this please.” He said uncomfortably. The kid must have had a slight grudge in the past from his judgments or something…

Thankfully the awkward chatter was cut by Frisk talking to a seldom bear fussing with the gifts. “ Awful teens tormented a local monster by decorating its tree like horns. So we started giving that monster presents to make it feel better. Now it's a tradition to put presents underneath decorated tree. Guess it was a good thing those teens tormented that monster?” The pudgy bear pondered to itself. Viewing over the bundled gifts, Frisk always saw one that stuck out. That, being Papyrus’ gift, addressed by Santa along with others. They always wanted to know what Asgore or someone dressed as Santa had gotten him.

Then came along one of Frisk’s soon to be wonderful friend, hell, maybe even their best friend age wise… That or a sight crush. Frisk could hardly contain themselves from speaking to the slim range reptile like child, sporting his usual brown and orange striped shirt, covering… His no arms, wings, or baby T-Rex like arms. Frisk had still yet t find out what exactly was under there. Just then, the monster’s attention snapped too, “ Yo! You're a kid too, right? I can tell 'cause you're wearing a striped shirt.” He smiled out, before noticing the lazy skeleton nearby who wasn’t really paying any mind to much of anything. Kidd’s face turned into a troubled one as he leaned over to the other child, whispering. “ Yo, I wonder if that weird skeleton is an adult or kid.” Frisk gave a small shrug before heading off, telling the lizard a good bye.

“ hey frankie, got anything interesting to say to this kid i’m watchin’? their uhh… from the capital.”

A large brow plump bear looked over to view the child, having somewhat of a similar eye pattern, he whistled “ All the way from The Capital, boy! That’s a bit aways. Well…This town doesn't have a mayor. But if there's ever a problem, a skeleton will tell a fish lady about it. Thaaaat's politics!... Politics. What if I ran for mayor? I don't think I would do a good job, and I hate responsibility. But I love politics. So I might be a perfect match…” He put his big stubby paw to his chin.
Frisk nodded before walking by to enter the warm restaurant. They opened the door for the skeleton… Only for him to leave their sight again. With a small agitated huff they decided to go in to warm up a bit and smell the wondrous greasy cooking they had grown to love up on The Surface.

Frisk frowned slightly seeing a drunken rabbit in a stupor, more than likely drowning out it’s sorrows. “ No matter where I go, it's the same menu, the same people... Help! I want new drink an' h-h-hot guys!” The sighed, sticking their tongue to the tip of a beer bottle that had fallen on its side. “ I guess the bartender's kind of h-h-hot... “ They mumbled off a bit.

Then came the hugs for the furry canine guards, Dogamy rather enjoyed the gracious hug and gave a hint to the child. “ You better watch where you sit down in here kid. Because that big guy WILL jump into your lap and give you lots of love and affection.” The human nodded, giving the OK sign.

They turned to the wife, Dogaressa whining in a way, “ We're sentries, but we never get any respect. I wish those skeletons would throw us a bone. We love bones.”
Frisk listened to Doggos conversation as they scooted over to the small pup in the heavy suit of armor, petting it’s head once they managed to climb the pool table. “ I'm thinking of getting a spiked collar to show off my personality. It makes a statement like, ' Attach a leash to me and take me for a walk please.'” The child nodded in agreement to Doggo’s small problem, letting him know it’d suit the husky.

They dropped off from their position to listen to any others, this included watching the lesser guard play poker with itself… And somehow loosing. They shrugged it off and walked nearby that plant like monster with a gaping maw. “ Hmmm... Isn't human food different from monster food? It does things like 'spoil'. And when you eat it, it passes all the way through your whole body. Disgusting! I'd love to try it sometime. And I've heard they have things called 'bathrooms'…” Frisk could never tell if this monster knew they were a human… or just liked to talk about human culture's food… Either way, they didn’t want to agree, making them sucpisuious and indeed saying they were a human.

Frisk finally went to sent down, overhearing some other monsters around them. “ Oh hey, I saw your picture on a fishing hook! It looked really nice.” They complemented the balding fish like monster who finally let a smile rise up.

“ Ah, heh, thanks kid. I put out a line for some girls today. Someone told me that there are plenty of fish in the sea... well, I'm taking that seriously. I'm literally going to make out with a fish if this keeps up. I mean, I guess I could ask out Undyne, buuut I think she likes someone already.”

The pink mellowed bird fluffed up her feats, wanting to join in the small talk. “ Oh! That reminds me! Those dogs are part of The Royal Guard, the elite military group led by Undyne. She's rude, loud, and beats up everybody who gets in her way. It's no wonder all the kids want to be like her when they grow up! I want to be like Undyne when I grow up too! Hoo, hoo, hoo!” The old monster chortled out.

Then came a sudden scoff from Frisk’s side, again changing the subject, “ Pth, please Muriel. Protecting us against humans is the least of our problems. The Capital's getting pretty crowded, so I've heard they're going to start moving here. Hmmm... I don't want to see the erasure of our local culture. But I definitely want to see some city slickers slip on their butts! Yeah, bring 'em on! But, then again… What will happen to Grillby's if everyone moves in? We're gonna' have to have chairs to the ceiling. What’s your say Grill-Man?”

The fiery host rolled his eyes… Or well at least that’s what Frisk could see him doing. Is attention came to the small child, “ …..”
The bird spoke up again, “ Gillbz said that he'd offer you a glass or water, but he doesn't touch the stuff. Sorry deary.” Frisk nodded and began t leave… However behind their back, they could defiantly had the charring monster back talk the hamster with the green Mohawk… Something about how he was lucky Grillby let him into the place for being a pest in the past.

Once they walked out, they were greeted by Sans teleporting right in front of them, making them shriek out and fall into the snow. “ ptttthehehe. How’s the weather down there?”

They growled a bit, spitting out some snow, “ … Snowy…” He chuckled, helping them up and moving on.

A ink mouse bundled up in warm clothes with a large scarf watched them and sighed as they saw the skeleton laugh. “ Everyone is always laughing and cracking joke, trying to forget out modern crises... Dreariness, crowding, lack of sunlight... I would join them, but I'm just not very funny…” Frisk smiled gently, patting their shoulder to believe in them. “ Hmmm… Wait! I've got a joke! Knock, knock! ...uh... That's all I've thought of…” They went by to their apathetic tone of voice, their large round ears falling fat down the sides their cap.

Meanwhile Sans just walked by, shrugging the downer mood, “ tch, don’t be such a downer and just be thankful that your packed with so much warm clothes. if not, you’d woulda’ surely become some mice cubes.”

As soon as the cheeky skeleton was further away, the bitter rodent muttered out, “ At least I'm not making puns... “

A tall lanky red imp with a permanent smile like Sans overheard the chatter, “ It’s only because we all know The Underground has problems, but we smile anyway. Why? We can't do anything, so why be morose about it? Smile, smile... Well, maybe I'll try frowning for once... Nope... I just can't do it…”

“ hey, just keep smiling forward buddy.” Said Sans, turn away, probably making a detours Frisk wouldn’t have to go against his brother… Relaying the inevitable.

Frisk followed along, waving to a hidden camera, stashed away into a tree nearby before gaining up with their soon to be dunkle. As Sans chatted with a large smile with a mustache, Frisk watched the two small ones. ” Let's play monsters and humans!”

The other pile of goo deflated a tad, “ You aren't gonna' make me be the human again are you?”

The older slime chuckled out, “ Ah, to be young again. The world sure felt boundless.”

“ I think you still look young sir.” Frisk politely interrupted, earning a cheerful burst of laughter from the gooey monster as he thanked them.

Before Sans could walk away, Frisk knocked on a wooden door, “ kid, what the heck?”

Te two heard a relaxed voice from the other side, “ Ah, what a beautiful knock! maybe if I don't answer, I'll hear it again.” Another knock, “ Ah, my patience rewards me.” Knock, “ Ahh...”

After that odd ordeal, they headed over to the skeleton’s side who put on an odd looking face. “ jeez zack what the hell…?”When Sans wasn’t pang attention, the child ran to a fenced off area, watching a large muscular wolf monster tossing ice chunks, fairy close to the size of its own body into the water flow to the side. The wolf’s head looked over to Frisk for just a fraction of a moment, earning a thumbs up from Frisk, giving him a little more motivation which the wolf happily accepted.

After rounding up the human… Or at the very least trying to, seeing as how they ran off to the shore of the ever flowing cold river. As soon as the skeleton caught up t Frisk, who was peering over the ledge to watch the chilling water go by… A ringing went off. Sans instinctively checked his cell-phone, seeing it hadn’t buzzed at all. Frisk gasped out loudly, snagging up their own phone Toriel had lent them. “ huh? kid, you okay? your face just lit up like my house’s lights.”

“ THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!” Frisk squealed out with glee, it was a mix of fear and joy. It must have been Toriel! But with her on the line… Would that alter anything? Oh well, they decided after the phone rang out obnoxiously.

The clicked the button to answer, about to greet who they presumed to be the gentle Ruins’ caretaker… Only to get someone they never heard before. “ Hello! Can I speak to G-... Wait a second. Is this the wrong number? Oh, it's the wrong number! The wrong number song!” Frisk’s happiness morphed into that of annoyance as a tune ran out besides their ear. “ We're very, very sorry that we got it wrong! Oh, it's the wrong number! The wrong number song! We're very, very sorry that we got it wrong!” The call then ended itself.

“ what’s with the pouty face?”

“ Mrmm… Wrong number… Unless you know someone who has a G in their first name and gets a lot of calls.” To say the very least, both monster and human were confused. Frisk suspected that it may have been for someone in town, or the elusive Gaster. But what caught them off guard was that the voice on the other end sounded… So clear. Normally when those jittery figments said anything about the creeping and looming monster, they always sounded like static or garbled… Sans thought the same with himself, both him and Frisk not discussing it from being a bit unnerved. Sans however couldn’t wrap the odd message around his skull… The old man he knew in the past would get rained on by calls… But nobody but him, The Riverperson and the human knew about the time torn monster. It couldn’t have been Asriel… Since he was long deceased… Not the child, and the transporter of the rivers never carried around a phone.

Finally shrugging the anomaly, the two had headed inside the nice cozy temperature of The Library. Frisk being greeted by a long snouted lizard with shining glasses. “ Welcome to the library-Yes, we know the sign is misspelled.”

Frisk stopped, turning over, it seemed odd that they never did ask the reason behind the misspelled name, and usually just went with it. “ How come it is spelled like that?”

The lizard’s eyes slowly went to Sans with an unamused expression plastered on their face. “ That would be, because of this one’s brother. We didn’t have a sign originally, but one day his brother decided to make one for us…”

Sans winked, shrugging it away, “ have no idea what your talking about.”

The librarian groaned, shoving their face into their claws, “ And worst off, HE keeps denying it.”

After a small pat of the claw from Frisk-though doing their best not to burst into laughter, the human walked around the table with their dunkle. A young feminine camel monster with either a long strand of hair, or a unicorn horn smiled to the child, handing over a newspaper happily. “ I love working on the newspaper. There's so little to report that we just fill it with comics and games.” Frisk’s mouth popped open, but the lady answered right before they could ask the obvious. “ Yes, I illiterate all of the comics myself~.”

Sans peeked over, “ is that why the people in your comics look goofy?”

The lady sighed, “ ... Yes, I give everyone huge beautiful eyes and giant muscles.” It seemed like everyone in the quaint little village of frost knew about Sans’ snarkiness.

The older woman next to her coughed a bit, talking in a thick smoker voice, “ Heya Sansy, I cooked up a new crossword puzzle.” Their thin cat like eyes went to Frisk and smiled through layers of makeup, “ Well hello there, ya lil' cutie. Ya know, when I was younger, my teachers gave me word searched when they ran out of assignments. I thought they were a waste of time. But look at me now... I'm the number-one word-search creator in the entire Underground!” She chuckled out, blowing a puff of thick smoggy smoke ring into the air.

“ H-Hey! I told you no smoking I here!” The geeky librarian called out, grabbing a water bottle, threatening to spray the chain smoker. She begrudgingly doused out the cigarette in her paws.

A small pink loox, peered over to Frisk, a sparkle in its eye, “ That look in your eye... You're someone that has difficulty solving Junior Jumble, aren't you?” Sans raised a invisible brow, considering to say or not say, ‘ how can you tell?’ with Frisk’s squinted eyes. The child gave a small glare with a puffed up cheek, “ Er-I mean... That look in your eye... you think Sudoku is just moderately challenging don't you?”

While in the library-er libarary, Frisk quietly took out some books to review over, making sure nothing had changed since they were still a bit paranoid about the call from earlier. “ School monster funeral report.” Sans splayed his back against the mellowed wall, sitting next to the child, hoping to just rest up… Only to twitch as Frisk began reading. “ Monster funerals, technically speaking, are cool as heck! When monsters get old and kick the bucket, they turn into dust. At funerals, we take that dust and spread it on that person's favorite thing. Then their essence will live on in that thing... Uhhh, am I at the page minimum yet? I'm getting tired of writing this...”They put the book down, not noticing how the skeleton’s bony hands were to clutched together on his… belly? While his eyes became hollow. It bit him deep inside… He hadn’t even been able to attend his friend’s funeral from being so stressed, busy, and upset…

“ While monsters are mostly made of magic, human beings are mostly made of water. Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us. But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card… Hey Sans did you know human bones are 90% water?”
Sans kept up with his steady act of being chill, “ pth, that sounds pretty ambiguous kiddo.”

“ Here I am... writing this book. A person comes in and picks up the book. They start reading it!”

The camel lady waved over, giggling in embarrassment, “ Oh, sorry! I'm still writing that one.”

Frisk nodded and put the book down, picking another random one, “ Because they are made of magic, monsters' bodies are attuned to their soul. If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueler the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful soul struck with the desire to kill-“

Sans quickly and quietly put his fingers around the book, pulling it away nervously, “ um, let's end the chapter here...”

Frisk agreed as some… painful memories started to bleed through. “ Monster History Part 4: Fearing the humans no longer, we moved out of our old city, Home. We braved harsh cold, damp swampland, and searing heat... Until we reached what we now call our Capital; New Home. Again, our king is really bad at names...” The skeleton’s funk was uplifted a bit from the blatant statement. “ Love, hope, compassion... This is what people say monster souls are made of. But the absolute nature of 'SOUL' is unknown. After all, humans have proven their souls don't need these things to exist...” Frisk frowned before putting the books away where they had found them. Sans was thankful they hadn’t seen his expression as he looked up to the ceiling. An expression of bitter confusion etched his skull… That book sounded a bit… Like how his father perceived things… Did he ever write a book?

“ Sans, you should really check your mail… It’s about to snap from all the letters.” Frisk advised, looking at the rickety frost covered mailbox that was chalk full of unread letters, which at this point came out both ends and onto the snowy ground. All while Papyrus’ mail box was nice and clean… without any letters. Frisk could never really tell if Papyrus was just good at checking it or if no one ever wrote to him.

“ ehhh, i’ll get around to it.”

Frisk scoffed, their attention still drawn to the over-stuffed mailbox. “ Pth, yeah, I’m sure. You know, up n The Surface, you were still too lazy to check i-…..t…” Sans was gone yet again. They sighed lightly… Looked like they’d need to go up against his younger brother by themselves.

Chapter Text

Frisk stepped into the cold mist and fogged threshold of the way beyond Snowdin, only for their progress to be halted by the taller skeleton. Unbeknownst to them, Sans watched from the roof of his home, not anything to interfere considering Papyrus would have been against it… But those nightmares… They could never be shaken off. “ HUMAN. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS... THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOT! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS... LIKE…” Papyrus looked down before his eyes averted back up, “ AHERM! I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMAN... WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE YOUR-...N-NO... NO THIS IS ALL WRONG!” He panicked a bit, emotions clashing against his better judgment. “ I-I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL, POPULAR, PRESTIGIOUS, OTHER P WORDS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!”

It hadn’t even taken that long until… Frisk was on the ground, Sans being rather shocked… Did they loose on purpose? “ YOU ARE TO WEAK NOW! I WILL SEND YOU TO THE CAPTURE ZONE! OR AS SANS CALLS IT... THE GARAGE? YOUR IN THE DOGHOUSE NOW! NYEHEHEHE!”

Frisk sat there in the spacious shed that looked like no one had stepped into it for its services in years… well aside from a few things. They sighed lightly as they toyed around with the squeaky bone, laying on the small bedding. The door creaked pen and closed, soft steps came over on the other side f the ‘gate’. Sans gave a puzzled look, “ what happen? i thought you’ve done this a bunch of times.”

“ I have… But you still need to experience it. And besides that, I know your hesitant. Not with Papyrus, but with me. I know you still don’t fully trust me around your brother. Even though he trusts me more than you do.”

“ wait… what do you mean…?” The child handed him a small note while they poked the dry dog food in the bowel. ‘ SORRY, I HAVE TO LOCK YOU IN THE GUEST ROOM UNTIL UNDYNE ARRIVES. FEEL FREE TO MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME! REFRESHMENTS AND ACCOMMODATIONS HAVE BEEN PROVIDED. - NYEHFULLY YOURS, PAPYRUS.’ “ heh… your fairly clever, i’ll give you that kid. but this isn’t exactly ‘i trust you material.”

“ He expects me to stay in here, even though I can just walk out.” The explained, finally waking through the ‘gate’ and outside. Sans followed, interested in what they were trying to prove. This time Sans had gotten closer, hiding behind a snow covered tree as Frisk and Papyrus met up.

“ OH... WHERE COULD THAT HUMAN HAVE GONE...” Papyrus was always good at checking on things rather quickly on his own. Be it for better or for worse. Sans listened, hearing his little brother sound… upset. “ WAIT... IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! HELLO! I WAS WORRIED THAT YOU HAD GOTTEN LOST! IT SURE IS A RELIEF TO KNOW THAT YOU'RE RIGHT HERE... WAIT A SECOND! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ESCAPE! GET BACK HERE!” Sans listened silently as a scuffle broke but, peeking from his hiding spot only to see… Frisk on the ground again. “ WELL! YOU MAY HAVE CLEVERLY ESCAPED FROM JAIL BEFORE... BUT THIS TIME. I'VE UPGRADED THE FACILITIES! NOT ONLY WILL YOU BE TRAPPED... BUT YOU WON'T EVEN WANT TO LEAVE! He couldn't figure this out… Why was the kid doing this? Was it to show him how they wouldn't fight his brother? Or not fighting him because Sans was around.

The short stature skeleton teleported to the shed again. “ kid, what are you trying to prove?”

“ That I’ not going to hurt him. Not because of you, but because he’s my friend. I’m sure you think I’m just doing this because I’d have to deal wiyh you. But I’m not.” They said, poking the kibble with chopped up hotdog mixed in it. “ Listen.” They grabbed hold of the new note, “PLEASE ASK BEFORE YOU ESCAPE! WHEN YOU WENT MISSING I GOT WORRIED SICK! - SLIGHTLY BONETROUSELED PAPYRUS”

With that, the normally cheeky skeleton left. Sans was now by his brother’s side awaiting Frisk, “ HUH? SANS, PLEASE I DO NOT NEED YOUR HELP. I HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL.”

“ paps look… before the human escapes again-somehow. i need to know… do you actually care about them?”

“ OF COURSE! I CARE FR THEM TO BE… TO BE LOCKED UP AND SENT TO UNDYNE… T-THOUGH… THEY HAVE NOT EVEN TRIED TO ATTACK ME… ALL THEY DID WAS SAY NO AND NOT AVOID EVEN MY MOST BASIC ATTACKS! THEY… THEY SEEM RATHER LONELY AND UPSET…” He looked away, obviously bothered by the whole circumstance. Sans noticed Frisk now leaving the shed and teleported to a closer tree. This time he would concentrate in listening, instead of spacing out. “ BACK AGAIN EH? I SUPPOSE IT'S MY FAULT... I TOLD YOU BEFORE I WOULD MAKE YOU SPAGHETTI. IT'S ONLY NATURAL THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO SEE ME... IN DIRE HOPE THAT I WOULD MAKE YOU SOME. WELL... I UNDERSTAND. NYEHE, I'M HUNGRY TOO! HUNGRY FOR JUSTICE! YOU ARE... PERSISTENT! BUT IT WON'T WORK ON ME! I AM THE PERSISTENT! AND IF YOU THINK YOU ARE PERSISTENTER... THAT IS WRONG~ GRAMMATICALLY WRONG! BECAUSE THE CORRECT FORM WOULD BE... NOT AS PERSISTENT AS PAPYRUS, THE PERSISTENTEST!” Then… Sans heard it. Te gentle no’s and not wanting to fight come from Frisk. They sounded so genuine… So innocent… No hint of aggression what so ever until, “I HOPE YOU ENJOYED YOUR LESSON. NYEHEHEHE! “

Back in the shed, yet again Sans walked in to see Frisk eating some warmed spaghetti in the dog bowel. They looked up to him, passing him the final note. ‘ IF YOU'RE JUST LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO STAY... JUST ASK! YOU DON'T NEED TO FIGHT ME! - YOUR HOST, PAPYRUS.’ With a heavy sigh, he looked over the child one last time… No secret EXP or LV there. “ jeez kiddo. are you really doing this?”

“ I told you. I won’t fight. It’s not because I’m scared of you. It’s because he’s my friend. If he wasn’t would I be eating this-though I am kinda hungry... And besides, does it sound like I’m making excuses for you to trust me, or does it sound like I actually care about him?”

The skeleton sighed, sitting down, leaning against the wall, “ that’s a good point kiddo… well you don’t sound angry or afraid of me. you still have no EXP or LV… and everyone i know would ever try and eat his food, or even go through those puzzles just to make him happy. i guess… you really do care and aren’t pulling a fast one on me…”

“ Sans?”

“ yeah?”

“ Why do you keep looking at that crack on the wall above the window?”

Sans snapped out of his trance… How long had he been looking at the old mark on the wall? How long was he just sitting there remembering Asriel’s on kindness, caring for him that one time in this shed. Having to fight against his own father to help out his dear friend… It seemed like a deja-vu now… But now, Helping this child, and preparing to ‘fight’ his brother. He hadn’t even notice Frisk was holding his hand until they spoke up. “ Sans… We can do this. Together. No one needs to get hurt. I pinky promise.”

There they were again, this time Sans by Frisk’s side after resetting so that Papyrus hadn’t captured Frisk, showing Sans just how determined they were without having to resort to violence. There they met up with the younger more energized brother. “HUMAN. ALLOW ME TO TELL YOU ABOUT SOME COMPLEX FEELINGS. FEELINGS LIKE... THE JOY OF FINDING ANOTHER PASTA LOVER. THE ADMIRATION FOR ANOTHER'S PUZZLE-SOLVING SKILLS. THE DESIRE TO HAVE A COOL, SMART PERSON THINK YOU ARE COOL. THESE FEELINGS... THEY MUST BE WHAT YOU ARE FEELING RIGHT NOT! I CAN HARDLY IMAGINE WHAT IT MUST BE LIKE TO FEEL THAT WAY. AFTER ALL, I AM VERY GREAT. I DON'T EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS... LIKE… AHERM! I PITY YOU... LONELY HUMAN... WORRY NOT! YOU SHALL BE LONELY NO LONGER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL BE YOUR-SANS WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH TE HUMAN?”

“ showin’ ‘em a good time by hanging out with my best bro.”

“ B-BUT SANS… I… WE CANNOT BE FRIENDS WITH THEM!...N-NO... NO THIS IS ALL WRONG! SANS, JUST WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!”

The skeleton lazily walked to the side, sitting into the cushiony snow. “ mmm, no one's really. i just escorted them here. but ehhh, too lazy to help fight… kay night.”

“ WHAT D YOU MEAN NIG-OHHHH MY GOD! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” Papyrus yelled out, seeing is shorter but older brother now laying on his back asleep… or trying to. “ SANS, PLEASE, WOULD YOU JUST GIVE ME A HAND OVER HERE!” A skeletal hand was simply tossed over besides his bright red boot. “ …..” He sighed, heavily. “ GOOD HELP IS SO HARD TO GET NOW A DAYS… ANYWAYS! I CAN'T BE YOUR FRIEND! YOU ARE A HUMAN! I MUST CAPTURE YOU! THEN, I CAN FULFILL MY LIFELONG DREAM! POWERFUL, POPULAR, PRESTIGIOUS, OTHER P WORDS! THAT'S PAPYRUS! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” Before Papyrus could throw out a sliding blue bone to Frisk, they smooched their own palm then blew onto it as if they were sending him a kiss. Papyrus’ cheekbones flushed an orange tint of magic, “ WHAT?! FL-FLIRTING?! SO YOU FINALLY REVEAL YOUR ULTIMATE FEELINGS! W-WELL... I'M A SKELETON WITH VERY HIGH STANDARDS!”

Frisk smiled up to him,” I can make spaghetti.”

Sans on the other hand, though yes, wasn’t participating, didn’t mean h couldn’t join in the conversational fray. “ and i have zero redeeming qualities.”

“ ARGH! SANS, STOP THAT! DON’T MAKE THIS WEIRD! BUT REGARDING SANS… OH NO! YOU'VE MET ALL MY STANDERS! I GUESS... THIS MEANS I HAVE TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU?” He said out loud, rather baffled from suddenly being hit on by the human. More blue bones were sent to them, parting the snow and going past them.

“ does that mean i’m gonna’ go with you on that date too kid?” He lifted up his skull to see Frisk nod to it.

“ SANS! I SAID NOT TO MAKE IT WEIRD! AND BESIDES LE-LET'S DATE LATER AFTER THE FIGHT-NOT WITH YOU SANS!” After a moment of the skeleton pondering what to wear, he noticed Frisk wasn’t attacking and decided to move on. “ SO YOU WON'T FIGHT... THEN LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!” The child’s soul turned blue, making them be pulled down as a small normal bone was sent over to them, parting t snow. The managed t hop over it, determined to go through the true battle now. “ YOU'RE BLUE NOW! THAT'S MY ATTACK! NYEHEHEHE! “ More bones were sent over, sailing across the ice for Frisk to dodge as Papyrus put on some bone cologne, asking himself what should he wear.

Sans chuckled, overhearing the mutters, “ wow, you're really thinking about that date huh paps?”

There was the bright orange blush again as more bones of normal and blue were sent out, “ WHAT I WAS NOT THINKING ABOUT THE DATE!”He shouted, then putting marinara sauce behind his ear.

“ ooooh, don’t get all huffy now, or else you might waste some energy and have to use the ‘special attack’. Sans teased, still laying on the ice.

This type of teasing gave him an idea, “ YEAH! DON'T MAKE ME USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!” He dabbed some MTT-brand bishie cream behind his ear, warning Frisk. As more bones were sent and dodged, Papyrus sighed to himself, dreaming, “ I CAN ALMOST TASTE MY FUTURE POPULARITY!” He powered behind his ear with some MTT-Anime brand powder. His eye got big and sparkly as he continued. “ PAPYRUS; HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARD!” The skeleton squirted MTT-brand cute juice behind his ear. “ PAPYRUS; UNPARALLELED SPAGHETTIOR!” Then applying MTT-Brand attraction slime.“ UNDYNE WILL BE SO PROUD OF ME!” And finally covering it all with MTT-Brand beauty yogurt. Frisk, wanting a small break from jumping over numerous amounts of bones, they took out their one stick and tossed it aside, past Papyrus. Papyrus skipped to the side, catching it with his teeth in mid-air, bringing it back to Frisk and giving it to them. He was awarded with an applause of Frisk and Sans. “ THE KING WILL TRIM A HEDGE OF MY SMILE!” Frisk giggled from the irony, that that was Asgore’s first project when they founded their new abode. Just then Papyrus realized… he has no ears… He pawed at the side of his skull, “ BLAST IT! ITS JUST LIKE WHEN SANS TOOK MY NOSE AND THEN I REALIZED I NEVER HAD ONE!”

“ dude… i pulled that trick years ago, and you only realized it the other day ago when you were making spaghetti.”

Papyrus’ gaze squinted to his brother, “ DON’T GET SAUCY WITH ME… AND MY BROTHER... WELL HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH...” He whispered a ‘Nyehehe’. “ I'LL HAVE MANY ADMIRERS! BUT...” He posed, throwing out more bones, trying his best to play cool. WILL ANYONE LIKE ME AS KINDLY AS YOU...?” He nervously rubbed his gloves together, considering his options as each weighed heavily before him. “ SOMEONE LIKE YOU IS REALLY RARE... AND DATING MIGHT BE KINDA HARD...” He frowned slightly, his bones rattling up.“ AFTER YOU'RE CAPTURED AND SENT AWAY... NRNNN…. UGH! WHO CARES? JUST GIVE UP!”

Sans mumbled something slightly audible to where Frisk could hear before being barraged by more bones. They could have sworn they heard him say, ‘ way ahead of you’. Papyrus smirked, as if he were preparing a trick, “ GIVE UP OR FACE MY SPECIAL ATTACK! YEAH! VERY SOON, I'LL USE MY SPECIAL ATTACK!”

Sans sat up to look to the human, giving a warning, “ not too long now...”

“ THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!” Papyrus called out, warning them… Only to have the small human reach out and signaling him with the, ‘Come at me’ maneuver of their hand.

“ BEHOOOOOLD! MY SPECIAL ATTACK-“ He paused as he stretched his arms over his head, to see that annoying dog beside him nibbling on a bone. “ WHAT THE HECK?! THAT'S MY SPECIAL ATTACK! HEY! YOU STUPID DOG! DO YOU HEAR ME?!” The dog’s eye widened as it looked to the skeleton nervously in mid-nibble “ STOP MUNCHING ON THAT BONE!” And just like that the tiny pup got up and ran off past Sans. “ HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! COME BACK HERE WITH MY SPECIAL ATTACK!”

“ kay, bye toby.”

“ UGH… WHATEVER. I'LL JUST USE A SUPER COOL REGULAR ATTACK...” Papyrus said, sounding rather unenthusiastic now. He sighed out, “ OKAY, HERE GOES MY NORMAL ATTACK. CURSED DOG!” Bones of various sizes and blue colors of a mix flew to Frisk, almost getting them a couple of times. Frisk hopped around back and forth, over Toby still chewing that important bone, the who ‘COOL DUDE’ being spelled out with bones, an even a bone on a skateboard. Then came the army of bones. The leapt into the air, trying to hold on since in the past their soul’s power of determination helped aid them… But now with some of its power still recovering. They shut their eyes tightly, bracing the impact from when they would surely fall… But, they didn’t. They felt as if they were floating… Slowly opening an eye, they found a blue veil around them, carrying them above the bones and the large titanical one. They landed perfectly with the blue fading away, letting them hop over one last tiny slowed down bone.

“ W-WELL! HUFF! IT'S CLEAR YOU CAN'T! PUFF! DEFEAT ME! Y-YEAH! I CAN SEE YOU SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!” The skeleton ahead of them put his gloved hands onto his knee-bones, panting.“ THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY! I WILL SPARE YOU HUMAN! HOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO ACCEPT MY MERCY.” Meanwhile, Sans had one eye out for them, his breathing hesitated as he saw the human curl up a fist… But instead they held it out, bumping it to Papyrus’ gloved up hand, teaching him a an odd gesture of a hand shake. Bumping it down, up, then straight on before imitating an explosion, waggling their hand back, whistling. Papyrus blinked before waving his own hand back, “ BALALAL~!”

However Papyrus’ joy was rather short lived,” NYOOHOOHOO! I CAN'T EVEN STOP SOMEONE AS WEAK AS YOU... UNDYNE'S GOING TO BE SO DISAPPOINTED IN ME... I'LL NEVER JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD... AND... MY FRIEND QUANTITY WILL REMAIN STAGNANT!” He looked so upset… so hurt…

Frisk frowned just as the tall skeleton had done, pulling at their heart strings. The put a hand on his mittens and smiled gently, “ I’ll be your friend.”

“ W-WHA-REALLY?! YOU WANT TO BE FRIENDS, W-WITH ME?!” He coughed a bit, not wanting to seem TOO DESPERATE… “ WE-WELL THEN... I GUESS... I GUESS I CAN MAKE AN ALLOWANCE FOR YOU! WOWIE! WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD OUR FIRST DATE! AND I'VE ALREADY MANAGED TO HIT THE FRIEND ZONE! WHO KNEW THAT ALL I NEEDED TO MAKE PALS WAS TO GIVE PEOPLE AWFUL PUZZLES AND THEN FIGHT THEM?! YOU TAUGHT ME A LOT HUMAN! I HEREBY GRANT YOU PERMISSION TO PASS THROUGH!”

“ hehehe, good job pa-“

“ AND I'LL GIVE YOU DIRECTIONS TO THE SURFACE!”

“ ….wait wha-“

“ CONTINUES FORWARD UNTIL YOU REACH THE END OF THE CAVERN. THEN... WHEN YOU REACH THE CAPITAL, CROSS THE BARRIER. THAT'S THE MAGICAL SEAL TRAPPING US ALL UNDERGROUND. ANYTHING CAN ENTER THROUGH IT, BUT NOTHING CAN EXIT... EXCEPT SOMEONE WITH A POWERFUL SOUL... LIKE YOU! THAT'S WHY THE KING WANTS TO ACQUIRE A HUMAN! HE WANTS TO OPEN THE BARRIER WITH SOUL POWER. THEN US MONSTERS CAN RETURN TO THE SURFACE. OH, I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU...”

Sans watched the two, a bit nervous from his brother spilling out all of this information… Had Papyrus always done this in other runs? The young skeleton gave a hard and stern face to the child. “ TO REACH THE EXIT, YOU WILL HAVE TO PASS... THROUGH THE KING'S CASTLE! THE KING OF ALL MONSTERS! HE IS... WELL...” Then came his usual sweet smile, “ HE'S A BIG FUZZY PUSHOVER! EVERYBODY LOVES THAT GUY! I AM CERTAIN IF YOU JUST SAY, 'EXCUSE ME, MR. DREEMURR, CAN I PLEASE GO HOME?' HE'LL GUIDE YOU RIGHT TO THE BARRIER HIMSELF! ANYWAY! THAT'S ENOUGH TALKING! I'LL BE AT HOME BEING A COOL FRIEND! FEEL FREE TO COME BY AND HAVE THAT DATE! NYEHEHEHE!” He said before flying off, doing a loop. Frisk always wondered how he managed to do that but restrained from questioning it… Ever… Well until now.

“ Sans… How did he-“

“ magic.”

The child held their expression, puffing a cheek up with an even more questioning expression, “ Are you sure?”

“ yuuup…”

“ Magic?”

Sans walked over, wriggling his fingers to their face, “ maaaagic~…”

“SO YOU CAME BACK TO HAVE A DATE WITH ME?! YOU MUST BE REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS... I'LL HAVE TO TAKE YOU SOMEPLACE REALLY SPECIAL. A PLACE I LIKE TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME! SANS YOU CAN COME WITH IF YOU WANT!”

“ mmm, nah, I’m good.” With that, Frisk followed Papyrus, walking about the town until… They came back to the decorated home where he had originally been standing with Sans nowhere in sight.

“ MY HOUSE! WELCOME TO MY HOME~!” With a small sigh, Frisk shook their head, smiling from his antics. Once they got into the warmed up house, and inhaled the smell of… Bones? They felt relaxed… It felt like they were back in their home on The Surface. They felt that with Toriels home. It had been the only reason they had slept there actually. They missed their house… Now that everyone was so divided… It felt off. Frisk’s eye fell upon the single rock on the table, sitting there with sprinkled candy scattered all about it. They still had no idea why it meant so much to Sans back when Flowey broke it. “ THIS IS MY BROTHER'S PET ROCK. HE ALWAYS FORGET TO FEED IT!” e sighed lightly, “ AS USUAL, I HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.”

Frisk wandered over to the stove, getting more information they had forgotten due to being on The Surface for a while. “ MY BROTHER ALWAYS GOES OUT TO EAT BUT... RECENTLY, HE TRIED 'BAKING' SOMETHING. IT WAS LIKE... A QUICHE. BUT FILLED WITH A SUGARY, NON-EGG SUBSTANCE. HOW ABSURD! I SWEAR HE ES THIS LIKE EVERY MONTH ON THE SAME DAY…” The child nodded, viewing the fridge, opening it. “ AH-HA! INTERESTED IN MY FOOD MUSEUM? PLEASE, PERUSE MY CULINARY ART-SHOW.” He said proudly as Frisk saw half of it having containers labeled spaghetti, as the other half seemed empty, aside from a bag of open chips. They noticed one chip had fallen out and onto the floor. Papyrus gasped out, picking it up and throwing it away, “ AND THIS IS THE TRASH CAN. FEEL FREE TO VISIT IT ANY TIME.”

Frisk closed the fridge’s door, encasing the chilly temperature and was drawn to the high table. “ IMPRESSED? I INCREASED THE HEIGHT OF OUR SINK. NOW I CAN FIT MORE BONES UNDER IT! TAKE A LOOKSY!” Not fearing anything to be seen, as he did tell the truth… But apparently the truth was much more than he could handle as the same white canine from before was in there chewing a bone. “ WHAT?! CATCH THAT MEDDLING CANINE!” He and Frisk tried to snatch the slippery dog, only for it to scuttle out the kitchen and out the door as soon as the two got out. The slender skeleton stamped the floor with his bright boot, “ CURSES!” Frisk looked overhead, hearing something click, to see Sans’ door to open, letting the cheeky skeleton lean out over the railing and play his trombone before vanishing back into the darkness of his room.“ SAAANS! STOP PLAGUING MY LIFE WITH INCIDENTAL MUSIC!” But before the child went to continue their look around the cozy house, they rushed into the kitchen, making the monster follow, then stepped out, making the monster run back to his original spot. This repeated a few times.“ I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS... THAT MUST MEAN I'M BEING A GREAT HOST!” This was another thing Frisk enjoyed about the lovable goof… He was always so optimistic!

Then came the dreaded sock… With letters… ‘ SANS! PLEASE PICK UP YOUR SOCK!’

‘ ok.’

‘ DON'T PUT IT BACK DOWN! MOVE IT!’

‘ ok.’

‘ YOU MOVED IT TWO INCHES! MOVE IT TO YOUR ROOM!’

‘ ok.’

‘ AND DON'T BRING IT BACK!’

‘ ok.’

‘ IT'S STILL HERE!’

‘ didn't you just say not to bring it back to my room?’

‘ FORGET IT!’ Frisk held in their laughter from the comedic arguing of the two brothers. After shaking the giggle fit away, they poked the TV, landing on a single channel with game-show music blaring.

“ OOH, IT'S MY FAVORITE GAME-SHOW!”

“ Stay tuned for new program – MTT” An announcer said, excitedly.

“ WHAT?! IT'S USUALLY BETTER THAN THIS! THIS IS JUST A BAD EPISODE! DON'T JUDGE ME!” The nodded before walking to a small book-stand, letting their hand trail across the emerald sofa, noticing a lump in the middle of it. It took a moment with Papyrus trying to ‘fix’ the TV and snagged some loose gold from the seat. Once at the book stand, the rested their hand on the cover of a joke book. Smoothly opening it to find inside, a quantum physics, then inside a joke book, then inside a quantum physics, they decided to stop with the paradoxing books and went up the vibrant colored stairs to a single painting, hung up with a bone drawing in it. “ A CLASSIC IMAGE! IT ALWAYS REMINDS ME OF WHAT'S IMPORTANT IN LIFE.” Papyrus said, walking up the stairs… slightly wobbly from running around and the fight. Frisk hesitantly thought of trying to open Sans’ door… But strayed away from the idea, sensing Sans still probably wasn’t 100% behind the child's plan… Seeing as how he reacted when they let themselves get captured by his brother.

Instead they decided to just go to Papyrus’ door. “ THAT'S MY ROOM! IF YOU'VE FINISHED LOOKING AROUND, WE COULD GO IN AND... DO WHATEVER PEOPLE DO WHN THEY DATE?” Frisk nodded, opening up the room to find Sans standing there behind the door. Frisk nearly jumped into Papyrus’ hands, as Papyrus jumped back as well… only to lose his balance and fall down the steps behind Frisk. “ ARGH! SAAAAAAANS!”

“ OWIE, OWIE, OWIE!” Paprus whined out as Sans covered a small bit of bone that had snapped off from the rest of the bone of Papyrus’ arm with a bandage and gauze. “ SANS, WHAT WERE YOU EVEN DOING IN MY ROOM?!”

“ heh, sorry paps. i just wanted to supervise is all.”

“ SANS! I AM NOT A BABY-BONES ANYMORE! I CAN HANDLE MYSELF!”

“ pth, who said i was watching over ‘you’?” He snickered, watching Frisk poke around a box full of bones.

“ HEY THOSE ARE ALL THE ATTACKS I USED ON YOU! GREAT MEMORIES, HUH? SEEMS LIKE IT WAS ONLY YESTERDAY... EVEN THOUGH IT BASICALLY JUST HAPPENED. OH AND HEY, THERE'S ALL THE ATTACKS I DIDN'T USE! HOW LUCKY FOR YOU! IF I HAD USED MY SPECIAL ATTACK... YOU SURELY WOULD HAVE BEEN BLASTED TO...” He railed off, is voice seeming rather worried. Frisk looked over as Papyrus talked… Seeming rather regretful. “ HEY, WAIT, WHERE IS MY SPECIAL ATTACK? OH NO! I FORGOT I'VE BEEN DOGBURGLED BY THAT PERNICIOUS PUP! THAT LONESOME SCOUNDREL LOVES TO SNEAK INTO MY ROOM. SOMETIMES IT EVEN INTO MY BED WHILE I'M RESTING! UGH, IF THAT WASN'T BAD ENOUGH, IT HAS VERY COLD PAWS!”

“ hehehe, that’s toby for you.”

“ SANS! WHY DID YOU GIVE THAT DARNED CANINE A NAME?!”

“ ‘cuz… he wanted to be ‘pupular’.”

Before Papyrus could yell out, Frisk quickly tapped on the computer in the corner to avoid the annoyance of Sans. “ OH RIGHT! THE INTERNET! I'M QUITE POPULAR THERE. I'M JUST A DOZEN AWAY FROM A DOUBLE DIGIT FOLLOWER COUNT! OF COURSE, FAME HAS A STEEP PRICE... A JEALOUS TROLL HAS BESIEGED MY ONLINE PERSONA! ALWAYS SENDING ME BAD PUNS IN A GOOFY FONT!” Sans’ pupils glazed over Frisk as he wore a smile. There had been so many time where the child wanted to just tell Papyrus it was his brother tricking him… But… Then again, maybe not just yet. They peeked into the closet, not finding anything but neatly hung clothes. “ NYEHEHE! THERE ARE NO SKELETONS INSIDE MY CLOSET! ... EXCEPT ME SOMETIMES.” Then came the bookshelf… It was impressively large to Frisk… They often wondered if the two had more books before… But now, books of complex manuals and kid books were scattered about on the shelves.

“ THAT BOOK'S ONE OF MY FAVORITES! 'ADVANCED PUZZLE CONSTRUCTION FOR CRITICAL MINDS! IT'S IN BETWEEN TWO OF MY OTHER FAVORITES! THE ADVENTURES OF FLUFFY BUNNY, AND PEEK-A-BOO WITH FLUFFY BUNNY! THE ENDING ALWAYS GETS ME.” Papyrus sighed happily, recalling the pop-up book of peek-a-boo. Frisk pointed to the worn out and ragged flag of an old pirate’s. “ ISN'T THAT FLAG NEATO? UNDYNE FOUND IT AT THE BAY! I THINK IT'S FROM THE HUMAN WORLD. NOW, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING... WHY WOULD A HUMAN FLAG HAVE A COOK SKELETON ON IT? WELL... I HAVE A THEORY. I THINK HUMANS... MUST HAVE DESCENDED FROM SKELETONS! NYEHEHEHE!” The held back a giggle, not wanting to discourage him before setting their sights n some figures.“ THERE… OH I SEE YOU FOUND MY FIGURES HUMAN! AH, YES, ACTION FIGURES. A GREAT REFERENCE FOR THE THEORETICAL BATTLE SCENARIOS! HOW DO I HAVE SO MANY? WELL, LET'S JUST SAY THEY'RE FROM A CHUBBY, SMILING MAN WHO LOVES TO SURPRISE PEOPLE~” He said out a bit. Frisk’s image unfortunately strayed over to Sans for some reason… Possibly because they were doing this adventure together. “ YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT! SANTA!” They came the image of Sans dressed as Santa, making them scrunch back.

“ Eeeugh!” Their eyes averted away to a sexy robot figurine to get the image out from their mind. To also help drown it out, they pointed to the bed.

“ AH YES, THAT’S MY BED! IF I EVER GET TO THE SURFACE, I'D LIKE TO DRIVE DOWN A LONG HIGHWAY. WIND IN MY HAIR, SUN ON MY SKIN... OF COURSE, THAT'S JUST A DREAM. SO INSTEAD I CRUISE WHILE I SNOOZE!” They kept pointing over to the race-car. “ WHY ARE YOU SO INTERESTED IN MY BED? ARE YOU TIRED? “ They pointed over and down to Sans who was done wrapping up his brother’s arm and had now slumped himself onto the carpet to sleep. “ H MY GOD SANS! SERIOUSLY?! YOU BARLEY EVEN WALKED TODAY!” Sans answered out, but it was far t muffled to make out. The younger brother rolled his eyes and picked up the lazy skeleton, putting him on his race-car themed bed. “ SO UHM... IF YOU'VE SEEN EVERYTHING... DO YOU WANT TO START THE DATE?” They nodded, letting Papyrus jump up into the air with a victorious smile.

“ OKAY! DATING START! HERE WE ARE! ON OUR DATE… EXCEPT SANS IS HERE-BUT NEVER-MIND THAT! I'VE ACTUALLY NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE... BUT DON'T WORRY! YOU CAN CAN'T SPELL 'PREPARED' WITHOUT SEVERAL LETTERS FROM MY NAME!

“ that and papaya.”

“ SAAAANS! SHHH! YOU’RE GOING TO RUIN MY FIRST DATE!” He huffed, retrieving something from under his ‘battle armor’. “ I SNAGGED AN OFFICIAL DATING RULE-BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY! WE'RE READY TO HAVE A GREAT TIME! LET'S SEE... STEP ONE... PRESS C KEY ON YOUR KEYBOARD FOR 'DATING HUD'.” Frisk walked over to his computer and pressed the button for a screen of various tings popping up. “ WOWIE! I FEEL SO INFORMED! I THINK WE'RE READY FOR STEP TWO! STEP TWO... ASK THEM ON A DATE. AHEM! HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL GO ON A DATE WITH YOU!” Frisk nodded, getting Papyrus' beady eyes to somewhere lighten up and sparkle. “ RE-REALLY?! WOWIE! I GUESS THAT MEANS IT'S TIME FOR PART THREE!” He went back to look at his book. “ STEP THREE... PUT ON NICE CLOTHES TO SHOW YOU CARE... WAIT A SECOND... 'WEAR CLOTHING?'” The skeleton scanned over Frisk. “ THAT BANDANNA AROUND YOUR NECK... YOU'RE WEARING CLOTHING RIGHT NOW! NOT ONLY THAT... EARLIER TODAY, YOU WERE ALSO WEARING CLOTHING!” His cheek-bones gave off the slightest glimpse of range magic welling up inside. “ NO... COULD IT BE?! YOU'VE WANTED TO DATE ME FROM THE VERY BEGINNING?!”

Frisk hesitated to answer. But upon seeing Sans’ eye open, they nodded. They had wanted to see Sans’ expression behind his brother whose eye looked like they popped out. “ NO! YOU PLANNED IT ALL! YOU'RE WAY BETTER AT DATING THAN I AM! N-NOOOOOO! YOUR DATING POWER! NYEH! NYEHEHEHE! DON'T THINK YOU'VE BESTED ME YET! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... HAVE NEVER BEEN BEATEN AT DATING, AND I NEVER WILL! I CAN EASILY KEEP UP WITH YOU! YOU SEE, I TOO CAN WEAR CLOTHING! IN FACT... I ALWAYS WEAR MY 'SPECIAL' CLOTHES UNDERNEATH MY REGULAR CLOTHES! JUST IN CASE SOMEBODY HAPPENS TO ASK ME ON A DATE! BEHOLD!” With a swift spin, Papyrus now had training gloves, a hat, a shirt, pants, shoes, and basketballs on him. Sans’ expression went from a small surprised, ‘oh’ face to a full on grin that he had to cover his teeth not to laugh.“ NYEH! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF MY SECRET STYLE?!”

“ … I love it.”

“ NO! A GENUINE COMPLIMENT! HOWEVER... YOU DON'T TRULY UNDERSTAND THE HIDDEN POWER OF THIS OUTFIT! THEREFORE... WHAT YOU JUST SAID WAS INVALID! THIS DATE WON'T ESCALATE ANY FURTHER! UNLESS YOU FIND MY SECRET! BUT THAT WON'T HAPPEN!” Frisk tilted their head, knowing the answer, but wanting to have fun, they gently tugged at his new glove. ”HOLDING MY HAND SO I'LL TELL YOU THE ANSWER-NO! I MUST RESIST!” They looked to his shoes, “HUMAN SOULS ARE STRONGER THAN MONSTER SOULS. BUT THE SOLES OF OUR SHOE ON THE OTHER HAND! ... ARE ABOUT THE SAME.” Sans seemed to be at tears at this point, keeping his laughter hidden.

“ I SEE. I SEE. YOU LIKE CARESSING MY BICEPS WITH A FLOATING HEART, BUT WHO DOESN'T?” Sometimes Frisk had wanted to see the skeleton's souls… But then again, that brought back bad memories. “ THIS SHIRT DIDN'T ORIGINALLY SAY 'COOL' BUT I IMPROVED IT! EXPERT TIP; ALL CLOTHING ARTICLES CAN BE IMPROVED THIS WAY! HUH? MY HAT...? MY HAT. MY HATE! NYEHEHEHE W-WELL THEN... YOU FOUND MY SECRET! I SUPPOSE I HAVE NO CHOICE!” He removed the cap, tossing it aside, managing to throw it over his brother's eyes… Who was still laying on his back on the bed. Once he saw it was dark under the hat, and far too tired to fling it off… e decided it was now nap time. With his brother’s humble yet loud speech, he could fall asleep easy with it. “ IT'S A PRESENT. A PRESENT J-JUST FOR YOU!” The younger brother said with pure joy, removing the present from above his head, handing it down to Frisk who gritted their teeth, opening it up, begrudgingly... “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS?”

“ O-Of course…”

“ SPAGHETTI. THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, ISN'T IT? RIGHT! BUT OH-SO WRONG! THIS AIN'T ANY PLAIN OL' PASTA! THIS IS AN ARTISAN'S WORK! SILKEN SPAGHETTI, FINLEY AGED IN AN OAKEN CASK, THEN COOKE D BY ME, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS! HUMAN! IT'S TIME TO END THIS! THERE'S NO WAY THIS CAN GO ANY FURTHER!”

Frisk gulped… This was one of the very few things they actually hated when doing a run… They did like his cooking, but… This odd gift… Was the only one they would throw away or try to feed it to the those dark shadow figmental monsters… With a nervous bite, they swallowed just a small mouthful. Holding back a gag as best they could.

“ WHAT A PASSIONATE EXPRESSION! YOU MUST REALLY LOVE MY COOKING! AND BY EXTINSION, ME! MAYBE EVEN MORE THAN I DO! ARGH! URGH! NOOOOOOOOO! HUMAN IT'S CLEAR NOW. YOU'RE MADLY IN LOVE WITH ME. EVERYTHING YOU DO. EVERYTHING YOU SAY. IT'S ALL BEEN FOR MY SAKE. HUMAN. I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY TOO. IT'S TIME FOR ME TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS. IT'S TIME THAT I TOLD YOU. I, PAPYRUS...I.... UHM... BOY, IS IT HOT IN HERE, OR IS IT JUST ME?” is beady eyes darted about. “ ... OH SHOOT... HUMAN I... I'M SORRY. I DON'T LIKE YOU THE WAY YOU LIKE ME-ROMANTICALLY I MEAN. I MEAN I TRIED VERY HARD TO! I THOUGHT THAT BECAUSE YOU FLIRTED WITH ME... THAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO GO ON A DATE WITH YOU. THEN, ON THE DATE, FEELINGS WOULD BLOSSOM FORTH! I WOULD BE ABLE TO MATCH YOUR PASSION FOR ME! BUT ALAS...I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... HAVE FAILED. I FEEL JUST THE SAME AS BEFORE. AND INSTEAD, BY DATING YOU, I HAVE ONLY DRAWN YOU DEEPER INTO YOUR INTENSE LOVE FOR ME! A DARK PRISON OF PASSION, WITH NO ESCAPE. HOW COULD I HAVE DONE THIS TO MY DEAR FRIEND? NO... WAIT! THAT'S WRONG! I CAN'T FAIL AT ANYTHING! HUMAN! I'LL HELP YOU THROUGH THESE TRYING TIMES! I'LL KEEP BEING YOUR COOL FRIEND, AND ACT LIKE THIS ALL NEVER HAPPENED... AFTER ALL, YOU ARE VERY GREAT! IT WOULD BE TRAGIC TO LOSE YOUR FRIENDSHIP.” He said, kneeling down and putting his hand onto Frisk’s with a sad smile… meanwhile Frisk just rolled with it but felt the gagging come back.

“ SO PLEASE... DON'T CRY BECAUSE I WON'T KILL YOU. BECAUSE, I DON'T EVEN HAVE LIPS. AND HEY, SOMEDAY, YOU'LL FIND SOMEONE AS GREAT AS ME! WELL, NO, THAT'S NOT TRUE... BUT I'LL HELP YOU SETTLE FOR SECOND BEST! NYEHEHEHE!” He rushed out from the room… only to run back in and give them a paper, ”OH, AND IF YOU EVER NEED TO REACH ME, HERE'S MY PHONE NUMBER! YOU CAN CALL ME ANYTIME! PLANTONICALLY. WELL, GOTTA' GO! NYEHEHEHE!”As soon as he had ran out the room, Frisk dashed t the closet and opened up the window in the smaller from, vomiting up their lunch from the other timeline where they were caught.

Once They were done cleaning their gut out, they quickly called Papyrus to whisper as their squinted eyes glaze over the chubby skeleton who was now asleep in the racing bed. Frisk could tell when Sans was actually asleep, he would make a very faint snoring sound that was almost to quiet to pick up… Boy he sure wasn't kidding about not walking around so much. “ Hey, Papyrus? Do you guys have a second key to Sans’ room?”

“OH MY! WHY WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO ENTER THERE?! IT’S SO… UNSANITARY…”

“ Well, I need to check something and I’m sure Sans won’t gimmie' his key. Even since he’s asleep, I don’t take it from him.” Papyrus let out a loud, ’HMM’, thinking from the good points. “ … I’ll clean his room as a bonus.”

A loud gasp was heard on the other end, “ GOODNESS! MY DEAR HUMAN, YOU ARE VERY BRAVE INDEED! AND SO HONEST, THAT YOU WOULDN'T JUST TAKE THE KEY! WOWIE… IT’S SO GREAT TO HAVE A WONDERFUL FRIEND-THOUGH I AM SURE THAT’S HOW YOU THINK OF ME AS WELL! NYEHEHE! SURE THING, THERE IS A SKELETON KEY INSIDE MY CLOSET IN A CUPBOARD NEXT TO THE WINDOW!”

As Frisk bid him adieu, they snatched the key and entered the older brother's room after making sure he was still counting sheep… or goats? As they went into the pure black ink the room seemed to be swallowed in, they looked around and walked a bit… It had been a while since they were in this particular room, and forgot about its gimmicks. Thankfully, not too much longer Papyrus stepped in to turn the light on, reveling Frisk to wandering about in the emptiness on… a treadmill, which was obviously never used by Sans. “ HEY SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY-OH HELLO! YOU AREN'T SANS. WAIT A SECOND. WHY ARE YOU USING A TREADMILL IN THE DARK? IS SANS PRANKING YOU ACROSS TIME AND SPACE? I HATE WHEN HE DOES THAT! HOW IMMATURE CAN YOU GET?! ALSO, HAVE YOU SEEN MY ACTION FIGURES? WAIT! I KNOW WHERE TO LOOK! IN MY COLLECTION! NYEHEHEHE! SOMETIMES, I'M A GENIUS. ALL THE TIME-WAIT ANOTHER SECOND… YOU HAD JUST CALLED E TO HELP CLEAN THIS… ‘UNNATURAL MESS’. AND I, YOUR GREAT FRIEND SHALL GIVE YOU THE PROPER SUPPLIES! THOUGH I’M TERRIBLY SORRY OR NOT HAVING A GAS-MASK.”

After getting some cleaning supplies from the cheery skeleton, Frisk put on rubber gloves, before the not on the old treadmill caught their attention, simply saying, ‘ the truth is that you got owned nerd...’, Frisk knew Sans probably had the note on there all the time, just in case anyone besides Papyrus would enter his threshold… That, or he had been doing that while Frisk was on tour. Frisk cleaned what they could, knowing any type of cleanliness would be appreciated by Papyrus. They had taken out the trash from the small self-sustaing tornado in the corner by the bed's bottom. Putting away some book, placing two plates of spaghetti in it, so Sans and Toby could eat it later… Though somehow the small squirming pup was already in the tornado. The worn mattress had the sheets along the edges of the bed, a blanket and single pillow now lay on the top instead of a bunched up weird greasy ball like cocoon Sans slept in. They put up the thank you letter from Santa, AKA Asgore, and tidied up the sock collection… Still leaving in a pile that they found somehow scandalous? They fixed the lamp by putting in a light-bulb, plug, and batteries. As they dug through the cutter in the cabinets, they snatched up the backdoor's key, pushing away the glistening trombone.

As they finished, they turned out the main light and snuck out, peeking into the their room. Papyrus was n longer there, and Sans was still sound asleep… Good. Frisk put the skeleton key they required not too long ago next to Sans’ pet rock, not wanting to travel into the room with the slumbering monster. The child left the home quietly as possible, skulking to the back where they could be mistaken as trash can. They took in a deep breath of coldness before popping the key in and twisting the frail yet sturdy doorknob. Once they stepped into the chilly backroom of ties, various things, a long sleek counter, and a ragged sheet over something in the back corner. Frisk saw a photo album in a drawer, popping it open t see various pictures of the skeleton brothers. Some were just themselves, some were singles acting like they were with an invisible friend, some were burned and just in pieces, and some were with friends. As they put it back, they glanced at a photo framed on the counter. The picture looked like it was shot at a lab of some sort… Frisk had to squint more try and make out the smudgy faces of the monsters next to a younger Sans and Alphys in lab coats. It was odd… Whenever the human looked at this picture with burnt edges… The other monsters seemed to be smudgy and almost unrecognizable to a certain extent. Something must have happen to the camera for the others to be so abstracted and blurred.

Frisk sighed, the skeleton looked so… Happy. A real sense of happiness, not his mask. As they put up the album back into the drawer, a paper fell out which had never happen before. Picking it up and examining it, they could see a crude child-like drawing in crayon, imagining three people. One round, short and in blue, a smaller slim on in orange, and then a tall slick figure in black. The tall one in the middle looked… Odd. They reminded Frisk of that mysterious man who had given them the power to reset. At the bottom, faded words wrote out, ‘ do not forget’. Frisk assumed it was that man, and that this picture was made by a baby Papyrus who came up with an actual existing imaginary friend. Te put the paper back into the album and went t open another drawer to see an abundance of badges. Scanning the counter were blueprints n some foreign writing and symbols Frisk had yet to piece together. Then came the machine under the old sheet… They had never once peeked under it out of good habit, but… This could be their final run, if they were lucky. Sans would never say anything about it on The Surface and just left it to rot down here. It was now, now or never… Their small hand extended out to grab the old ragged sheet, until… “ you really are a crafty kid, aren’t ya?”

Frisk’s blood ran cold as they heard that voice they had come to love… But now, that was one that sent them into shivers. Frisk gulped silently and turned around, caught red handed… Or bare handed considering there was no red, and they had nothing in their tiny palms. There at the closed door way, the only means of escape stood Sans with half-lidded eyes and his casual smile as he tucked his hand into the sweater’s pockets. “ aww, don’t gimmie’ that look kid. i’m not mad, and I’m not going to hurt ya, honest. i just… had to make sure of a few things. first… you really are from another timeline, ain’t ya? go on and remove that sheet.” Once he granted permission, they threw the cloth off to unveil a broken down machine that seemed far too sophisticated… Even for Alphys. They noticed a dial on the side that you could put in a date.

“ A time machine…?”

“ yup. course, it’s busted to kingdom-come, but yeah. it can’t be fixed and it can’t go forward… yet you can. i wonder why that is, but i’m not going to question you, and it’s not important… well, at the moment at least. second, you know that i’m probably fairly intelligent, but also a judge and a sentry guard. so, speaking of which. that means... i have to fight you at least once to keep this job.” He winked to the child. “ could cha' help me out? thanks a million.” He quickly said right after, cutting Frisk off from postponing, unagreeing, or asking questions about it. Frisk trembled as they watched Sans give them a smile, and not a sneer grin. However… This wasn’t like when they were being controlled by Chara. Sans didn’t appear angry, his tone wasn’t cold, and he wasn’t lashing out. Frisk felt like they were going to have a… good time?

“ Uhhh…”

“oh c’mon kid, you never fought against me before?”

Frisk closed their eyes to avoid looking scared or sad by the question, not wanting to raise more suspicion. “ Y-Your one funky skeleton, do you play the saxo-bone?”

Sans chuckled, “ good one, but you could learn a femur.” He sent out a shrunken bone out which slowly slid across the tile for Frisk to step over. Frisk felt their sins-wait... that's the wrong text? really?

They tried to come up with a non-flirty skeleton pun, “ You sure are a Sansational guy.”

“ hehehe, take your time if you need to, no rush.” Another tiny slow bone.

Frisk soon felt kar-no? not that either? so picky...” D-Do you have a favorite plant? Because if not, I suggest a, Bonezai tree.”

“ heh, gettin' better kid.”

“ … I can’t think of anymore-can we just leave?”

Sans waggled finger, “ ah, a, ah. i haven't decided to spare ya, yet. so, you're not going annnnnywhere.”

The child frowned, “ B-But… But if we don’t move on! I can’t help anyone! I won’t be able to help you! Don’t be stubborn!” Frisk shouted, becoming panicked and a bit claustrophobic from not being able to run away or appease the skeleton. They ran over to the door, only to get stopped by Sans who would levitate them and put them back where they were or simply stepped in front of them. This went on for quite a while…

“ c’mon kiddo, show me your determination already. let’s get this nice act over with.” Sans’ tone started to shift, making Frisk even more panicked. They recalled that voice way t well… He was getting a bit serious. As soon as they saw a sight blue glint spark in the skeleton’s left eye, their body locked up on them and quickly grabbed hold of their stick, swinging it. They didn’t want to die, they didn’t want to be dunked on, were they really as bad as Chara-Were they the killer all along and had pinned it on someone long dead?!

With the swift blow of their meltdown, the sight of Sans backing away with red fluid seeping out and down his side, made them drop the stick. Thy twitched uncontrollably while Sans held the cut with labored breaths. Frisk looked to their hands, falling to their knees and watched Sans with a blank empty expression… They were the actual killer, weren’t they? Frisk was the messed up one… Frisk was insane deep down. Tears dared to spill out onto their cheeks, their mind starting to snap… Despair clawed into their heart and ate it whole, they finally realized, they were dangerous to everyone. They sat there broken… Until… They heard Sans chuckle. He was probably going to say something like, ‘ i knew it’.

“ hehehe... you should see your face right now... pfffft... hey lighten up.” Frisk’s mind glued back together as the hopelessness started to melt away. They blinked, having their eyes focus. “ i'm just joking with ya. take a look.” He moved his sweater to show off a bottle f ketchup on that side, while the other side had a flat stone on it. Sans’ gave a worried but gentle smile, feeling guilt spread inside him. “ gatcha' real good huh? anyway, my shifts over and-“ He was interrupted by the human crying out and choking on their sobs. After a moment, Sans knelt besides them and rubbed their back, “ hey whoa, whoa, calm down kiddo. i know, i know. that wasn’t funny, but it wasn’t a joke… i really am fine, but i… well, i needed to actually trust you. yeah sure, you didn't hurt paps or anyone else, but i had to just make sure you weren’t doing it just because i was there. and yeah, you gave me a bit of a soul, but again, had to make sure it wasn’t a clever ploy. i’m really sorry kid, but it’s hard to trust people. if you don’t forgive me, that’s fi-“

He was soon tackled onto the tile, Frisk burying their head into his plain white shirt, clutching onto him and sobbing. Sans sat up and held them like he would with Papyrus when he was younger… Like when he had scared him or upset him long ago. Frisk managed to settle down and sniffled. “ I forgive you… I know your stubborn. You have a right to think I’m was going to do something.”

“ well, now i know, you can hold your own, you don’t want to hurt anyone, and your fairly truthful and honest. i can also tell that you’re not the human in my past experiences, aka, nightmares. you’re right handed… so you swung at my left side which was to fool you and see how you’d react. if you had swung instinctively with your left hand and swiped at my right side, i’d be protected by a rock you hit, letting me know who you really are… but now… i know who you are… you’re a sweet kid who honest, kind, thoughtful, brave, and pretty damn determined. and with that being said… looks like i’m going on a wacky adventure.” He chuckled, ruffling Frisk’s hair, earning a giggle from the child.

The two walked into the local inn, it seemed to be getting close to night, even if Frisk couldn’t tell and seemed exhausted from them departing from Toriel this morning. They insisted Sans that they'd sleep at the inn, not wanting to intrude the skeleton’s house yet again, especially after what just happen. They overheard a small baby bunny like monster pop their head out from behind the counter. “ You look really tired. Mom says that sleeping can recover your health above your maximum HP... What's maximum HP?”

“ hehehe, i’ll tell ya when you’re older.” Sans smiled to the youngster… who was now sucking their thumb.

“ Welcome to Snowed Inn! Snowdin's premier hotel! One night is 80g.” Frisk shoved the money to her and got their room key,“ Here's your room key. Make sure to bundle up!” They waved to Sans, too tired to say good-bye and left… Only to come back stairs before Sans could even leave. “ Hiya! You look like you had a great sleep. Which is incredible, because you were only up there for about two minutes... erm. Here's your money back. You can pay me if you're going to stay over the entire night.” Frisk took their money back and thought about the words of ‘Entire Night’. They slowly descended their head onto the counter.

Sans held the child in his arms, appearing up the stairs of his home. Frisk yawned and snuggled against him. Sans smiled, it reminded him how he use to pick up a sleepy Papyrus and carry him to bed… Now it was the other way around… Life is weird. He opened the door to his room, not wanting them to sleep on the old worn out couch… However once he walked in and flipped the lights, he saw room was… Tidied up! And this was not Papyrus’ doing! He knew his brother’s handy work. His mouth popped open, “ oh… my… god… kid-did you actual-“ As he looked down, Frisk was already asleep, snuggling up to him. Sans sighed but held a soft smile. “ heh… and i had finally gotten it to look like i wanted. ah well.” He noticed some pillows whirling around his tornado with Toby laying on one, eating some spaghetti. He took the remaining pillows and random blanket the dog gave him, setting them on the now cleaned bed. He placed the child onto one side of his bed while he took off his sapphire sweater, putting it on the treadmill instead of the floor for once, and kicked off his pink slippers he wasn’t working… or was just too lazy for sneakers… It seemed, tomorrow was going to be a sneakers day at this rate. He sat beside Frisk, but gave them enough room before draping the blanket over them. He levitated the other plate of food, bringing it to him. He ate it without making a mess for once and set it aside on his table. He closed his eyes and felt the child grab hold of his arm. It was times like this that made his soul cry out in pain of memories of his dear friend doing this when he had nightmares.

Chapter Text

Sans yawned, stretching and popping a few bones, only to find a something circular and sweet smelling to bind his eye sight. After a moment, he sat up, letting whatever lay on his skull drop into his hand. It had been a nicely fresh glaze doughnut. He smiled and ate it, looking about to see his pig-sty of a room… Only for it to be completely clean-well… straightened up none the less. “ what the… i was sure it was a dream or-“ He paused, looking at his soul and the mold, his HP reading 5/4, over-exceeding due to sleeping.

“ I told you, I’m not giving up.” A soft voice spoke out besides his bed, making the skeleton flip out, getting caught in his own blanket and tumbling off the side of the warmed bed. Frisk stood there nibbling their doughnut and giggled. “ How’s the weather down there?”

The short skeleton stuck a blue tongue out to the child untangling himself from the sheets wrapping around him. Frisk handed him his coat as he grabbed hold of an old pair of sneakers. “ the weather is kinda cool and crisp, so be ready for rainfall and murky waters since we're going to the waterfalls.”

Frisk nodded as they followed Sans out the room, “ Papyrus already ran off. I tried calling him, but he sounded rushed and really nervous.”

“ hmm, probably cuz he knows i’m kinda guiding or escortin’ ya and he's afraid i'm not competent enough more than likely. don’t worry, he’ll be fine for the most part. also did you really have the need to place a doughnut on my skull?”

“ I hope so, and yes. Papyrus said it’d wake you up… And you look so cute and funny with it on your face. So since he was busy he told me to do that… Why is that?”

“ hehehe, are you really questioning paps’ logic?”

“ Hrm… Good point.” Frisk acknowledged the vague comment.

The two passed by the blizzard like fog of the area they had fought in, their shoes now out of the crunching snow, and instead sapping against the wet dirt and mud under them. The cool colors of The Waterfalls always made Frisk relaxed, where as Snowdin made them feel overjoyed. Sure it wasn’t their favorite area, but they still enjoyed it. Sans started to walk a bit faster, picking up some pace for once… Only to flop down a is station and give out some hotdogs to a orange bug eyed fish monster and the little monster kid, Kidd. Before the human talked o anyone, they decided to check up on a light neon blue flower and gently pet it, making it wriggle slightly as words flowed out, “ all that gives my life validation is explaining the echo flower. no one can know...”

Frisk giggled, receiving their same giggle from the flower. They looked over to the fish like monster who curiously cocked it’s head to the side with a goofy grin to almost rival Sans’. “ Oh wow, I haven't seen someone be so kind to a flower besides the king before. Anyways, this is an echo flower. Talk to it, and it will repeat what you say. But seriously, Never trust a flower... That's one of the constants of this world.”

Frisk gave an odd and to the fish before waling over t their armless lizard friend who happen to be visiting The Waterfalls to see Undyne in action… Or rather just patrolling “ Yo! Are you sneaking out to see her too? Awesome... She's the coolest, right?! I wanna' be just like her when I grow up.. Hey, don't tell my parents I'm here, hehe.” He giggled a bit, hoping up and down. Frisk gave them a wide smile and thumbs up before leaving to pass by the blooming neon plant, repeating words. They touched the bright star of light, knowing Sans had probably done the same. Sure their dunkle was goofy, but he was also very intelligent. ~The sound of rushing water fills you with DETERMINATION~

They hopped over to the lone station, putting their tiny hands on the edge of the counter, awaiting Sans. Patience wearing thin as they were eager to continue. Sans put own a magazine and looked over, stuffing it away. “ what, haven't you seen a guy with two jobs before? fortunately, two jobs means twice as many legally-required breaks. i'm going to grillby's, wanna come?” Frisk sighed and agreed. Sans was being stubborn yet again… Then again the only thing the child had eaten today was a doughnut. “ well, if you insist... i'll pry myself away from my work.” He winked to them, earning a small glare. The skeleton walked over and went the opposite way, his hand gently taking the child by the hand. “ over here, i know a shortcut.”

The two entered the warm humble diner, Sans putting on his large smile, greeting the patrons around. “ fast shortcut, huh? hey everyone!”
Dogamy and Dogerssa’s floppy ear perked up in the slightest angle, “ Hey Sans/(Hi Sans).” They aid in unison before going back to snuggling each other's damp noses together.

The stalky plant with the gaping maw gave his good mornings, “ Greetings Sans.”

“ heeey twoey. sup blackavar.”

The drunken rabbit slurred their words as they watched Sans pass by, “ Hiya Sansy~.” Their puffy hamster like or droopy likes cheeks blushed… Either from Sans or the liquor they had been consuming.

The pink balding ugly fish monster looked back to see the two walking over, “ Hey sans, weren't you just here for breakfast a few minutes ago?”

“ nah, i haven't had breakfast in at least half an hour &winks& you must be thinking of brunch there Eustace.” He winked to the fish as the entire building burst into laughter… Except for the joke spewing skeleton, Frisk, and the stoic Grillby who groaned. Before he could sit onto the stool, Frisk lunged to him, embracing him in a hug. “ a-aww, jeez kid, stop, you’re embarrassing me.” He chuckled lightly, growing a slight blue hue on his cheekbones. “ anyways, here, get comfy” He said, Frisk taking the time to sit on the stool next over. His smile kept up until they sat down, confusing him. He decided it was now his turn, and in doing so, a squeaking blow out from his chair. He blinked, surprised before pulling out his whoopee-cushion he had been saving in his pocket.

“ whoops, watch where you sit down. sometimes weirdos put whoopee cushions on the seat~.” Frisk said smugly, a grin growing from one ear to the next.

Sans’ eyes squinted down near their level, “ ohhh… you're good kiddo… you’re good... but, anyway, let's order whadd'ya want?”

" Burger~!"

Sans rested his elbows onto the counter, putting up two fingers to his fiery friend, “ hey, that sounds pretty good actually. grillby, we'll have a double order of burgs.” Grillby nodded and made his way into the kitchen. As he opened the back door, it seemed like some sweltering heat fled from the doorway. Sans took this time to pull out a comb and scrape at the top of his skull. “ so, what do you think of my brother?

“ So cool.” Frisk smiled up to him, earning a similar friendly smile from Sans.

“ heh, of course he's cool. you'd be cool too if you wore that outfit every day. he'd only take that thing off if he absolutely had to-“ Frisk’s miles died down, looking rather upset by the words. Sans got the hint and lowered the wording down, “ oh well, at least he washes it. and by that i mean, he wears it in the shower.” He patted the brown hair of the child before Grillby marched on over, handing out their food and drinks-or well drink for Frisk which was soda… Somehow even though it seemed he was scared of any damn liquid… Or maybe it was just water and milk he was afraid of. Sans rubbed his rattling bony hands together, sticking his blue glowing tongue out to lick his… Lips? “ here comes the grub. want some ketchup?” He grabbed a bottle of it that Grillby had passed to him.

Frisk nodded and received the bottle… However, they screwed the cap back on, securely and popped open the top bun to squeeze out a sizable amount onto their food before giving it back to Sans. Frisk bit into their food with another proud smile. Sans huffed rather lightly before shrugging, “ eh, more for me.” He said, unscrewing the top cap off and drinking it straight away from the bottle. “ anyway… I now you know this, but you seem to like stories-“ Frisk’s eyes went big with sparkles, gaining a chuckle from the skeleton. “ ok, ok, cool it kid. well, cool or not, you have to agree papyrus tries real hard. like how he keeps trying to be part of the royal guard. one day, he went to the house of the head of the royal guard and begged her to let him in it. of course, she shut the door on him because it was midnight. but the next day, she woke up and saw him still waiting there. seeing his dedication, she decided to give him warrior training. it's uh... still a work in progress…” He tapped his pointer fingers together, making a subtle clacking sound before biting into his meal.

They both ate their food before Sans looked over, “ oh yeah, i wanted to ask you something... have you ever heard of a 'talking flower'?” Frisk nodded silently. “ so, you know all about it? the 'echo flower'.” Frisk could only mentally groan… But then again, Flowey had been messing with Sans before they fell down here… It was better not to risk their connections and ties of Flowey by telling the crafty skeleton. Sans eye’s grew dark, “ they're all over the marsh. say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over... what about it? well, papyrus told me something interesting the other day. sometimes, when no one else is around... a flower appears and whispers things to him. flattery, advice, encouragement... predictions... weird, huh? Frisk gulped down their food harshly from the sudden talk. “ someone must be using an echo flower to play a trick on him... keep an eye out, okay?” Frisk quickly nodded, finishing up their food as quick as they could, knowing the flaming chef would tell them that t food grew cold once they let their spot. The remembered Grillby was more lenient when on The Surface about cod foods… But being in a winter-wonderland did seem to irritate his embers. “ thanks. welp, that was a long break. i can't believe i let ya pull me away from work for that long. oh, and by the way... i'm flat broke, can you foot the bill? it's just 10000g?” Sans’ cheeky smile grew back as his elbow nudged Frisks arm.

They sighed and nodded… Even though they had no money, they couldn’t simply say no. “ just kidding. grillby, put it on my tab.” He winked, making a clicking sound as he raised up a hand to make the shape of a gun to composed burning monster. He hopped off the stool, digging his hands back into his pockets, heading to the door. However he stopped, looking over his shoulder, “ by the way... i was going to say something... but i forgot.” Sans then left. While Grillby’s heat seemed to extend it’s reach, warming up the customers more from a bit of bottled up rage… From what Frisk could only guess, that Sans hadn’t paid his tab yet…

The child hoped off, dragging their soda with them, much like Sans and the bottle of ketchup. They wanted to finish their drink, so they figured, ‘why not go talk around?’ before continuing forward to the swampy Waterfalls. Frisk stood over where Sans had stopped, overhearing the drunken rabbit, slur out their words in desperation, “ Sansyyyy! Come back and sit with me~! Everything's so fun when you're around! Ugh... well... C'mon everybody! L-L-L-Let's party! Anyone?” They looked about, frantically before slamming their face into the table, passing out from the intoxication.

The child walked to the pack of guard dogs who seemed to b busy with some papers on the pool table. The mustached beagle looked over to them, “ I was hoping Sans came in to give me a pat on the head... Interloper!” He accused, but soon shrugged it away, “ Well, anyways... 'She' hasn't been responding to our letters... maybe it's because we let Doggo write them all.”

The lovely flea bitten wife nodded, “ (I like sans. Sometimes he feeds up scraps of food under the table. Then his brother gets mad... But why?! We're adults! We can handle it! Also, We're considering paying a visit to the doctor. No! Not the vet! Well... maybe she's a little like a vet.)”

Frisk rushed over to the half eaten burger left by Sans and came back, tearing it up to give to Dogaressa who seemed to be more than overjoyed at the scraps, sharing it with her hubby. Doggo looked up and rolled his eyes, not interested, “Huh? Since when did you and Sans become friends? I don't like him much as I use to... He loves to appear without moving and I'm far to busy. By the way, he may not look like it, but this big guy writes the most eloquent letters. here, take a look!” The husky handed over a paper with a large singe word written on it in a fancy, flowery cursive font, that merely said, ‘WOOF’. Frisk gave the card back, watching the big softie pant happily, proud of its writing.

Frisk started to go back to listen to the other two older monsters in the back, only to be talked to by the plant with gnashing teeth. “ Sans is interesting. He has told me all about kinds of incredible foods. But, despite his knowledge, he always orders the worst burger off the menu. But to a human, monster food would be very interesting. As soon as you eat it, it converts perfectly into energy... that makes me wonder. How do humans do it? Eat during battles? Ice cream in one hand, sword in the other. That's the way of the monster warrior...” He hummed out,, fantasizing it.

Finally Frisk had reached the end, pushing the now two empty plates to Grillby and disposing their drink’s cup. The balding fish had something to say about the short skeleton. “ Sans is the most regular, regular of all. He hasn't been showing up as much reluctantly though...” Frisk could only imagine that was due to Flowey resetting and the skeleton feeling hopeless. The quickly flipped the topic, putting a hand to their ear, making a phone shaped with it. “ Huh? Did I catch anyone yet? I can't bear to look...” He said regrettably.

The bird beside him, patted the scaly shoulder, “ Sans is a sentry. but don't let his title make you think he does anything. Everyone knows he sits around in the forest reading 'car magazines'... Ehhhhhhhhhhn... I wish I had something else to do.” She grumbled to herself as Frisk waved a good bye to everyone.

Frisk found themselves back at The Waterfalls, their armless friend now gone from his spot, while Sans stayed at his stand waiting for them. Frisk often wondered what ‘car magazines’ their dunkle had been reading… Knowing him, it was probably a blueprint of some sort. As they approached, they patted their hands onto the counter, sticking their tongue out to him. Sans gave a smirk, “ heh, let's hang out again sometime.” Frisk puffed up their cheeks, getting more laughter. “ i know, i know. i’m just pullin’ your leg there kiddo.” He strolled off from behind his stand, bumping his foot into Frisk’s ankle lightly and heading away before they could catch up to him.

The two got to a fairly large room with a single waterfalls with rocks sliding past in the cool waters, while under were the next waterfall was placed, was a bridge leading to a lone flower. Sans decided to read the sign next to a conveniently placed box, “ wow… didn’t know people hated boxes so much.” Meanwhile the child had made their way over to the echo flower, brushing it lightly for it to say, “ i swore i saw something behind that rushing water...” Frisk started to climb back up, but not before posing to a camera behind the second waterfall. Once they got back with the skeleton they stepped into the clear running water, avoiding the rocks with Sans. Once Sans made it across, he looked back over his blue clothed shoulder to see Frisk walk out from a hidden spot in the waterfall. The water seemed to magically spread apart like a doorway to let Frisk out without being soaked. They sprinted over to him, putting on a pink and faded tutu. Sans had been wondering why they messed with that box in the first place.

They continued onward only to have Frisk snatch Sans’ bony wrist, “ huh? Kid what the-“ Frisk put up a single finger to their own mouth, looking rather worried.
“ Shhhh!” The shushed him as loud as they could in a whisper. They took a few looks around before leading Sans into the overgrown reeds, stopping. Sans stopped as well as the child held onto him… He suddenly heard a distinct voice… Only it seemed rather down and upset… Maybe even concerned. A voice he never wanted to hear sound like that.

“ H-HI UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT... UHHH... R-REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER... HUH?! DID I F-FIGHT THEM?!” Papyrus stuttered slightly, his worried tone catching on, “ Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID! I-I FOUGHT THEM VALIANTLY! WH-WHAT?! DID I CAPTURE THEM? W-WE-WELL... NO. I TRIED VERY HARD UNDYNE-BUT IN THE END... I... I FAILED. W-WHAT?! YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN'S SOUL YOURSELF?!” He gasped out, more panicked and fearful. The two heard his boots step over onto the damp ground, “ BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON'T H-HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! YOU SEE-YOU SEE-“ He cut himself off, slow footsteps sounded like he had stepped back away. “ ..... I-I UNDERSTAND. I'LL HELP YOU IN ANYWAY I CAN.” The pitter-patter of his boots were soon heard, fading away from now. Sans took in some calm breaths before stepping forward, only to have a long winding twig snap under his weighted foot. He slapped his hands over his perpetual grin, holding back a gasp. He heard the sound of Undyne’s spear appearing, but then going away until two steel toed boots left them.

Sans and Frisk popped out onto the other side, Sans slightly panting, “ holy hell… ugh, i’m gonna’ need to talk to grumpy gills later about upsetting my brot-ahhh!” Sans slipped back onto his ass as the small orange scaled lizard child leapt out from the reeds.

Kidd’s eyes glimmered as he looked to Frisk with a great smile, “ Yo... did you see the way she was staring at you guys? That... was AWESOME! I'm SOOO jealous! What'd you do to get her attention? Haha, c'mon! Let's go watch her beat up some bad guys!” He giggled out, dashing off only to trip on the wet terrain, before getting back up and taking off blissfully.

Once Sans got his cool back, he stayed rater close to Frisk, feeling uneasy now that Undyne was around, tagging along his brother. Thankfully they had gotten to a shining star. ~ A feeling of dread hangs over you... but you stay DETERMINED.~

The two soon came face to face with a small but possibly deep gullet of water. Frisk scooped up all the folded up lily pads before sending them all out, creating a blossoming path for them. “ pth, show off. we coulda’ just teleported over.” Sans mentioned, teleporting right over, meeting Frisk.

“ Pth, now whose the show-off?”

Once they got into the next room, Frisk hard some bubbling or splashing. They leapt at Sans, tackling him over as a majestic-yet super ripped half horse, half eel dove out from the pool of water nearby, sliding onto the muddy ground. Aaron flexes in! Sans got up with Frisk and groaned… In the past, he had dealt with the seahorse’s brother more than one occasion. Thankfully Baron was pretty dim-witted. Frisk rolled up their soft blue and magenta sleeves up, putting one hand on the others arm, as they flex it. Aaron’s eyes sifted to Sans who wasn’t one to be able to flex any muscles… Though he could flex his arm to twist around. The horse snorted a soft neigh before winking, “Flexing contest eh? Flex more ; ).”

Aaron’s arms flex up as he charged his horsepowred body to the two, swinging his massive arms for the two to dodge. Frisk hopping over and ducking under the arms, while Sans weaved around until Aaron stopped to admire his muscles. Again the two posed out, Aaron grinned, winking again, “ Niiice, but I won't lose ; ).” He flexed more, posing as sweat droplets flung off from his curvaceous and tough body at the two. Again Frisk and Sans wove around to avoid getting hit. Aaron’s tail flopped side to side, playfully splashing at the mud. Frisk and Sans did one final flexing pose as Aaron competed against them, ultimately flexing himself out of the area. After that odd ordeal, Frisk placed down more lily pads to get to a sign.

They read out loud, “ Congratulations! You failed the puzzle!” They huffed a bit, being pouty as Sans laughed from the small misfortune. “ Hey Sans, I think we need a rest.”

“ ahahaha-wai-wait what?” Sans shifted back into reality as the child set up another flower bridge to the right side, walking along the floating plants. Sans followed, curious as to what Frisk meant. Well… Until he realized they were at HIS bench… This lone bench that nobody but him, Undyne, and Asriel knew about. Since the prince was no longer here, and Undyne was busy patrolling, Sans would often come here… Once a month, ever since he was younger. Frisk sat down on the bench and watched the glowing water drift along. They smiled to the skeleton, patting the empty space besides them, beckoning him to join. He sighed lightly and sat beside them and watched the water pass by. He gritted his teeth to himself… Every month… On the same day… He would make up a quiche of some sort… And rid of it in this spot. All because on that day, when he tried to make amends with his old friend with an apology and some food. The lower behind them echoed out, sensing their presence, talking in a high pitched of a voice, “ i just wasn't ready for the responsibility.....”

Frisk took the abandoned quiche from last month, putting it into their backpack. They hadn’t noticed Sans wasn’t reacting to this. They turned to see m still watching the ripples in the water before catching a sparkling glint of water dropping onto the wet soil. They put a gentle hand onto his blue covered arm, “ Sans?”
Sans looked over with his lazy drooped eye and wide grin, “ heh, sup kiddo?” He asked, with no trace of tears.

“ O-Ohh… S-Sorry, I thought I saw something… Let’s get going.” They could have sworn he was crying… But he was a stubborn monster to admit it.

After getting to the other side where they actually needed to go, Frisk’s phone buzzed, making them pop it open onto speaker. “ Hello?”
A joyful booming voice extended out from the speakers, making Sans seem a bit happier now that his brother didn’t sound s distressed. “ HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS! HOW DID I GET THIS NUMBER, YOU SAY? IT WAS EASY! I JUST DIALED EVERY NUMBER SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL I GOT YOURS! NYEHEHEHE!” Sans chuckled quietly with Frisk. “ SO... W-WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?”

Sans’ eye snapped to darkness, “ whoa, whoa, paps! paps no!”

Papyrus wined on the other end, “ SAAAAANS! WHY CAN’T I ASK THAT?! IT’S NOT BAAAAD! I'M... ASKING FOR A FRIEND. SHE THOUGHT SHE SAW THE HUMAN WEARING A DUSTY TUTU. IS THAT TRUE? ARE YOU WEARING A DUSTY TUTU HUMAN?”

“ Uhm, yeah.”

“ SO YOU ARE WEARING A DUSTY TUTU... GOT IT! WINK-WINK! HAVE A NICE DAY!” He said before hanging up. Frisk raised a brow to Sans whose pupils started to come back.

“ … i’ll tell ya when you’re older.” He looked about nervously, only for Frisk to roll their squinted eyes and snicker. Sans’ cheekbones blushed a lightly blue, “ h-hey! wh-what’s that laugh for?!” He asked before hearing a small rustling sound of mud. He turned around to catch a glimpse of something burrowing into the wet terrain.

As Sans got back with the child, his normal smile faltered a bit. “ I take it, you don’t like The Wishing Room much either?”

“ what do you mean by that?”

“ I don’t like it because it’s sad… But I also like it, because it’s filled with so much hope.” Frisk said sadly.

“ i…. yeah…” Sans quieted down as they walked past the ramblings of the flowers.

“ a long time ago, monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. if you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true. now, all we have are these sparkling stones on the ceiling... thousands of people wishing together can't be wrong! the king will prove that.“ Frisk recalled seeing a shooting star a week before falling down here… They had wished to live with a wonderful family… While Sans would wish to the flowers to see the stars someday… Which escalated to seeing his father… Then seeing Asriel… Then for the resets to end.

“ c'mon sis, make a wish!”

“ i wish my sister and i will see the real stars someday...”

As the two started to feel down, Woshua shuffled over! The green tinted turtle like monster with a blue bucket of a shell containing water and an actual bird of some sort in it squinted at them. Frisk smiled slightly,” Can I get washed?”

Woshua hopped around excitedly, “ Green means clean~!” It summoned up large droplets of water to spiral and branch out as Frisk jumped into the shining green luminescent ones. It looked t Sans with a stink eye, “ Wosh U hand!”

Sans gulped… He wasn’t afraid of being clean, it’s just he didn’t find a point in it due to t resets. He sighed, regretting this for later, “ ugh, can… can you wash me too?” The turtle bobbled around happily as a bar of soap shot out from the water on its back, whipping around for Sans to dodge as it left behind soapy green bubbles for him to touch. The germaphobic turtle smiled and scuttled off as the bird whistled out in joy. “ … if paps asks why i’m clean, please tell him i lost a fight to a woshua.”

“ … But we won-“

“ i don’t want him to know i purposely asked to be clean.” Sans hid his embarrassment behind his hands. He felt so… clean? Anyways, after that, another flower wriggled about.

“ah... seems my horoscope is the same as last week's...” Frisk giggled before viewing the abandoned telescope. They adjusted it around, stopping ad walking over to an odd wall, patting it so that it would cave in like some type of bizarre door.

They walked onto the boarded up dock with water surrounding the area, along with reeds and plants. Frisk gasped happily, pointing out the plants, “ Sans! Look! Water Sausages!”

He chuckled, “ pretty sure those are called cat-tails, but calling them a water weenie is pretty good too. man… i haven't been around this part of waterfalls in quite a while-kid?” The sluggish skeleton happened to walk a bit faster to look at the plaques along the blue walls... How long did Sans stop passing by through The Waterfalls entirely since he last saw these?

Frisk followed and read them out as best they could from the ancient writing. “The War Of Humans And Monsters.” They scooted to the next plaque, “ Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed that they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every monster... just to equal the power of a-… a single human soul.” It had been quite some time since they had read these stone tablets. But now… It made sense how Asriel was able to break the barrier… He had the six human souls, along with just about ever monster’s soul from The Underground, becoming that of an equal of one human soul. If he had gotten Frisk’s… “ But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their soul. It's power allows it to persist outside the human body, even after death.” They said sadly.

“ If a monster defeats a human, they can take its soul. A monster with a human soul... a horrible beast with unfathomable power...” The trailed off, looking up at a terrifying illustration of a monster designed as a fearsome beast of death tore out from being shrouded by darkness. Frisk slumped away as Sans stood there… As Frisk sat on the small raft sadly, he stroked the horrifying stone carved illustration. He closed his eyes and sat next to Frisk. The raft creaked and was then drifted by the small current. Both stayed silent on their tiny ride. Sans remembering the tablets were placed about for young monsters to learn, as well as tourists from The Capital. He never did understand that last part until Asriel had passed away. This made him fear for a fellow monster to actually absorb a human soul… Maybe they’d do something crazy with that power or just get killed by being kind.

Once the raft collided against the new bridge like dock, the two got off and slowly walked to their designated location in silence and solitude. Well, before a clunky stomp came out from behind some marsh trees or old pillars. The suited up monster of armor summoned a spear of neon blue, making other spears sawn above them and striking down to the others. Frisk grabbed hold of Sans and ran off with him since his mind was currently catching up. They dodged the piercing spears, weaving about in a bumble like pattern and jumping into the reeds for cover. Sans gasped and panted as e laid on in the mud, while Frisk covered their mouth from any noise. Frisk was more worried now due to Sans being with them, and now being separated within the tall grass. They gulped lightly as they heard the metal stomping getting closer. Sans held his breath as a steel boot slammed against the wet ground, only a few inches from his skull. Frisk watched as a metal clad hand reached down to them and swiping. The armored monster pulled but the monster child by the cheek who seemed stoked to see his hero this close. The child monster was put back down as a growl rumbled out from the armor. The fierce stomps soon faded. Both crawled out from the reeds panting and gasping while Kidd hopped out.

“ Yo... did you see that?! Undyne just... TOUCHED MY FACE!” His eyes sparkled, lighting up intently. “ I'm never washing my face ever again! Man, are you unlucky. If you were standing just a LITTLE bit to the left! Yo, don't worry! I'm sure we'll see her again!” The lizard took off running, to slam into the ground with his face, and then getting right back up and charging forward.

Sans and Frisk laid there for a moment, “ … i’m gonna’ give her S U CH.. a bad talk about this.”

As the skeleton and child final caught their breath and energy, Sans began to walk onward… While Frisk turned around the way they had just ran to avoid the spears. “ uhm, kid?” Frisk didn’t respond, which made Sans’ spine tingle into a chilling shake. He followed them across the dock until… The two came across a static and glitched out anomaly in the air at the very end of the dock where the raft had put them. Pixilated like dust drifted above them. The figure was grey and monochrome with two stitched up gaps on the back of its head. It looked much like the child they saw ramble about Undyne and run off. The two got closer for the gray monster to turn around with a thin frown as their wide whitened eyes without the existence of pupils looked to them blankly, yet knowing they were there. They spoke out in a semi-crackling voice of static, “ Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same...Except you don't exist?” It tilted it’s head to an almost painful positioned, it’s glossy white eyes scanning them both. “Everything functions perfectly without you...Ha, ha... The thought terrifies me...” They turned around to blankly stare into the abyss of the river.

Later, heading back to their original path, Frisk poked the crystal encased cheese playfully after they saved. Sans nudged the shining star of hope before turning to the child who seemed happier now. While an echo flower made squeaking sounds.

~Knowing the mouse might one day extract the cheese from the magical crystal... it fills you with DETERMINATION~

“ so uh… kid… do you know what 'that' was back there? i mean, i’ve seen them out the corner of my eyes before, but they never stay there like that, or even talk to me…” He lied slightly, he only excluded one that had talked to him in the very slightest.

Frisk looked over, following him, “ I… I’m not sure, they like to talk about some old Royal Scientist… But other than that, I’m not so sure. Do you know anything?”

Sans kept going forward, hesitating for a slight moment and not answering to quickly to seem suspicious, “ mmm… nah.” He averted his eyes to find another topic. Luck happened to be on his side as he grinned, “ oh hey, it’s my telescope!” He jogged a bit to reach it while Frisk followed. However Frisk frowned upon arriving there as he fiddled with the lens.

“ Wait, isn’t this Alphys?”

“ well… she hasn’t asked for it baaaaack.” He smirked mischievously, leading Fisk to shake their head with a soft smile, classic dunkle Sans.

“ but real talk… i'm thinking about getting into the telescope business. it's normally 50000g to use this premium telescope, but... since i know you, you can use it for free. howzaboutit?” Even though Frisk knew what would come next, they played along, the small things like this always made them feel happy by spending time with their new founded loved ones. They arranged themselves to peek into the lens and then step back, avoiding the skeleton to see the right side of their face. “ huh? you aren't satisfied? don't worry. i'll give you a full refund.” He winked to the child who fussed with the lens trying to adjust the telescope, only for it to pop off.
“ Uh-oh… I think bent the lens’ thing.” Sans reacted quickly, snagging the lens and eyeing it carefully to see if the gold ring had been bent or not. Just then, Frisk pushed the skeleton's hand, making the round ring press against Sans’ left eye, then quickly fixing it back up. The two left the telescope as Frisk dragged Sans over to some of the water, tugging at hi blue sleeve and looking into the glistening waters where Frisk and Sans had a red circle marked around the opposite eyes. Frisk smiled as Sans’ reflection looked grumpy… However the glare softened into a happy one as they both laughed at the marks. Sans couldn’t be angry, it was hard for him ever since the prince’s death. Afterwards he promised Papyrus he’d be happy… But now… He was starting to feel true happiness like he use to instead of faking it.

A small onion shaped monster waddled over to them, questioning their laughter by tilting it’s head. “ hehehe, oh hey there loren, sup?”

The onion blinked before looking at the sparkling reflections of the water then to the caverns high laced ceiling. “ What's a star?” They looked back down. “ Can you touch it?” They then looked to Sans. “ Can you eat it?” They stared off into space, “ Can you kill it?” They then turned their attention to Frisk. “ ... Are you a star? “ Frisk slowly walked backwards to avoid the curious monster, soon followed by Sans who felt a bit uncomfortable.

“ sorry about that, their normally not that creepy. they just like to ask things and-nice?” He stopped to see the light blue rabbit standing up his cart of frozen treats. The long ears flickered as he looked over and smiled wide to greet them.“ Heheheya there! I relocated my store-“ His ears lowered, “ but there are still no costumers... fortunately, I've thought of a solution!” The long extended ears pop straight up as Nice stuffed a hand into a pocket, pulling out some type of cards. “Punch cards! Every time you buy a nice cream, you can take a punch card from the box. If you have three cards, you can trade them for a free Nice-Cream! They're sure to get the costumers to come back!” After a few minutes of Frisk managing their inventory, they bought three types of nice-creams, picking them out from the box nearby.

They stopped to notice some handwriting while Sans talked with the blue bunny. Frisk hadn’t glanced at these cards before… And what upset them most was what they had written on them. ‘ please... please come back...’. The thing that really got to them was that the writing seemed old and worn out, almost childlike, and lower cased. They went to show Sans but Nice snagged them happily. “ Hey ya got three punch cards! How about redeeming them for some Nice-Cream?” Frisk bit their lip, holding in anything mean spirited and gazed over a stone tablet on the wall that was rewritten with twenty-one different flavors. They often wondered what the slab had originally said but shrugged it off and chose another nice-cream.

Chapter Text

After parting ways with the rabbit, the two enjoyed their nice-cream while Frisk held onto the other two in their backpack. They both were quiet for the moment, probably due to either the stone slab stories or Undyne relentlessly cashing after them. Frisk seemed to wonder off again, making Sans sigh lightly as he finished up his treat, following them to a small scheduled area with some reeds poking out of the ground. The child hopped into the small pile and came out with ballet shoes which helped the traction f the slippery and muddy terrain. “ heh, i say the shoe fits.” Sans smiled as Frisk twirled around and bowed before taking off again. Frisk held onto the skeleton’s hand, making the monster smile along with them. However, it ended abruptly as they passed by more echo flowers along the way that were on a special path. These echo flowers replayed many voices of the past, but unlike the previous blue shining flowers, these kept repeating older messages that it had remembered. These ones would switch around to another conversation oftenly… But there was one recording in particular that made Sans hesitate from moving on.
“ so? don't you have any wishes to make?” He halted his progress, making Frisk nearly tripped over themselves as they held onto his wrist. They turned back, worried for the skeleton, seeing is pupils fade away into the shadows of his eye sockets.

“ Sans?”

“ huh?! o-oh, heh, s-sorry kiddo… let’s keep going.” His fingers wrapped around Frisk’s small wrist delicately and walking onward.

“ ...hmm, just one, but... it's kind of stupid...” Frisk frowned as they passed by that flower, looking away from Sans. Though the echo flowers didn’t match the voices correctly, a few did sound like Asriel. Frisk couldn’t tell who the other one was, it might have been Chara, but they were never fully sure.

Frisk’s phone started to buzz about, making the to stop in their tracks as Frisk put it on speaker to ear the sweet younger brother. “ HELLO! THIS IS PAPYRUS! REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED YOU ABOUT CLOTHES? WELL, THE FRIEND WHO WANTED TO KNOW... HER OPINION OF YOU IS VERY... 'MURDEREY'.”

“shit!” Sans cursed out quietly away from the speaker.

“ BUT I BET YOU KNEW THAT ALREADY! AND BECAUSE YOU KNEW THAT... I TOLD HER WHAT YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE WEARING! A DUSTY TUTU! BECAUSE I KNEW, OF COURSE, AFTER SUCH A SUSPICIOUS QUESTION... YOU WOULD OBVIOUSLY CHANGE YOUR CLOTHES! YOU'RE SUCH A SMART COOKIE! THIS WAY YOU'RE SAFE AND I DIDN'T LIE! NO BETRAYAL ANYWHERE! BEING FRIENDS WITH EVERYONE IS EASY!” He hung up as Frisk got to see Sans put a bony palm over his head.

“ ahhh… my bro is the best.” His slight frown rose to a cheery smile, which made the human want to smile and cheer up as well… But the caught a small glimpse of something that stuck out again the blue environment. A small flash of yellow…And thus they continued on… The petite blue flowers reenacting painful things that made Frisk sad but also think as sweet, while Sans… Received a rather harsh blow by the chi-chat he remembered vividly.

“ don't say that! come on, i promise i won't laugh.”

They came to a single lone plaque, Frisk reading it out, “ The power to take their souls. This is the power that the humans feared… Hmm… Apparently they didn’t know what true fear was…” risk mumbled quietly, gathering the skeleton’s lazy attention. Sans was about to ask them, but the child sped up their pace, soon leaving Sans to quicken up his own pace to reach them in the next room of one of the dead ends of The Waterfalls. The long corridor had one strip of land going down the middle while large amounts of water stayed on both sides. Sans caught up to the human, but realized bubbles forming from nearby. A long bulbous tipped mellow colored tentacle rose from the depths, making him stiffen up… He’d have to wait later to talk about the mumbling.

He gulped silently and quietly took Frisk by the wrist, walking down the long strip of land, doing his best to avoid whatever was lurking beneath. Frisk cocked their head back over their shoulder, making Sans do the same to see the tall and intimidating spectacle follow them like a shark before lowering into the water. Just then on the other side, the same or similar tentacle rose up, following, but also lagging behind. Again it vanished… And finally, more tentacles rose up at the same time, simultaneously, forcing the skeleton to stop with the child. The two marveled in horror-well, more of Sans at something much larger than the tentacles started to come up from the blue waters. He didn’t seem scared, but Frisk could tell by his slight expression, he was defiantly unsettled and nervous. Finally the behemoth from under the waters had its massive head finally peek out… With big sparkling eyes and a huge smile across its face.

It spoke out with a semi-high pitched voice that was sounded happy and bubbly. “ Hey there... Noticed you were...Here... I'm Onionsan! Onionsan, y'hear?!” It waved a tentacle and watched them silently. Sans was rather confused and began to walk with Frisk, only for the octopus like monster to follow behind and speak up again. “ You're visiting waterfall huh?! It's great here huh?! You love it huh?! Yeah me too! It's my big favorite.” They giggled ad poked the water’s surface. “ Even though the waters getting so shallow here... I have to sit down all the time, but... he-hey! That's okay! It beats moving to the city! And living in a crowded aquarium! ... Like all my friends did...” They smiled sin a pitiful manner. “ And the aquarium's full a-anyway, so, even if I wanted to, I...” They sunk down into the water before popping back up with their smile, “ That's okay though, y'hear?! Undyne's gonna' fix everything, y'hear?! I'm gonna' get out of here and live in the ocean, y'hear?!” A tentacle went over their eyes to view the dead end at last. “ Hey... There... That's the end of this room…” After a small falter of their cheery smile, it grew to a large one again before waving and sinking down slowly, “ I'll see you around! Have a good time! In Waterfaaaaaaaaaaaall~”

In the next room Sans’s hand was still around Frisk’s wrist, rather frozen as his pupils vanished away. “ … You okay?”

“ y-yeah… i’m just… trying to process what just happen…”

“ You get use to it~. Now let’s g-“ Frisk stepped their encouraging progress as they noticed a fish like monster showing their back from a corner. The slimy torso moved to look over seemingly. Shyren was hiding in the corner but encountered them somehow! Frisk walked closer to the timid fish who poked her head over from her mutual monster acting as a body. Her angler bobbled a bit as she frowned. Frisk gave a soft smile and started to hum a sad song, making her follow the melody, musical notes of magic appearing and darting past them. She seemed comfortable humming along, so Frisk decided to keep it up, thus in turn, making more monsters draw over from the duet, eventually making a concert. As Frisk hummed the tune, they could spot Sans selling tickets made of toilet paper, still dodging and weaving around the musical magical notes. More humming continued, Shyren now singing better. The seats were soon so out even, making Frisk feel like a rock-star and Sans like a musical manager. The duo continued, the crowd now tossing a storm of socks. With more humming, Frisk and Shyren thought about the constant attention, the tours, groupies, all of it... Shyren sang out a large amount of notes at a rapid pace of aggressive tooting. Shyren thought of her future until… Frisk and Shyen, both had realized they came so far but it was time, the two having their own journeys to embark on… Frisk hummed a farewell, leading Shyrn to obtain some clarity and self-esteem before slithering away in content.

“ wow… that was the first time shyren didn’t sock at singing.” Frisk playfully and gently smacked his arm, making him chuckle out with them.

They saw a sign saying, ‘ North hides Great Treasure’. Upon inspecting the room upwards, they saw another sign as well as a piano. Sans’ brushed his fingers along the ivory keys while Frisk read out the sign, “ A haunting song echoes down the corridor... Won't you play along?” Sans shifted his gaze.

“ sorry kiddo, i don’t know any songs.” He said so plainly like everything else, even though deep inside, memories lashed at him. The times of Troggle and Gerson, Undyne’s uncle and mentor, teaching her to calm down by playing the piano. Sometimes when she was in a good mood, she would play it skillfully while Sans and Asriel sang together, or sometime Sans would play is guitar as Asriel sang from the bottom of his heart.

They decided to skip the small room for now, thus leading to more slabs Frisk read off. “ This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster's soul. When a monster dies, its soul disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take the soul of a single monster.” They noticed Sans slugging behind and frowned. “ Sorry Sans… But, well… This helps build determination.”

“ i know kiddo, i know…”

They let out a soft sigh, “ There is only one exception. The soul of a special species of monster called a 'Boss Monster'. A boss monster's soul is strong enough to persist after death...if only for a few moments. A human could absorb this soul. But this has never happened. And now, it never will.” Sans’ teeth gritted as he followed behind loosely. He remembered calling out Asriel out on being a boss monster and not being strong enough to help his father up… And ultimately having the prince admit how much of a crybaby and screw up he was, knowing he didn't deserve to be the future king.

It tore Sans up inside… But the one thing that really got him… Was the lonely cold and old statue of a large monster, dawning a robe and hood lowering over its face as horns stuck out the sides of its head. It sat there on it’s legs, looking down to a drowned out music box that seemed to be growing mold and now part of the statue itself… Water droplets poured onto it, making it seem even more depressing. Frisk stood there a moment admiring or pitying the statue before walking forward, but not enough away from Sans. Sans slowly approached the weary monument, emotions running rampant in is soul. Frisk soon came back with an umbrella and opened it up. They then placed it so it rested on the statue’s arm to stand up, making the droplets slide away and off from it. Now that the water could finally pour out of the music box, it played out a sweet and sad melody, echoing out.

Frisk sat down much like the statue and closed their eyes; though it was hard to tell if they did, and listened to the soft tune. They soon opened their eyes slightly, hearing a whimpering sound along with sniffling. They looked around, but never expected the whining coming from their own soon to be dunkle. This time, they didn’t ask, because Sans would brush it off and go back to masking up his emotions. But at the same time… Sans seemed almost… Entranced with the monument, everything outside his world drifting away. He eventually fell to his knee-bones and his pupils faded away. Soon enough, tears started to leak out from his eye sockets, his bones starting to rattle and quiver, and his left eye flaring up in a soft light of blue. As the tune kept playing out, more tears streamed down his cheekbones until finally, his permanent smile and masked smile cracked down into a pitiful frown. He curled up, putting his arms and hands over his head, lowering to the ground, breaking down more and more.

Everything was numb… He couldn’t move, he couldn’t think, all he could do was breath raggedly as memories played over and over in his mind. His best friend being alone, abandoned, afraid, depressed, reclusive, self-hating, and dyeing in the very end… It was his fault… It was all his fault… It was Sans’ fault……… Suddenly something snapped him out of his hypnotized state of a crisis. He woke up to being wet, soggy, and cold. He looked around, started to see Frisk with a bucket of water spilling out, they themselves worried to an extent. “ S-Sorry! Y-You kept… You kept crying and-and you wouldn't move… You kept saying something but I couldn’t understand it… S-Sorry… I-It’s just, I’ve never seen you like that before. I got scared something happened and-“ They teared up, only to have Sans put on a gentle smile and wipe away an oncoming tear.

“ hehehe… you really are something special kiddo… it’s okay… i-i’ll… i’ll try and tell ya later, okay?” They nodded sadly before running past the old remains of the statue to put the bucket up, which was holding the umbrellas. After placing them into it, they rushed back over to Sans. “ c’mon, let’s get going-uhm why are you going up north?”

“ To… To the treasure room, also, I had to move you over here. You need to lay off the ketchup.”

“ don’t ketchup-shame me.”

Back at the room, Frisk quickly played a small amount of the tune, so fast that it went over Sans’ head to skip anther breakdown. The wall before them caved in and they crept in to find a red glittering ball on pedestal. Sans’ squinted for a moment… Where had he seen that ball before? He swore he had seen it sometime… But his focus was cut short by Frisk not having enough room in their backpack and somehow managed to pull the white poof of fluff out, since they we carrying too many dogs. “ what the-toby?” The tiny pooch was fast asleep until Frisk put him on the ground. He bounced up, now being deployed somehow, and seemingly hovered to the ball, absorbing the artifact and running off. Frisk picked up a slobbery residue of a jigsaw puzzle. “ i… but… wha-…. okay, ya know what, never-mind.”

As they walked out, Frisk rushed by the next room and ran back to Sans with an umbrella, smiling. “ uhm, kid? you’re going the wrong way-“

“ No I’m not~!” They hummed out. Sans rolled his eyes, chuckling from the odd tendencies of the child and followed along returning to… That long room. Sans kept close to Frisk but didn’t spot the large octopus. Just as he was about to sigh in relief, Onion-San’s large head rushed past them, initially scaring the hell out of the skeleton and slightly spooking Frisk into a small jump.

Onion-San then cruised back over, smiling, “ Did y'hear?! You're back! I'll tell you a big secret! I'm starting a band, y'hear?! It's called 'The Red Hot Chibi Peppers! All I've thought of is the name... and I don't play... instruments or sing... well! Do you think we'll be popular?!”
Sans stayed the fuck out of this conversation, letting Frisk handle it. The child gave a thumbs up, making the peppy monster cheer up. “ Yeah, me too!”

After what seemed like an eternity for Sans… They came back to the strange gray shadow of a monster child. Frisk stepped next to its side as Sans got on the other side. It’s gaping eyes and crooked head looked from one to the other. Frisk and Sans both smiled as Frisk put the umbrella over them.“ An umbrella...? But it's not raining…” They looked almost fearfully to Sans before… Their frown started to tilt up, “ Ha, ha...You know, that does make me feel a little better about this.” They smiled momentarily before closing what seemed to be non-blinking eyes in calm manner. “ Thank you.” It opened the large gaping eyes, half-lidded with their smile faltering into a hurt one. It looked into the water along with the other two, it’s reflection not present. “ Please forget about me… “ The two looked back up to the young monster who closed their eyes again and smiled as a stream of bubbly tears fell down it’s cheeks and then floated upwards, denying gravity. “ Please don't think about this anymore...” Frisk tugged Sans along away from the gray monster, before looking back with the skeleton to find it gone where it stood with no splash or ripple of the water.

Back again, going to where they were originally… Onion-San didn’t faze Frisk, but seemed to startle or mildly irritate Sans… Even if he didn’t show it. “ Oh! Did y'hear?! ... I got nothing else... To talk about...” Frisk reached the end and waved bye to the massive monster while as Sans gave an affirmed wink.

Frisk let Sans talked hold of their small hand and teleport past the statue. Frisk now grabbing two umbrellas, tossing one to the skeleton who thanked them by ruffling up their hair. The two started to walk along another wide corridor while drops of water poured down at a steady pace. Frisk knew that the water that dropped here was due to the large lake up on The Surface and smiled fondly. They always did enjoy this room as their boots splashed against the small pools and puddles of water. Eventually the two notice the nosy orange lizard hiding in a small area to rest from the rain. Sans could understand, considering Aphys’ herself didn’t like water being poured her scales.

“ Yo, you got an umbrella?” Frisk nodded happily and signaled the fellow child to join them under the umbrella. “ Awesome! Let's go!” The dashed over to Frisk. As they continued down, Sans could notice Frisk leaning close to Kidd. He was starting to suspect that either Frisk had a crush on the monster… Or was a player…“ Man, Undyne is soooooo cool. She beats up bad guys and NEVER loses!” Sans couldn’t help but clench his teeth to keep in is laughter. “ If I were a human, I would wet the bed every night... knowing she was gonna' beat me up! Haha!” Frisk seemed to rub the back of their neck nervously, Sans feeling the ‘ouch’ level on that one.

The path continued, water sausages growing out from the water near them as well as a lonesome echo flower nobody could reach. Kidd’s large eye noticed it, reminding him f something. “ So, like this one time. We had a school project where we had to take care of a flower. The King-we had to call him 'Mr. Dreemurr', volunteered to donate his own flowers.” Sans hesitated to budge an inch… He was thankful he was behind them… “ He ended up coming to school and teaching the class about responsibility and stuff.” Sans took in a shallow breath to overcome this slight panic attack. “ That got me thinking... YO! How COOL would it be if Undyne came to school?! She could beat up ALL the teachers!” Sans sighed in relief, catching up to them. “ Umm, maybe she wouldn't beat up the teachers... She's too cool to ever hurt an innocent person!” Sans rolled his pupils. Obviously this kid didn’t know what Undyne was like when she was younger. Frisk felt the same way to an extent considering they were peaceful, and yet every time Undyne would try to skewer them… They were glad that when they got to The Surface, Kidd started to idolize Papyrus a little bit more than the gruff fish.

The three seen walked out of a crevice in the rocky wall to catch a view of the castle out in the distance, viewing over a large field of rocky terrain and thousands upon millions of glimmering gems, each individually twinkling up above in the replacement of stars… Kidd and Frisk marveled at the beautiful sight of pure aweness, letting their eyes feast upon the sight to behold. While Sans on the other hand… Gazed upon the enchanting view… Remembering the times where he and his group of friends would sight-see from this point of view while roasting marshmallows and telling encouraging stories… Or the small times when Sans hadn’t been busy, and got to enjoy the peaceful running of the river both nearby and down below, all caught up in the sight as he and the prince both leaning against each others in harmony.

They eventually continued on, Sans slightly starting to hate The Waterfalls. They put up their umbrellas and came t a dead end of a tall wall in their way. Sans almost grabbed hold of the child’s sleeve but was surprised to find the chatty lizard bounced over to them. “ Yo, this ledge is way too steep... Yo, you wanna' see Undyne right? Climb on my shoulders.” His tail swung side to side as he steadied himself and lowered down for Frisk to carefully climb on and get up the ledge. They looked back, getting on their belly and putting their fingers onto the curve of the elevated land and wall to. “ Yo, you go on ahead. Don't worry about me. I always find a way to get through! “ Kidd said happily, his tail wagging more from being helpful. He turned round and ran off, knowing the older monster could get up there somehow, but tripped falling flat on his face. He squirmed a bit before jumping back into a balance and rushing off again.

Frisk wasn’t even paying much attention as they had their elbows down, and their hands propping up their head to watch Kidd scatter away. They smiled and sighed in a small charmed way of affection as they kicked up their legs and feet. “ hehehe, looks like someone’s got the ‘honey-glows’~.” Said a sudden voice… RIGHT NEXT TO FRISK. The child initially freaked out as Sans was in the same position a them, right beside them, making them fail around. They nearly fell off the ledge of the small wall, to be caught and picked up by Sans’ magic as he got up and grinned. They stuck their tongue out to him, earning a chuckle from the playful skeleton.

Again, another slab was seen, Frisk read it out, “ The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy…” They trailed off as they and the skeleton reached a twinkling star, which shined off brightly. Frisk rubbed their hands together, avoiding any eye contact before even attempting to save. “ … I’m sorry…”

“ huh? for what?”

“ F-For.. everything we did to you.”

Sans frown and gave a small sigh, putting a bony hand on their smooth shirt to reassure them. “ kiddo… look. since you know the surface and you've said that we even get to live up there among humans… i don’t pin them on this. it happened way too long ago, and those people who did this are probably long gone by now, according to how short their lives are. and besides, if what ya say is true, then there’s gotta’ be some good people out there.” He smiled genially, making the child suddenly clutch onto him with an embraced hug.

~The serene sound of a distant music box fills you with DETERMINATION~

They continued forward as another slab was found. “ In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful, and us monsters too weak. Not a single soul was taken and countless monsters were turned to dust...” Frisk looked to Sans, about to burst into tears yet again, but instead, the monster took them by the hand and led them away from the harsh past scripts of history. He was… actually starting to warm up to Frisk… They were like a mix of himself and Papyrus, reminding him of hen they were much younger. Calm, goofy, courageous, kind, and stubborn.

Walking along, thinking about how much this small human was starting to grow on him, he couldn’t help but imagine Asriel as well. He remembered the prince starting t reform into a gentle and confident monster… He could easily say that if Asriel had still been around, he’ be much like Frisk… Considering ths, this could be his second-chance, to do the right thing instead of doing nothing or avoiding any issues. He wasn’t going to let this new opportunity slip out from his grasp again. He could be a real judge and protect them…

The shoes of the human and monster clacked against a large dock or bridge made up of many logs. There seemed to be another set of docks down below, magically floating there, only to be connected to the bit of land they had traversing on. Except… They heard a faint hum, Frisk instinctively moved closer to the skeleton and grabbed hold of his arm, keeping him there and stopping from moving on. Sans looked over t the child in speculation, only to realize there was danger nearby as his pupils snapped over to some bright pulsating neon blue aura circled around them. They were much more of a high-lighted color than his own trusty magic he could wield. The magic surrounding them suddenly sprang up, forming spears f the same color variety, threatening to tear off skin or snag a bone. Once they went away, Frisk booked it with their soon to be dunkle, evading the piercing spikes down below. They kept up and kept shooting up to skewer them both. While running for their very lives, Sans caught a glimpse of the heavy booted guard down below, summoning up the spears through the dock the two ran on.

Sans growled to himself before picking up the pace and scooping the child up into his arms, avoiding being struck. Eventually he came to a dead end of the dock, not knowing the scaffolding was in work, but was still somehow put in place by magic without having to tumble down due to the gravity. He put them down and snatched their wrist to defend them. He suddenly turned around along with the child to find the heavy stomps of the leader of the royal guard, marching over, but staying out of distance. “ Human…” Muffled out a gruff voice that bellowed out from under the armored ask of Undyne. She pointed over to them, " Let the skeleton go.” She commanded out put her finger down seeing Sans was holding onto Fisk’s wrist. “ Oh, good! Sans, bring the human on over.”

“ mmmm, nah.”

“… What?”

“ i said no can do.” He smiled smugly. Frisk had never once seen Undyne talk to them on the docks far up above the rest of Waterfalls.

She snarled, he voice reverberating off the metal of her helmet. “ Sans! This isn’t the time! Hand them on over, you’ll get your own credit and reward!”

“ i don’t want anything you and king have to offer. the only thing i want at the moment… is seeing this kid through.”

“ WHAAAT?! Look, I know you’re probably mildly upset that I almost hit you at the docks back there, but trust me I was aiming for the human! I thought you’d just teleport away, but you didn’t! and just now, I thought it was only the human who was walking along. So when I saw you, I just knew they took you hostage-can’t you hear yourself right now?! They don’t need protection! They’re the enemy! Do you think they care about you or something?! They’re just using you!”

“ heh… you mean like what i’m doing right now?”

“ W-What?”

“ i was using this speech to plan ahead… though it’s not the best ad plausible plan, but if it helps to keep your finny fingers from harming this kid, so it’ll work.” He smiled wide as he gave her a cheeky blink. Before Undyne could act, a large draconic skull appeared next to the docking ridge, quickly whirring up its beam before shooting it in between the large gap of the two monsters. Sans grabbed hold of Frisk as the dock tore into a separate piece. The blaster soon vanished as the skeleton cradled Frisk closely, falling down and seeing Undyne’s helmet peer over the side. He closed his eyes and smiled, knowing if he landed on the impact instead of Frisk, the child could continue on without his need. He made peace with this.

Chapter Text

It was dark… Just pure empty darkness… Darkness in its purest ad rawest form imaginable, yet slightly darker than that even. A ringing noise crossed by before a gentle and shy voice spoke out to him. “ W-Wait! D-Don't... Don't go...” The soft voice spoke out in a worried tone into the void of blackness. “ I-I'm sorry... I just... Got sc-scared... Please don't go. It's al-always nice to meet someone new… W-What’ your name?” Silence passed along, yet the disembodied voice spoke out again, a bit more hopeful and happy to her the utter silence resting in the dark. “..... Sans, huh? That's a nice name…” If he could see this person, he could have sworn they had a small smile across their face. “ My name is-.......” The voice was drowned out by another ringing sound, this time, it much louder and intense to puncture out an ear as the darkness all about started to be overcome with a white brilliant light, finally consuming the blackness.

Sans shifted and grunted in his sleep, soon wan up to see the sparkling gems far up above him. He tiredly blinked before something soft yet forceful poked his cheekbone, gaining his attention from a white noise that buzzed around. He sat up and groaned, popping a few bones before whatever had poked him, poked him yet again on the cheekbone, making his blue conjured up tongue stick out. His pupils shifted down beside him to see Frisk having a finger on his cheekbone and smiled in concern. Sans’ grew a smile and chuckled lightly. The human sighed in relief and took out the bisicle, splitting it into two. Sans examined the gold flowers he was currently sitting on and shivered as he regained a bit of HP from the fall since monsters were considerably weaker than humans. Frisk never got harmed by falling into the cushioned landing of the flowers because they were built to be more sturdy. “ Thanks for doing that. Normally she cuts the bridge off and I fall. I’m also glad you didn't teleport us.” Frisk mumbled as they sucked on their unisicle.

“ heh, well you did say i had to go ‘through’ things you did, and not avoid them. but, i’m glad you’re alight kiddo. i don’t know what'd i do witho-…” Sans froze when those words came out. Frisk looked over, bemused slightly as Sans finished up his healing snack and tossing it into the shallow waters. He got up with Frisk who put their stick of the treat into their backpack, instead of just tossing it like the garbage it was. Suddenly a small angry turtle monster waddled over to Sans.

“ H-Hey! Just because this place is a garbage dump, doesn’t mean you can just throw your garbage anywhere! I clean off all of the trash and arrange it into symmetrical piles. It's hard work, but somebody has to do it. Everything's so dirty... If I could erase everything-“ The skeleton gave a sudden expression, “ I would. Ohhhh, don't get the wrong idea. I don't want anyone to die. People turn to dust when they die, and that's hard to clean up...” The Woshua looked down in a bit of remorse before looking back and forth to them, “ Don't turn to dust.”

As they continued, trudging through the shallow waters which were slowly getting to their waist line, Frisk happen to notice various brands from The Surface, while the cheeky skeleton witnessed small piles of yellow names. “ what the…”

“ Sorry, I liked pink. Everyone threw out their yellow tags and replaced them with pink. I woulda' changed it back, but they had already gotten rid of them.” Frisk explained as their feet kicked against the water. Sans chuckled at the amusement of seeing such an oddity.

Finally the two got to the save point, Frisk now noticing Sans wasn’t right besides them, much like how Frisk was to him earlier. They peered over their shoulder to find the skeleton staring into the abyss next to them, almost as if he was contemplating something. He remembered a few times in his past where he would look at the bottomless pit that garbage leaked into, never to return. Sometimes he would watch with Alphys, and other times, just himself… Then there were times where he imagined jumping off, tripping, or just letting himself fall way deep into the darkness. Sometimes he wondered if he had ever done that during the flower's resets. His skull shook before his legs wobbled to make him move on.

~The waterfalls here seems to flow from the ceiling of the cavern. Occasionally, a piece of trash will flow through... and fall into the bottomless abyss below. Viewing this endless cycle of worthless garbage... But, partaking in worthless garbage fills you with DETERMINATION~

They came across a corridor filled with more of the shallower water, Sans recalling the times where he and his friends would play in here and nearby when the garbage wasn’t so bad or had been cleaned. But it seemed like no kids swam around here anymore, letting the trash pile up. Frisk smiled as they ran their hands up and down an old rusted bike, squeezing it’s horn to let out a pitiful honk that sounded much more different than the casual ones. Sans’ lazily took in the sight, seeing a beat up computer with nothing inside, suspecting Alphys had scrapped it for anything useful. He stopped as Frisk held out a hand of a frozen-dried space food bar. “ Here, I know you like the stars. So have some space food.” He shrugged before opening the stale package to see a bar of food, much like granola, only more matted, crisp, and unappetizing looking. He proceeded to try and take a bite, getting his mouth to bit down on the all chalky, turning the substance into a glob as he chewed. “ Your face looks like it’s bad…”

“ t-that’… that’s a-an understatement…” Frisk sniffed another bar and licked it before taking a bite. They had never used the odd food that had been stuffed away until now. That or, they had eaten it in the past but didn’t think too much of it since they were trying to survive. They quickly spit it out and chucked it away into their bag to sell for later.

They stuck out their tongue and began to wipe it down, “ URRRGH! It tastes like the orphanarium's cat!” Sans gave an invisible brow. “ … Long story short, I live at an orphanage and was raised there when I was a baby. The owner there has cats and dogs for us to provide comfort and when I was really little I saw the cats lick each other for affection and tried it. Happy?” The child folded their arms in a sassy pose.

“ … i was gonna’ say, i think it tastes like everyone's cats… but you might wanna' exclude cat monsters.” He smiled and wallowed through the water, upon seeing desperate claw marks, scratched along an anime DVD. “ hehehe, alphys.” He chuckled, just knowing it had been her claws that tried open the box, eventually getting the contents inside.

Passing by more heaps of trash, a training dummy stuck out of place, Frisk looking over to it and hugging it. They let go, backing away and patted it’s soft orange and tan snout. As Frisk carried on, Sans smirked and stuck his blue glowing tongue out while putting his hands out and his thumbs to his heads, moving around his pupils. “ Saaaans!”

He stopped and snickered, now gaining his distance to them, “ aww, c’mon kiddo. it’s just a dummy.”

“ YOU’RE THE DUMMY, YOU DUMMY!”

Sans had looked away for a slit-second, his eyes traveling to the child. He stuck a finger up, “ wow, okay rude kiddo-“

“ T-That… That wasn’t me..” The shuffled in place nervously. Sans blinked before they both saw the dummy was gone from behind them and now water bubbles popped up from the water below nearby them, cutting them off from their exit to land. Suddenly the dummy sprung out from the murky water and hovered there, creating small waves and ripples from its floating capabilities. It’s beady eye snapped into those of an enraged look, the middle torso opening up at the seams to reveal gnarled gnashing teeth.

The strange monster snarled out, coating it’s words with poison, “ Hahaha, too intimidated to fight me, huh?! I am a ghost that lives inside a DUMMY. My cousin used to live inside a dummy too... until... YOU CAME ALONG! When you talked to them, they thought they were in for a nice chat... but the things you SAID! Horrible... shocking! UNBELIEVABLE! It spooked them right out of their dummy!” The angered eyes gleamed to the skeleton, “ And yooooou… having the GULL to make faces at me! I thought I’d get a pat or be ignored, but I was guess I was wrong-OH SO WRONG! HUMAN! I'll scare your soul out of your body! And for you skeleton, I’ll beat you up that soon you’ll be thinking up is down and down is up!” Mad Dummy attacked with full force!

The child raised up a finger, “ U-Uhm… Can we just talk this out?” However the Mad Dummy didn’t seem to care for any of this, making no one happy with the conclusion with this at all. Smaller dummies appeared to his side, glowing red then back to tan a few times before going crimson completely. The smaller ones flew at the two, Frisk managing to avoid them as they charged towards them. Sans however summed up blue bones to shield them, knocking the dummies away from not slowing down.

The Mad Dummy shouted angrily yet prideful, “Foolish, foolish, FOOLISH!” Again mini dummies ere summoned, this time appearing behind them and spewing out scribbles that whirled abound in the air. Frisk and Sans both ducked under them, allowing the scribbles to slowly but surely smack against the larger one. “Ow! Hey you dummies, watch where you aim those magic attacks-“ His focus swiftly panned to them, “ Hey! You! Forget I said anything about magic!” Sans would have probably fought back, but he wasn’t one to harm another monster-well… Since Frisk was a pacifist as well… That made things more tricky honesty, yet more interesting. The angered dummy seemed to be getting nervous as his upper half shifted side to side.

Again the same attacks repeated and continued, Sans grumbling at how long it was taking as the Mad Dummy kept blathering about to himself, “I'll defeat you and take your soul!” He started to do a armless Ska dance, still getting hit from the scribbles. “ I'll use your soul to cross the barrier!” He stopped to look at a mirror, glaring at it so hard that it cracked, then turning his head to glare upon them with the same stare-down like an unhappy dad disappointed with their child who was afraid of wasps in his room. The glare was easily reflected as Sans gave his lazy smile, making the dummy even more angry. “ I'll stand in front of a window! Then everything I want will be mine!”

“ Wait, what about your cousin?!” Frisk asked out.

“ Huh? Yeah I guess it'll avenge my cousin…” He started to get cotton all over the place as his mind wracked about to remember why he even picked the fight in the first place. “ What was their name again...? Whatever, whatever, WHATEVER! Foolish, foolish, FOOLISH! Feeble, feeble, FEEBLE!” After a few more hits from his own attacks, the dummy wriggled his body about, shouting more. “ HEY GUYS! Remember how I said NOT to shoot at me?! Dummies, dummies, DUMMIES!" His tiny minions looked to him, “ Well... FAILURES! YOU'RE FIRED! YOU'RE ALL BEING REPLACED!” The miniature dummies vanished away sadly, letting the raving mad leader to cackle out, “ HahahahHAHAHA! Now you'll see my true power; relying on people who aren't garbage!” The two soon heard metal whirring from the dampened walls around them.

Frisk stopped to catch a break before the new replacements stepped in, allowing the maniacal ghost to think before his backup was in place. After a moment, small mechanical dummies appeared to help their leader, locking onto the two and firing small missiles, “ Dummy bots, magic missile!” He commanded as the missiles fired out. Sans grabbed hold of Frisk and teleported a few feet away so the missiles could hit the now moving dummy.“ ARGH! Try again! Pitiful, pitiful, pitiful!” The dummy bounced around, hopping mad as this continued. “ Are you really this awful?!” He asked the robots before bossing around the bullet missiles, still getting struck down.“ ACK! Useless, useless, USELESS!” Again, more hits as the other two evaded the attacks. The Mad Dummy groaned, “N-No way! These guys are even WORSE than the other guys! Who cares? Who cares?! WHO CARES?!” He screamed out, making the mechanical assistants vanish, “ I DON'T NEED FRIENDS! I'VE GOT KNIVES! Now how abut we lay a little game? Pick a number one through ten, and the number that’s closest to what I’m thinking deals with this knife!” He held it up with his ghostly powers.

Frisk perked up slightly as Sans’ tired smile grew, “ fifty-six.”

“ Fifty-Six? FIFTY-SIX?! AUGGGH! Now all I can think about it fifty-six! I’ll turn you into dust you-you no good fifty-sixer!” He shouted out in rage, throwing the single knife, the handle and blade spinning around to the skeleton who gave out a loud frightened screech and sunk into his shirt, letting the blade whizz by. Knives.. One of the few things that scared him due to the past genocide runs he remembered as nightmares. “ I'm... out of knives... BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER! YOU CAN'T HURT ME AND I CAN'T HURT YOU! YOU'LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME-forever...” The Mad Dummy broke down into an insane fit of laughing maniacally as he jutted back and forth, “ Forever! FOREVER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA-“ Quite suddenly, something dripped from somewhere, possibly the ceiling even though there were no cracks far away above them. However the droplets did seem to harm the ghost. “ What the heck is this?! Ergh! Acid rain?! Oh, FORGET IT! I'm outta' here!” He gruffly said, thoroughly annoyed, finally floating away.

The two fell back to sit in the semi-flooded hall to catch a breath before a pale white-sheeted transparent like blob appeared from nowhere. The sight of the shy ghost wearing some headphones around his neck, made Frisk’s day brighten up. “ ...Sorry, I interrupted you, didn't I? As soon as I came over, your friend immediately left... oh no... You guys looked like you were having fun... oh no... I just wanted to say 'hi'... oh no.....” The small ghost looked about nervously as he noticed Sans. “ Well... I'm going to head home now... Oh, umm... Feel free to 'come with' if you want... But no pressure... I understand if you're busy... it's fine... no worries... just thought I'd offer...” He floated away while Sans grunted, getting up and helping up the child.

“ whew boy… that dummy sure was a gruel.”

“ Huh? Gruel?”

“ yeah. a cruel ghost; gruel~.” He smiled out making the child laugh at the horrible joke. The two began to follow the shy musician, the soft splotching noises from their shoes, notifying the much friendlier ghost.

“ Hey... my house is up here... in case you want to see... or in case... you don't...” He shrugged, finally floating off yet again. But before they continued, the two rested their hands at a bright sparkle of light.

~You feel a calming tranquility. You're filled with DETERMINATION~.

Sans happened to notice a shy girl with a clam as a head, peek out from under the shell’s mouth. As the two grew near, the girl opened her clam up to show off a round head, representing that of a pearl. She waved to the two, “ I'm visiting Waterfall from The City. Synchronicity? My neighbor's daughter looks about your age. Her name is Suzy. I feel like you two would be friends. You have a neighbor's blessing~! Oh! Right, not knowing where I live is no issue. Fate finds a way." She smiled, before sending the two along their way as she fussed about with a cell-phone. Frisk and Sans went to the next room above that had two houses, both blobbish and tilted, being tinted differently. Frisk looked to the skeleton for information about the strange girl, only for him to shrug before staring up at the split houses… He remembered long ago there use to be just one large one…Did the ghosts that dwelled here split it into two? Then again, he hadn’t seen any other ghosts around aside from the shy and timid Napstablook… Most probably went off to the capital for better home and pay, letting the shy one inherit the family business.

The two entered the small home, making the wooden boars below creak from the faintest movement. Napstablook looked up, slightly shocked to see them to actually visit him. Nubby hands pulled his headphones back where they perched themselves on the back of his neck… or just his back since he didn’t really have a neck and shoulders to hold them up with. “ Oh... you really came... sorry, I... wasn't expecting that. It's not much, but make yourself at home. Uh, do you wanna'... listen to some tunes...? Or something...”

Sans looked around, feeling the broken up house seem rather homely to him. He winked and smiled, relaxing in his new environment that reminded him of his room before it got cleaned up. “ of course we came by, why not naspta? we’re all friends here, ain’t that right kidd-oh?” His pupils looked where Frisk had been, only to catch them looking at the computer in the corner. Sans walked over to view a music sharing forum. “ heh, see ya still got the jig for making some awesome music to boo-gie too, huh?”

The ghost put his tiny nubbed hands to his cheeks and smiled softly, “ O-Ohh… Ye-Yeah… I enjoy music… though it’s not as fun when…. When your by yourself…. O-Oh, n-no, no, don’t get the wrong idea.” His expression grew to worrisome as he noticed Sans’ smile shrink just a tiny bit. So tiny that Frisk hadn't even noticed. “ ohhh, oh no…” He started to become transparent, feeling guilty.

“ woah, hey it’s okay naps.” Sans chuckled lightly, nudging Frisk with his elbow for some assistance. It was true though. Sans’ grin did deter a bit, thinking of when him and Asriel listened or played out songs.

The child took the hint and wandered to the TV to view the same cut off program as Papyrus’ and Sans’ TV. This made the ghost perk up, drawing attention to the sudden game show theme being played, “ Oh... that's my TV... there's a show I like to watch on it... sometimes...”

Sans meanwhile looked over to see a spider web with flyer bake sale in it. Seeing a few discount tickets on it that were close to being expired, but untouched by the ectoplasm of the meek ghost. He decided to strip off a ticket and stuff it into his pocket. He knew well enough Napstablook wouldn’t mind, and would more than likely forget he even had the coupons. Heading back over, Frisk had put their hand firmly against the fridge, making Napstablook smile a bit. It had been quite a while since the poor thing had any sociable interactions. So, of course, in order to treat his house guests and new friends, he hovered over and opened the frost fridge open, pulling out two transparent like sandwiches. “ Oh... are you hungry...? I can get you something to eat... this is a ghost sandwich... Do you want to try it...?”
He tilted his head as Frisk gave a grand smile and nodded. Sans humored along with them, “ sure why not.” He handed out the two sandwiches. Frisk took one and tried their best to bite it, only for it to phase through. They made a slight sigh and gave it back to the ghost, smiling sadly to not let him feel bad about the experience. Sans pushed his sandwich to is enclosed teeth, letting it phase through him and almost hit the floor at the speed and movement of a feather. With a quick lift of blue magic, the sandwich was reunited to the ghost. “ heh, that food sure did go right through me. i’ll be nothing but skin and bones, minus the skin part.”
The frail ghost nodded, putting the food away back to their original places. “ Oh... nevermind...” His pale eyes glanced o the floor, “ After a great meal I like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage... It's a family tradition... Do you want... to join me...?” He fiddled with his tiny nubs for hands before receiving a thumbs up from the human. Sans reached out, pulling up some of his sleeve to check a drawn on watch on his wrist bones..

“ we’ve got time.”

Napstablook was to enjoyed in having company, that he didn't even ask about the fake clock, even if he still sounded and acted a bit down. It was just how he was, but he was happy none the less. “ Okay... follow my lead...” He lead them to the middle of the floor of the house and tilted over to lay down. Frisk sat down and placed themselves to lay down as well… While Sans just turned around and let himself fall onto the floor, slightly spooking the other two from the sudden light thump of the floor. “ Here we go... You'll lie down as long as you don't move. So... only move around when you want to get up, I guess...”

The trio closed their eyes, achieving peace in the quiet abode. Napstablook was fully entranced with the silent air, converting all negativity out from his translucent body. Frisk thought about freeing everyone, and finally having enough power to help their soon to be adopted sibling, which lead them to feel determined. All while Sans’ casual smirk, detoured slightly as he started to feel himself drift off… The past two days that he’s been with the human was just now taking its toll onto him. At this moment, he was starting to realize how much f the past was starting to inflict him. The human for starters, caring enough so one monster wouldn’t remain alone. Building up that snowman long ago, his pet rock, the time machine, the area where he found Toby. The scriptures on the walls, the lone bench, the statue… It was all swirling within him. From all the years of covering up his past friendship, was now starting to leak out from memories… Why did he agree to this again? He almost whined out when a slight vision caught a glimpse in his mind. That being of the young deceased prince smiling to him, asking him one simple request and question, being entwined with that of the ghostly monster child lizard that vanished by the river. ‘ Sans, please stop thinking about this. Don’t you have anything better to do?’. To keep himself from panicking or crying, he took in a shaky breath and smoothed out his voice, “ whoa… i feel it… i feel the cosmos…” Frisk instantly sat up looking to Sans as if he were a stoner. They use to think he was when they started the early pacifist runs. This involuntarily made the other two to get up.

The ghost smiled sadly, shifting his wide eyes about slowly and unsure of what to do next. “ Well, that was nice... Thank you... Uhhh... I'm gonna' keep working on that mix CD.” Frisk went over to some records and pushed the button for Ghouliday, hearing the ghost comment on it. “ Oh, this one... Once you learn the lyrics, it's hard not to sing along... Ooo, ooo, ooo. Ooo, ooo, oooo. Oo, oo, ooo, oo, ooo~.” Frisk tried mimicking along with him, tying to sing it as he did… even though it wasn’t much of singing. Sans wandered over and snickered at the two ‘Ooing’. He clicked the button to play an echo like song called Spookwave. “Dang... That ambiance... It's like my whole body is being spooked...” Napstablook shuddered, is body wiggling around like jelly. Frisk pat him and played the last song, Spooktunes to hear what seemed to be a broken trumpet. “ Oh... A classic Spooktune... They don't make songs like this anymore... “ They both said their goodbyes and waved, leaving the ghost to his instruments.

Once outside, they were consulted by Aaron, backed u with a Woshua who merely sighed. “ Okay! I got my trainer manager now ; ) ! So there's no way I’m gonna’ flex away again with his supervision and-…” Aaron’s long snout shut for a moment.

The Woshua who had a whistle around its neck made a skeptic face, hearing the music from the ghost’s house, play out and echo onto the walls nearby. “ ... What the HECK is that music?”

Aaron started to shake, his eye widening as he flexed his muscles as a reflexive tick. “ I-I DUNNO DUDE, BUT IT'S SPOOKIN' ME OUT ; ) !”

Woshua’s face scrunched up, “ ... This is worse than Shyren.”

“ No way, Shyren is way less scary ; )”

“ ... If you're so scared, why do you keep winking?”

“ THESE ARE WINKS OF FEAR ; ) !” Aaron neighed out, obviously spooked.

“ Forget it. This beat is too... filthy.” The turtle monster started to waddle away, leaving his pupil behind.

“ Wosh! Wait! Don't leave me ;)! Is this creepy music punishment for being creepy ; )?! Please... stop... I'll never creep again ; ) ! WAAAAAAAAH ;)! I.... I'm so sc-scared ; )! Ghosts aren't real right ; )?!”

Sans had one of the most smuggest grins on ever, “ you really think a living person could make this creepy tune?” He chuckled.

“ What?! They are real?! OH NOOOOOOOOOO ; )!” Aaron quickly moved hi tail at top speed to get away from the dorky music, earning the two a big laugh.

“ oh man… i knew spooking horses was easy, but man, i didn't know it was that easy!”

They both headed over to the other part of the ghost’s land, seeing a rather large pen full of snails and slugs of various shapes and sizes, fenced in except for two small openings. Beyond that rested another fenced in area with lines chalked on the ground and tiny red flags placed into the firm soil. Sans looked into the pen, overhearing Napstablook talk to Frisk. Neither of them knew exactly how Napstalook knew they were at the… Well, more accurately a ranch, but didn’t question it, much like how Papyrus seemingly flew through the air at one point. Sans sighed silently watching the mollusks move around slowly, yet another memory being torn opened to have salt sprayed over it. “ Awkward... I'm working right now... I mean... Welcome to 'Blook Family Snail Farm'... Yeah. I'm the only employee. This place used to get a lot of business...” Sans put his arms n the fencing and lowered his skull into his sleeves to hide a frown. He remembered fondly when he and Asriel would pick up snails for Toriel. “ But our main customer disappeared one day...” Sans suspected Toriel was the lady behind The Ruin’s doors. She seemed to have forgotten him, as well as most monster besides Asgore, letting her block out the bad memories of her child dying and reserving herself as best she could. The crafty skeleton would have teleported past the thick stone doors, but it didn’t have a gap, unlike Toby’s hidden room in the alcove near Snowdin. And time had passed until he had gone there, making him forget certain things along with new changes here and there. “ Now it's just some hairy guy that shows up once a month...” Sans thoughts then tilted to the kind king. He had been working at his station every so often to see the big lug pass by at The Waterfalls… Every day, the same one day of the month he would go to get some snails. The same day Toriel had left.

“ Really, I'm working... I don't want the boss to get mad at me... especially since I'm my own boss...”

Sans got out from his stupor to smile, “ well go easy on yourself. no need to be boo-ssing yourself around.” The ghost sighed slightly at the painfully driven in pun.
The two walked into the enclosure, Frisk kneeling down to a snail and putting their tongue out to their lip with a puzzling expression… Almost like they wanted to know how a snail tasted like. Even on The Surface, Frisk had forgotten to mention it since Toriel could explore new recipes.

A larger snail with a long nose and mustache scooted over to them. “ Snail, snail. A long journey extends in front of you. Snail, snail.. Reach far and stretch beyond the horizons. snail, snail... so Snaileth Sam Byool. Snail, snail... Good gosh, don't I look like a perfectly normal snail?”

“ might be stretching that buddy, but it works.” Sans winked to the obvious monster pretending to be a snail… Or was a snail like monster?

Frisk walked over to a small green monster in a tux holding an empty shell on their belly, smiling with gratification. “ I've been long overdue for a second house...” Meanwhile a slug or a shell-less snail was counting some gold coins.

Frisk tilted their head to the skeleton, “ I think that’d be you if you didn’t have your own house.”

Sans scoffed at the child’s cocky grin, “ you’ve been hangin’ around with paps too much kiddo.”

Finally, came the next pen over, the meek ghost appearing yet again, right on cue. “ Do you want to play a game? It's called 'Thundersnail'. The snails will race, and if the yellow snail wins, you win. It's 10g to play”

Frisk nodded and handed over some golden coins, before turning to the fencing to see a yellow, red, and blue colored snail. Napstablook poked a small button to the side, making a sound. While the red and blue snails scooted across the ground quickly, the yellow one moved slowly, only for Frisk to cheer it on every now and then. At this rate, it was losing harshly. Sans peered over and stared to cheer it on… However the snail suddenly turned around, upside-down, and eventually curled into its shell… Before somehow bursting into flames. At which Sans stopped and suddenly felt guilt as he wore a slight frown with hollowed eyes. “ oops…”

The red mollusk reached the end, then some type of treadmill popped out an carried them back to their original spot. The yellow one then slid out from the broken and burnt shell as two slugs came over with tiny fire extinguishers and sprayed foam onto the burning shell. Frisk hopped over the fence and picked up the yellow snail/slug.“Ohhhh...... Looks like you encouraged your snail too much... All that pressure to succeed.... Really got to her... Oh...” Frisk patted the yellow one and got out a jar with holes poked on the top, with lettuce in it. They gently put the snail inside and closed up the lid, securely. Sans figured since the human had known certain things from so many runs, that they had probably asked Papyrus for those various things when Sans was asleep, knowing this would happen. After saying a small bye to the ghost, they continued on.

“ north blook acres, east hotland, hell-if-i-know temmie village. welp, we’re almost there in a way.” Sans said as he read out the sign, following behind the child who immediately turned to enter the old warrior’s store. Sans let out a sigh, he knew the kid liked to do many things during a run, and it was good experience for growing determination… But some things only brought up things Sans had avoided for years. Avoiding the simpler and happier times when he and the prince spent time together as innocent children.

And of course, upon entering he was met with the old familiar voice of the now elderly turtle. “ Whoa there! I've got some neat junk for sale. Huh? Wehehehewell lookie there! Sans! I haven't seen you in quite a bit, you lil’ rapscallion, you!” Gerson put his called arms on the counter, reaching his neck out holding a magnifying glass up to an eye.

“ hehehe, what do ya mean? i was here last year.”

The elderly monster waggled a finger, “ Ah, ah, ah, don’t you be startin’ that! A year is far too long! But, I must say… The year must be treatin’ you somethin’ special since you caught yourself a lil’ tyke.” His joyful smile faltered grimily. “ I… suppose you be takin’ ‘em to…”

“ i’m helping them get by the barrier, if that’s what you mean.” He smiled as he ruffled Frisk’s hair, making them giggle cutely.

“ Oh-OH! OHHH! OHOHOHO! Wahaha, I knew ya had a good soul in your ribs!” Gerson knew of the events that took place, as in the prince dying with their adoptive sibling, Toriel vanishing and Asgore wanting vengeance. But the old monster had seen enough in his days, not even wanting to see or know of a human being harmed in The Underground. He still continued to help train Undyne, but was still against harming a human if they fell down. “ So, anything you wanna' know about?” He poke Frisk’s nose who gave a large cheerful smile.

“ How about yourself?”

“ I've been around a long time. Maybe too long. Studying history sure is easy when you've lived through so much of it yourself! Wahaha!”Frisk then pointed behind the turtle to a symbol painted across the back wall. “ Eh? You don't know what that is? What is Sans teaching you...?”

“ hey, i can teach ‘em plenty… i’m just too lazy to.” He smiled proudly.

“ Wahaha! That's the 'Delta Rune', the emblem of our kingdom. The Kingdom... Of Monsters! Wahahaha! Great name huh? It's as I always say... Ol' King Fluffybuns can't name for beans! That emblem actually predates written history. The original meaning has been lost to time... All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes... Somethin' else. Most people say it's the 'angel' from the prophecy...” To Sans, growing up, he never believed in it, and he still hadn’t until he met Frisk. This and every timeline beforehand, he would slowly started to think Frisk was that angel.

“ Oh yeah... The prophecy. Legend has it, an 'Angel' who has seen The Surface will descend from above and bring us freedom.” While as Frisk, once learning about this, thought the angel was Asriel… Sacrificing the collected souls and returning to the despicable emotionless flower so everyone could be free.“ Lately, the people have been taking a bleaker outlook... Callin' that winged circle the 'Angel Of Death'. A harbinger of destruction, waiting' to 'free' us from this mortal realm...” Both looked nervous, Frisk biting their lip and Sans wearing a wider forced smile. Frisk knew well that that had been Chara… While Sans would often think it was Frisk, Chara in is dreams/the past runs, or Flowey.

“ In my opinion, when I see that little circle... I jus' think it looks neat! Wahaha!”

“ What about the king?”

“ King Fluffybuns? He's a friendly, happy-go-lucky kind of guy. If you keep walking around long enough, you'll probably meet him. He loves to walk around and talk to people. Eh? Why do I call Dreemurr, 'Fluffybuns'? Oh, that's a great story! ... I don't remember it. But if you come back much later, I'm sure I'll have remembered by then.”

“ I’d like to hear tat-oh! What about Undyne?” Frisk waved their am in the air like a kid desperately asking a teacher something impatiently.

“ Undyne? Yeah, she's the 'Local Hero' around here. Through grit and determination alone, she fought her way to the top of the royal guard.” Sans’ smile turned into a smug one at the determination part, knowing he had helped with that bit. “ Actually, she just came through here asking about someone who looked just like you... I'd watch your back kid. And buy some items. It might just save your hide! Wahaha!”

Sans leaned his elbow onto the counter, winking to the turtle, “ howza’ about selling?"

“ Ha! I'm tryin' to get RID of my junk, not get more of it! Though, I've hear if you want to sell stuff, The Temmie Village is your best bet. Where is it? ... I don't remember.” The elderly turtle pondered. Frisk happily purchased a sea tea, cloudy glasses and a torn notebook. As they exited the shop, both waved a goodbye to him. “ Good luck Sans! Be careful out there kid!”

“ Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only being with a powerful soul can leave.” Frisk read out loud before moving to the next slab of text on the blue walls. “ There is only one way to reverse the spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven human souls, attacks the barrier... it will be destroyed. But this cursed place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could come here. We will remain trapped down here forever.”

“ geez kid, you sure you gotta’ read all those?”

Frisk looked up to the monster, “ Determination.”

Sans rolled his pupils, “ heh, yeah, determination.” The two walked along a path of brightly lit up blue grass as well as mushroom which the human poked to change paths. Sans just followed them, which was fine since Frisk knew the place way more better than the skeleton who neglected walking by for years. “ pst, hey kiddo… what do you think a monster’s favorite type of music is in the waterfalls?”

Frisk thought to themselves before looking up and puffing up their cheeks, ‘ No… Don’t… Don’t you dare…”

Sans smile grew to that to rival the Cheshire cat’s, “ … blue grass.” He whispered out, causing the child to burst into a fit of laughter before e joined along. The reason why Frisk had remained quiet was because… A special enemy Temmie appeared to defeat them! And considering how no one talked about the strange hybrids, they could only suspect Sans wouldn’t want to see them. In fact, they were actually going to ask for him to wait outside the hidden village so he could take a nap and avid the misfits. Only on The Surface were the Temmies really accepted as monster culture.

The stray Temmie bounded over to them, gyrating intensely. But… Sans didn’t seemed fazed. Frisk waved to the small monster, “ Hello.”

“ hOI I'm Temmie!” The small canine and feline monster’s legs sprouted up to rival those of Mettaton’s. The Temmie placed her front legs over the two and started to shuffle back and forth while they kept up with the jerky movements. Temmie then shrunk down t her normal size and tried to glomp Frisk who ran around Sans as an obstacle. Sans marveled at the two before reaching into his coat’s pocket and lifting out single powdery substance that looked like a cross between a cracker and a snowflake.“ FOOB!!!” Sans quickly moved his arm out of the way as the Temmie tried to snatch it. She fell flat on her face, moving back for her squashed in flat face to be pulled off from the ground before returning to its natural shape ad smirking, “ Can’t blame a BARK for tryn’…” Sans chuckled and tossed her the powdery substance, to which she stuffed into her mouth… along with her paws. She started to vibrate until her small body scooted away from her face, staying there as they prepared for the next ‘attack’.

“fhsdhjfdsfjsddshjfsd! awwAwa cute!!” Once pulling her paws out from her over-stuffed cheeks, her arms flopped out like noodles. One arm soon extended out going all around to touch either of the two before reeling back in. Afterwards she stood up on her hind legs and waddled to her face which still stayed in mid-air. She grabbed hold of it and placed it back onto her empty faced head and got back to all fours, happily waddling off to her home, which the two followed.

Chapter Text

“ oh my god, this place hasn’t changed a bit…” Sans said, sounding amused but also slightly traumatized as he and Frisk witnessed the village made up of a tapestry, a statue, and a new crack in the wall. Sans remembered over-hearing something about the odd monsters having to hide their makeshift cardboard houses and buildings away from any Capital Tourists for some stupid legal reason that was never talked about and avoided by Bob and Grandpa Temmy. So they just put up a wall and made a crack in it for the them to squeeze into their actual houses.

Frisk smiled as they looked over to four Temmies in barbershop styled shirts and hats, acapellaing the music for the village. Upon examining the sign, the Temmie nearest to it read it out, being the Village Greeter. “ hOI! Welcom to TEM VILLAGE! hOI! I'm Temmie! And dis is MY friend... Temmie!” They waggled their paws to another identical monster.

Moving down the small group, the next yelled out, “ hOI! I'm Temmie! And dis is MY friend... Temmie!”

And the next, “ hOI! I'm Temmie! Don forget MY friend!” They tilted their head over to look at the next one and fell on their back in doing so.

The final one smiled, “ Hi. I'm Bob.” He shook Frisk’ hand and looked over to the skeleton. “ Heeeey, been a while Sansy Boy, this your kid?”

“ pth, please, we both know i wouldn’t have one, but you on the other hand bobby-boy~.”

“ Oh don’t be like that, you know I’m a bachelor. But anyways, good to see you big guy.” He held out a paw, letting the skeleton make a fist and bump their knuckles against one another. The two chilled monster followed the human as they looked about the strange village.

Frisk cleared their throat to imitate a Temmie, reading the signs, “ hOI! U shud check out... TEM SHOP! yaYA! I AGREES! Shud check TEM SHOP!”
A Temmie nearby perked it’s four ears up and squealed out from Frisk reading the signs. “ Awawawah! Humans... such a-CUTE!” The Temmie hopped into the child's arms and vibrated rapidly, purring.

“ woah wait… temmies know what humans look like, but most other monsters don’t?” Sans asked out.

Bob chuckled, “ Well, we spawned from Grandpa Temmy who inside the village’s hut behind the walls. He was in the war, and we’re just clones of him, so yeah.”
Frisk carried the small hybrid who constantly patted their cheeks before looking to the large statue and tapestry, “ Statue of tem. Very famus. VERY! And, long history of Tem!”

The put down the gyrating guide who vibrated back to their spot. Sans walked over to Frisk who was now watching an egg with a Temmie. “ Tem... WATCH EGG! Eg... wil HATCH! Tem... PROUD PARENT!” Sans put out a ebony finger, but was soon shushed by Bob and Frisk from telling the ‘parent’ that the egg was hard boiled. The skeleton looked over to the wall seeing a crack in it with a Temmie peeking out. He got the feeling of being watched a little too close for comfort. Continuing on they came to a monster who was in the wrong place.

“ what cha’ doin’ here buddy? i mean you seem like a fun-guy, so-“

The mushroom like monster turned to the cheeky skeleton and wriggled about strangely in a pattern. “ Mushroom dance, mushroom dance, whatever could it mean? It symbolizes my inner torment, trapped here by my hyphae. My struggle to pull away. My struggle to escape. But alas, to no avail. If only I could see the world above. But even if the barrier was open, how would I leave? “

Sans bright mile turned sour a bit, “ wow… what an awfully depressing and 'sporing' speech.” The mushroom's real eyes poked out, bloodshot and glaring. Frisk; Not wanting to make a scene hugged onto the poor mushroom. They remembered when the monsters were freed, them and Asgore found a nice habitat at the large domed garden they took Flowey, Sans, and Papyrus to that one time. There had been a nice damp man-made cave for mushroom to grow. Frisk held onto the monster gently, projecting them as Flowey, since they were like him in a way… But did have a soul somehow. The speech also reminded them of the trapped prince… The mushroom froze up and eventually leaned into the hug, receiving a pat on the top of its spotted glowing cap.

After letting the mushroom know they’d be back, Frisk was about to head to the save point but noticed a Temmie smiling to them and Sans. “ Puh-Tem heard human allergics to Tem... dat ok... Tem understan... Tem... ALSO allergic to Tem!” A few bumps soon popped up over her face inexplicably, but she still kept her smile on, “ hOIVES!” Fisk giggled and pet her blue and gray hair.

~You feel... something... you're filled with DETEMMINATION~.

After saving, Frisk managed their items and went into the store. Sans looked about, seeing the store change a bit from his youth. There was just junk over at the back wall, shelves, a large cardboard box for a counter, and a not so hidden door along the side that lead to the boxed homes of the Temmies. Temmie looked over and gasped out, shoving her dainty paws t her cheeks. “ Awawawa! SAAAANS! It been lONg, lONg timez! It me, Temmie! Temmy’s assi… assit… uhm… assistant!” She finally made out. “ Last time TEm saw U waz… Caaaaan’t ‘member… But-But-But! Tem remembers serving pizzaz and-and-and!” She gasped up some air, holding it in her cheeks, trying to recall the events before letting go and breathing again. “ Can’t ‘member-OH! A hoomins! hOI! Welcom to Da TEM SHOP!” She waved wildly.
Frisk gave the skeleton a look, but only got a shrug in return. Sure Sans knew the Temmie… But he didn’t want to dwell on the past more than he was already doing. “ Hello.”

“ hOI! I'm Temmie!”

“ Anything about yourself?”

“ hOI! I'm Temmie!”
Frisk sighed, giving a small smile, “ What about your history?”

“ Us Tems hav a DEEP HISTORY!”

Sans smirked and leaned over to Frisk, “ and what about the store?”
“ yaYA! Go to TEM SHOP!” Frisk pushed him away as he chuckled. Frisk held up a smile, trying not to laugh themselves at the skeleton giving the hybrid a hard time. They then put down their backpack and put out many things, as well as putting up the tutu and ballet shoes back into their bag. Temmie marveled at the various trinkets with large scaucered eyes, “ Owh! u got stuffs Hnnn... I gota have those stuffs... but I gota pay for colleg” Temmie bit their lp and vibrated before Frisk agreed to the deals. After which Frisk put down a heaft amount of gold coins, t which even shocked Sans. “ WOA! Thas ALOT o muns... can Tem realy acepts?” Frisk nodded happily. “ OKs! Tem go to colleg and make u prouds!” Temmie stuck her feet out from the box and slid away to the ‘hidden door’, walking away with her box she sat in while her face winked to them both and stayed there in mid-air. A few seconds later, she came back and reapplied her face, now having a graduate hate on. “ Tem bak from cool-leg. Tem learn MANY THINs, learn to sell new ITEM! yaYA! Tem armOR, so gud!” Frisk giggled and waved a bye to her. “ bOI!”

Outside the shop, Sans held a firm smile as his pupils vanished after witnessing the oddity. “ just when I thought it was safe to come back here…” Frisk scoffed a chuckle before unequipping the frilly tutu and ballet shoes, stuffing them into the nearly and conveniently placed box and getting out the glasses and notebook. They put the thick lensed glasses on their head like goggles and held the torn and watered down notebook closely, even though it’s pages were all ripped out. “ wow, you look like a mini version of me and alphys.”

“ That’s how you know I’m a cool nerd.”

“ hehehe, more of a dork, but yeah.” He smiled affectionately as they left the strange village saying bye to Bob.

Along the way to the next area, they were greeted by some wiggling mounds of what looked like green jello, only for it to be a band of Moldsmals which reacted as Frisk did a wiggle. “ Sans, c’mon, do a sexy wiggle!”

“ wha-do you even know what that means?”

“ Saaaaaans!” The child groaned out.

The skeleton shook his head, chuckling. He stayed right next to Frisk who had their arms behind the back of their head and wiggled about in place, making the moldy monsters jiggle. “ heh, thought i’d never do this in front of anyone besides someone i was dating. but then again… that ain’t gonna’ happen.” He stuck out his arms and waved them around.

Frisk gave him a look, “ What is that?!”

“ my ‘sexy wiggle’.”

“ More like a limp noodle…”

“ kid… trust me, ya don’t wanna’ see ‘this’ do a sexy wiggle.”

“ Pttth! Oh c’mon, I’m sure someone would enjoy it.”

“ ohohokay, that’s enough out of you.” Sans laughed out as the Moldsmals seemed satisfied and scooted away except for one. “ huh? What’s this guys problem?” The lone Moldsmal squelched out and suddenly shot into the air, revealing several moldsmals on top of one another before leaning over for the highest one to loom over them with a single eye staring them down. “ ohhh…”

It summoned up tiny moldsmals, sprouting up besides it’s jelly like bottom which shot out bits of slime. After weaving around, Sans flopped over, remembering a Moldbygg back in the day who smoked often and would normally think about things when Sans felt lost after his father and Asriel were no more, and questioned life. It always made Sans feel a bit better and appreciated life more. That Moldbygg was well known amongst small monsters and other molds in The Waterfalls… That was, until the Moldbygg fell down one day… The Moldbygg who attacked them both, made the smaller ones slide back into its self and lumbered over with Sans, understanding life now. It got up and made a gooey sound, notifying a sorry to Sans. It turned to Frisk, gyrating reservedly, shooting out eight bullets of sludge. Frisk dodged around them and then put their hands up and walked back to unhug the large beast. it appreciated the respect of its boundaries and scooted off leaving a smiley trail, comfortable with their presence.

The two came to the crystal room, Frisk reading the sign while Sans held their hand so they wouldn’t get split up from the pure darkness as the crystals stalled for light. “ Without candles or magic to guide them home, the monsters used crystals to navigate.” As they walked about, they noticed Sans held onto them a bit tighter. “ Sans? Are you… Are you afraid of the dark?”

“ hehehe… nah. it’s just… passing by this room, i’d help paps out by holding his hand, and alphys. they got spooked by the darkness back in the day. still do sometimes.” That part was true, but the skeleton still covered up a part of him doing the same with Asriel. They soon stepped into some shallow water that covered their feet. “ aww man, really? we just dried off after walking around. jeez, it’s dark as hell too…” He mumbled. His left eye flared up in a fire of blue, he squinted.

“ Still?”

“ yeah… this is like… unnatural darkness. hey wait, i think i see something.” He walked over to a single echo flower.

The flower spoke out in a menacing voice, distorted from sounding like someone Sans would know. “ …behind you…” Sans spine went cold, his blue engulfed eye now fully active instead of just for show and a means of a light. He felt Frisk squeeze his and as they whirled around for the glowing lights to somehow reappear and shine off metal armor.

The armored ad heavy boot moved forward, making Sans instinctively hold Frisk back. The armored monster spoke out from under the helmet, their voice echoing a bit and being slightly off from being covered. “ Seven. Seven human souls, Sans. With the power of seven human souls, our king... King Asgore Dreemurr... will become a god. If you keep getting in the way… You will be committing treason upon him and everyone here. Give me the human.” Sans glared a bit, standing his ground. “ Sans… Don’t you understand? With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take the surface back from humanity... And give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured..... Understand you two? This is your only chance at redemption. Give me the human, or give up your soul... or I'll tear it from their body.” A blue spear was suddenly conjured into their hand. The armor clad monster gripped it tightly, abut to duke it out with Sans until…

The scrawny yet hard working monster child jumped out from nearby reeds. “ Undyne! I'll help you fight!” He said with a bright smile before looking over to Sans and Frisk, then back to Undyne. “ Yo! You guys did it! Undyne is RIGHT in front of you! You've got front row seats to her fight!” His smile altered as cogs in his head turned, “ ...Wait... Who's she fighting?” Undyne grabbed the lizard by the cheek and stomped away, dragging him along. “ H-Hey! You aren't gonna' tell my parents about this are you?!”

After some silence, the flower behind them yelped out, “H-Hey! You aren't gonna' tell my parents about this are you?!”

“ Sans?” Frisk frowned before the skeleton’s eye fizzled out.

“ heh.. sorry kid… i normally don’t get like this and-“

He was soon cut off as the child held onto him, burying their face into his sapphire sweater. “ Thank you for not giving me up.”

Sans’ nervous smile was replaced with a soft and solemn one, “ hehehe… i’m not giving up on you. Not this time.”

“ Huh?”

“ i mean… i-i… i wanna’ show you something…”

As Frisk stepped into the hidden garden that Kidd had been hiding in, they stared out in awe as Sans welcomed them into the humble yet overgrown beauty of the garden. “ I thought I found every secret place… I can’t believe this was here this entire time.” They looked around seeing the serenity of the waterfalls going down the walls of the entire room’s outline, making a small moat while the lush plants and flowers grow out their roots and onto a bench and rocks. Sans sat under one of the small crab-apple trees, taking one of the fruits off a low hanging branch. Frisk sat at the other tree, doing the same as they looked over to the statue, riddled with small cracks and roots, sitting there with its stone legs crossed, having a hood cover its face as it held out and cupped it’s palms, waiting for a crab-apple to fall into it. It looked much like the one where the music box played. Upon examining the old statue, they witnessed Sans slumping over, holding the fruit with closed eyes. “ Sans… This place is beautiful. How did you find it?”

Sans smiled in a painful looking way, Frisk sensing he was emotional for some reason. He opened his eyes, his pupils gone from sight, “ hehehe… i helped build this place when i was just a baby bones. me and my friend both planted these trees so when we came here, we could enjoy the fruit it bared and chat about our hopes and dreams...”

Frisk frowned, holding the fruit closely as they heard Sans start to break down a bit which was unlike him. “ … You know, you mentioned a friend before I reset… Papyrus couldn't remember while Undyne and Alphys told me they had moved far away, but I don’t believe that at all though…” They looked down to the odd apple, fussing with it in their hands. “ … What happen to your friend Sans?”

Sans remained silent until Frisk peered over to find the skeleton actually become fragile right before their very eyes. Tears streamed down his cheekbones as his eye sockets remained pitch back. His smile wavered a bit, wanting to frown but kept fighting with the forced smile on his skull. “ ….. T H E Y D I E D…..” He choked on a sob, “ it’s funny… i didn’t start thinking about them until i started to travel along with you… hehehe… it’s making me realize… how much i miss them… hehehe… hehehehehehahaha-ahahahaha-A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A H A!” Sans burst out into a maniacal laugh, dropping the apple to the grass and putting a shaky hand onto the tree getting up before is legs gave out and falling to his knee-bones again. He threw up a hand to his weaker eyes, the left one now fully engulfed in the blue magical essence of his soul as he continued.

Frisk shook, watching their close friend and family member break down from so many resets and hardships of wearing a fake smile. They instantly got up and ran over to the slouching skeleton and wrapped their arms around him tightly, pressing up against his bones. His loud laughter eventually shattered into that of a painful and mournful cry of helplessness calling for out for help. Frisk knew this cry… It was the same exact one Asriel made when Frisk went back to The Surface with their new family and started to reset a day before in the morning just to send time with Asriel before he requested for them to move on.

Chapter Text

Eventually Sans resided to his false smile which at this point was starting to morph into a guanine one as he spent the time with Frisk. He couldn’t tell if it was the human’s soul that grew along side his own, or if he truly felt hope and determined, being side by side with the brave child who marched on forwards. The two left the wondrous overgrown garden, leaving a few crab-apples in the statue’s palms as a sign of moving on and saying their goodbyes. They soon passed by the glowing flowers, again repeating a recorded message after a few other conversations of babbling. “ ...hmm... if i say my wish... you promise you won't laugh at me?” Sans felt the small human’s hand wrap around his cold bony hand, clutching onto him to give him some comfort. The skeleton held onto their small hand dearly as they flowers blathered on around them.

“ of course i won't laugh!” Sans gritted his teeth as the small distinct voices whispered out the precious words of his memory.

“ someday, i'd like to climb this mountain we're all buried under. standing under the sky, looking at the world all around... that's my wish.” Sans silently gulped down… something or nothing since he didn’t have a throat and kept on going as laughter was heard from one of the many blue neon flowers, blossoming as it giggled. The laughter of Sans’ innocence played out, reminding him of the better times.

“ ... hey, you said you wouldn't laugh at it!” Snapped another flower nearby as the chuckling started to slow down.

“ sorry, it's just funny... that's my wish too...” Sans took in a long and deep needed breath to regain his focus as Frisk read out the last scripture of the last slab from the cold and often damp wall.

“ However... There is a prophecy. The Angel... The one who has seen The Surface, they will return. And The Underground will go empty.” The two sighed, each thinking of their own version of the angel… Sans looked to Frisk in an almost inspired type of look. While Frisk looked to the soggy floor and frowned.

“ what’s up kid? you don’t really believe this stupid story, right?” Sans asked, chuckling nervously.

Frisk meddled with the empty and torn notebook, seeming more distressed. “ I-I do… It’s just always hard to meet them. And it will be even more complicated now-but uh… I mean…”

“ kiddo, i don’t care if we do see this ‘angel’, all you gotta’ know is that to me… you’re the angel in my eyes.” Frisk looked up t the skeleton to view a calm and sincere smile. Not a forced or mixed one. They, themselves grew a faint smile, heading off with him.

“ thanks sans… you might become another angel in my eyes too.”

“ hehehe, don’t count on me being that juuuuust yet kiddo. we still got some work to do.”

They finally got to a small narrow bridge, which creaked under their footing, but was stable and large enough for them to be on. As Frisk got near the next land that was divided by the wooden structure, a voice rang out. “ YO!” The two adventurers turned around to find the armless orange lizard run up to Frisk and pant slightly, regaining his breath back. Afterwards he stood up straight, his tail drooping behind him as his face furled into a hurt smile. “ Yo, I know I'm not supposed to be here but... I wanna' ask you something..... Man, I've never had to ask anyone this before... Umm... Yo... You're a human right?” He gave a pained smile, worried that their new friend was indeed human. Frisk sighed lightly and nodded, almost as equally as sad.

The orange lizard with the orange and brown striped shirt gazed his eyes down to the wooden platform. “ Haha… Man! I knew it! ...Well, I know it now, I mean...” His straightened posture went to slouching as his eyes ran up to Sans and Frisk. “ Undyne told me, um, 'Stay away from that Human and traitor’. So, like, ummm... I guess that makes us enemies or something? But I kinda stink at that, haha... Yo, say something mean so I can hate you? Please?” He nervously looked to Frisk, still with a sad smile splayed across his face. Both monsters watched as the gentle child shook their head, this caught Kidd off guard, making the saddened face turned into a shocked one, “ Yo, what? So I have to do it?” He bit his lip, looking down again to avoid any eye contact. “ Here goes nothing...” He shut his eyes and started to tremble, “ Yo, I-I hate your guts!” He shouted out, opening his eyes to glare at Frisk, which didn’t faze them at all. While Kidd still gave off a threatening look, even as far as putting a foot forward and having a mean look, Frisk just smiled. Kidd shrunk back to his original position, his angry face turning into an even more saddened one, guilty at what he just did. He sniffled, “ ... Man, I-I'm such a turd. I'm... I'm gonna' go home now.” He turned around and sprinted off, only to trip over his feet in trying to flee so quickly that the monster child fell over the bridge, but thankfully and somehow managed to grip the edge of the bridge’s support beam with his hind legs. “ Yo, w-w-wait! Help! I tripped!” He shrieked.

Sans got ready to go help but saw the glimmering boots of Undyne across the bridge, finally gaining up to them. Sans gave a harsh look, spreading his arms to his sides to defend the children. While Undyne started to step forward slowly and carefully, Frisk dashed over to the ledge an grabbed hold of Kidd’s shirt, tugging at it and pulling him up and over next to them. The two older monsters looked over to see Kidd get up as Frisk sat there from using a bit of energy. He turned around, now walking to the monster in armor, placing himself in front of both, Sans and Frisk. The small lizard shook as he put back his mean face back on, “ Y... Y...Yo...Undyne. If-If y-you wanna' hurt my friend... You're gonna' have to get through me first!” He snapped out, jumping up once without closing his eyes n fear. Undyne stayed put for an instance and started to walk backwards, eventually turning and heading off as he metal boots stomped on the floor.

Kidd went back to his calmed position and looked over his shoulder to smile. “ She's gone... Yo, you really saved my skin. Guess being enemies was just a nice thought, haha... We'll just have to be friends instead...” He giggled a bit as Frisk gave a smile and a thumbs up. Sans gave his casual grin and wink. “ Man, I should REALLY go home... I bet my parents are worried sick about me! Later dudes!” He laughed out, carefully running off the direction they all had come from, now sounding happy and proud with himself for doing the right thing.

“ damn, that kid gots some major soul power if he stood up to undyne like that.”

“ Yeah… But weren’t you going to grab him?”

“ if you didn't, would have lifted him up, but at the same time, i had to make sure undyne wouldn’t try anything. but in a way, i’m glad I didn’t honestly. you showed him that humans and monsters can work things out. which is possibly one of life’s greatest lessons. but maaaaan! i wish i coulda’ seen miss grumpy gill’s face from him defending yo-” He suddenly stopped as Frisk huddled over to his arm, grabbing hold of it tightly. He looked over, a bit confused before Frisk noticed and let go.

“ Sorry… Instinct. Let’s just say, I remember what happens next far too well.” Frisk frowned as they approached a small rocky mountain which had a path leading into it, straight to the next area of The Underground.

Right as he skeleton asked, a booming, gruff, and echoed voice shouted out to them from high above. They stopped to see the metal armored captain of The Royal Guard at the tip-top of the small rocky mountain. She put her heavy boot up onto a rock, putting her arms on her upper leg to peer over and stare down to them. “ Seven. Seven human souls, and King Asgore will become a God. Six. That's how many we have collected thus far. Understand? Through your seventh and final soul, this world will be transformed. First, however, as is customary for those who make it this far... I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago.....”
Sans rolled his pinpoint pupils and smirked, whispering to Frisk, “ oh boy, watch out, she’s gonna’ fish out a long winded speech.” He chuckled lightly, making Frisk partially more worried.

“ No, you know what? SCREW IT!” She screamed from above, silencing Sans. “ WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THE STORY?! WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE?! NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” She let out her battle cry and took hold of her helmet, pulling it off in one flawless motion, she jumped up to a twirl while throwing down the helmet to the hardened ground like spiking a volleyball. Frisk and Sans could clearly see that the sides of the metal helmet she clutched after pulling it off were slightly crushed in. They looked back up to see Undyne’s back turned to them as she knelt down. The captain turned her head to the right, gazing over her bulked metal shoulders, her one yellow eye glinting from the direction where Hotland was. She turned around fully for her cat like iris to eye them down while her other had a black sinister eye-patch to cover it up.

She rose her arm up to swing it down and point, “ YOU! You're both standing in the way of everybody's hope and dreams! Alphy's history books made me think humans were cool... with their giant robots and flowery swordsmen. BUT YOU?! You're just a coward! Hiding behind that kid so you could run away from me again! And let's not forget your wimpy goody-two-shoes-shtick!” She mocked up a voice, “ 'Oooh! I'm making such a difference by hugging random strangers'!” She snarled as her fins quivered in rage. He single eye locked onto the skeleton, even harsher now. “ And Sans, I thought you we were all friends… Even Alphys was your friend. BUT YOU?! You’re a traitor! Helping this human for your own stupid reasons! You’ve back-stabbed us all! You deceived me, Alphys… Papyrus… YOU’VE LET EVERYONE DOWN! You’re not to be a judge and you never were!” She barked out, causing Sans to grit an bear his teeth.

“ You know what would be more valuable to everyone?! IF YOU WERE DEAD AND IF YOU WERE LOCKED AWAY! That's right Human and Sans! Your continued existence is a crime! Your life is all that stands between us and our freedom! And Sans, for betraying your own people, you deserve to rot away in a cell! Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together! Everyone's been waiting their whole lives for this moment! But we're not nervous at all. When everyone puts their hearts together, they can't lose! Now, Human and Sans! Let's end this, right here, right now! I'll show you how determined monsters can be! Step forward when you're ready! Fuhuhuhu!” Undyne cackled out.

Frisk looked to the skeleton who held up his smile, but noticed his usual lazy half-lidded eyes were wide open as a soft mist of blue seeped out his left eye socket. Those words must have really gotten to him… They took hold of his current clenched up fist to gain his attention. They shook their head and lead him to the twinkling star. “ Just pretend you’re play ‘Green Light, Red Light’ and tag.” They gave a small smile to calm him down. He relaxed his bones and eye as his grin loosened up to an equally small smile.

~The wind is howling. You're filled with DETERMINATION~

The two took in a deep breath and stepped forward, bracing themselves against what was about to proceed. “ That's it then! No more running away! HERE I COME!” Undyne called out, summoning a bright blue spear before jumping off the rocks and swinging the spear down under her. She landed on her feet, still stable as the spear plunged and cracked into the Earth. She pulled it out in one fluid motion and turned the tip into a neon green color, quickly swiping both souls. Her movement was even faster than how Sans could react, making him frozen on the spot along side Frisk.“ En guarde!” Undyne Attacks! Frisk gulped and clasped their hands together, pleading that they didn't want to fight.

Sans saw this and joined in, putting his hands into his blue pockets, giving her a concerned smile, “ c’mon undyne. Don’t do this.” But nothing happened.
Undyne snarled out, her gills flaring out before sending out small spears at them, “ As long as you're green, you can't escape! Unless you learn to face danger head on! You won't last a second against me!” Frisk quickly grabbed hold of a shield of magic laid out in front of them, while Sans conjured up the upper half of a Gaster Blaster, holding it up to disrupt the attacks. The angered fish flashed a menacing smile to them, rivaling Sans’ smile to an extent, but more sharpened. “ Not bad, how about this then?!” She summoned more small arrows or spears from different directions. Sans kept the pace up and was thankful he didn’t have one HP anymore since he knew well enough how she got. Frisk however, who hadn’t done this in a while got an arrow cut their cheek.

-3/20

As Undyne bounced around impatiently, she got a dirty look from the skeleton. Her glove hand wave some strands of red hair out from her face and looked away a bit guilty. “ Look. I gave you a spear to block the bullets with. Do I have to explain this any more clearly?” She whispered out to the small human before going on with her attacks at which Frisk started to remember and pick up the pace with Sans. “ For years we've dreamed of a happy ending!” She growled out, noticing Sans wasn’t letting up. She could tell that the often lazy skeleton noticed he was getting slower and fewer attacks than Frisk. She tried to intimidate him by suplxeing a boulder. “ And now sunlight is within our reach! I won't let you snatch it away from us!” She then pointed heroically to sky, receiving a chuckle from the cheeky skeleton. Undyne glared deathly to him, “ NGAAAH! Enough warming up!” She quickly swung at their souls, making them red and blue again, before launching out a barrage of arrows to their sides. Frisk jumped out of the way and Sans teleported next to the child after seeing them jump, registering he could move again.

Frisk grabbed hold of Sans’ wrist and sprinted off as the blue toned monster just realized the two could move again. She chased after them both down the long corridor above the river which still flowed. With a quick swipe the souls once again turned green, entrapping them to be stuck in place. “You won't get away from me this time!” Undyne flipped her spear impatiently. As Frisk guarded against the oncoming arrows they pleaded once again.

Sans joined in, “ yeah, undyne, c’mon, we can still be friends, think about paps!”

“ GRRRR-SHUT UP SANS! Honestly, I'm doing you both a favor!” She towered threateningly against them, only for the two shorter people to not budge. She sent out more arrows at a much more rapid pace, “ No human has ever made it past Asgore!”

Sans sniffed the air, “ smells like angry fish.”

“ Shut it Sans! Killing you now is an act of mercy!” Again, more arrows came, eventually Frisk got the groove of it and deflected against them at the last second. “ So STOP being so damn resilient!” Another swipe from the large spear, Frisk dropping to the ground as arrows weaved to them. When the skeleton vanished, he appeared and snatched Frisk’s wrist, running off with them again with Undyne tailing after them.

Again, she caught up with them, “ You've escaped me for the LAST time! Alphys told me humans were determined…” She summoned up yellow arrows which launched to them both to bounce off their shield and swivel around the opposite way they were shot from. Thankfully they were stopped by hitting the shields a second time. Frisk always had trouble with there and spoke up, telling the angered fish that they just want to be friends. Recollection glimmered through her amber eye, her fins lowering down slightly, as she remembers someone... Her attacks became a little less extreme to Frisk.

… However for Sans, he merely shrugged and winked, cockily, “ tch, what was that just now? Did you just remember that I’m a pacifisht?” Undyne’s glare broke through again, her attacks becoming more quicker paced to Sans. Sans’ arrows whistled through the humid yet cool air, nicking Sans’ in the right eye, making Undyne’s heart and soul drop, since she recalled he had little HP for some reason.

-5/12

Undyne’s fins perked up, “ What the fuck?” She could have sworn Sans had six or lower HP… What the ever living hell was going on?!

Sans shut his right eye and winced, taking in a hiss of breath. “ hehehe, i’ll give that one to ya…” He smiled brightly, thinking that this was some type of karma for what he did to her eye years ago when they were little.

Undyne’s frightened frown stretched up to a grin, happy that Sans was okay, but that he could take a bit more than one hit, exciting her so much that she thought of friends and pounded a fist into ground, cracking the Earth blow them. “ Heh, I know see what she meant by that, same to you Sans.”

“ oh, what a reef-lief, i thought you were just going soft on me.” Undyne's eye twitched involuntarily, shocked to much by the sheer stupidity of that pun to attack.
“ But I'm determined too! Determined to end this RIGHT NOW!” More arrows mixed with the yellow ones sped to them both, being reflected off and snapping away. Undyne's eye darted around to see if this was all a prank. “ RIGHT NOW!” As they kept defending against the attacks, she began to hyperventilate. Was she not strong enough-NO! She was Undyne The Undying! She could pull this off! It was just a child and Sans after all, “ RIGHT.... NOW!” She began to pant a bit from over-exerting her magical energy. “ NGAAAAH! DIE YOU LITTLE BRAT!” She wung the spear, both managing to avoid the onslaught of arrows and run off until they made a turn and were now entering a warmer atmosphere with a get big neon sign welcoming any monster on the path to Hotland.

Frisk’s phone started to ring, which they got out and slowed their run. Sans slowed down and went over to them, now at a brisk walk besides them, a bit bothered. He saw Undyne marching to them and quickly struck a ‘ Time-Out’ signal, letting Undyne slow to a walk but still glaring and shake her fist rapidly to him. With a small click, Papyrus was on speaker or the two to hear. “ HEY! WHAT'S UP?!”

“ oh my god paps, not no-“

“ I WAS JUST THINKING... YOU, ME, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! … MAYBE SANS TOO.”

“ paps i don’t think tha-“

“ I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET'S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!” He hung up only for Undyne to reach them both.

“ dammit paps.” Sans whined out.

“ Stop running away!” Undyne commanded. However, this time she didn’t swing to lock them in place, letting the two gain speed, running past Sans’ station and onto a long bridge above hot boiling magma. Only reason the thing never caught fire was because it was actually made of metal. They made it to the next patch of land to catch their breath, placing their hands on their knees, as well as adjust to the new climate. But the metallic stomping was heard, making Sans look up.
“ ohhh, you gotta’ be pulling my leg right now…” Sans wheezed out, not use to running about so much.

But upon closer expectation, Undyne’s movements were getting slowed and sluggish. “ Armor... so... hot... but I can't... give up...” She wheezed out and tumbled forward onto the bridge, struggling to breath from the absent of moisture. Frisk took in a deep breath and waked to the convenient water cooler, pouring some of the fresh liquid into a cup. They walked over to her and poured it onto her face, which then trickled down into her gills. Instantly, her eye opened as she got up and looked around , before her single eye spotted the tired and smiling child. She blankly stared at them and Sans before turning around and walking off.

“ whew… nice goin’ kid. i’m sure it’ll be all downstream from here~.” Frisk snickered from the cheeky skeleton and continued over to a new sparkling point in the air.
~Seeing such a strange laboratory in a place like this... fills you with DETERMINATION~

Sans who thought the child was going to move on, was surprised to see them walk down. He sighed at the odd feat and followed along, soon being led up to where the river managed to go without splashing against the lava of Hotland. The cloaked figure loomed over Frisk, tilting it’s head along with its dangling hood before looking up to the long and lonely river, “ Tralala, I am The Riverman. Or am I The Riverwoman? It doesn't really matter. I love to ride in my boat, would you care to join me?” Frisk nodded, hopping aboard, signaling to Sans.

“ i’m comin’, i’m comin’.” He sat beside them in the dog like canoe. He whistled out, sliding his palm across the edge of the boat, “ haven't been on this puppy in a while.”

“ Ohhh, Sans. Welcome, welcome. I haven't seen you in ages.”

Sans kicked up a leg to lay onto his other’s knee-bone as he slumped back to place his arms behind his skull, giving a smirk, “ aww what? thirty-seven years isn’t that long.”

As Frisk put their hand into the water, playing a bit by splashing their eyes shot open, or as much as they could and looked over to their soon to be dunkle. “ Wha-But I thought you were in your early twenties!”

“ hehehe, don’t flatter yourself kiddo, just lemme' know where were going.”

“ Right, Where will we go?”

“ Waterfall please.” Fisk piped down.

“ Then off we go...” The canine boat started to dash off against the water. Though a little bit after departing, Frisk noticed Sans had one hand wrapped over their wrist.

“ Sans?”

Sans looked over lazily before noticing himself, pulling the bony hand away. “ o-oh shit, sorry kiddo… it’s just i… i uhh..” He Frisk could tell t was more f a safety precaution than an instinctual placement to get closer to a person. He wasn’t blushing or appeared to be nervous… Instead he seemed more unsettled and possibly worried.

“ Do not mind him young one, he was always wary after a dear friend of his fell and almost drowned.”

“ ah jeez, river…” Sans muttered.

“ … Okay. Also, sorry Sans, but I know you won’t tell me. Mister or Miss Riverperson, who was it?”

“ kid!”

The cloaked monster chuckled, “ I am sorry, but that is confidential… I am not one to tell such things. If Sans hasn’t, then who am I to say so?” Sans sighed in relief while the small human crossed their hands and huffed into a small stubborn pout. Eventually the Riverperson went back to their melody… But added something rather… Different into the mix. “ Tralala, beware of the man who speaks in hands...”Both others snapped their attention to the operating monster.

“ wait wha-“ The boat came to a sudden halt, making Sans fly forward and into the river while Frisk clamped onto their seat, eyes wide from the sudden stop. They hopped out from the boat still shaken up a bit while Sans crawled out from the water and groaned from being soaking wet.
“ Come again some time, tralala~.” They sang out before the boat lazily drifted off.

While Sans tried his best to dry his heavy and soggy clothes off, Frisk waited nearby a seemed perplexed, holding his sapphire colored sweater. “ Hey Sans… What do you think about what they said? A man… who speaks in hands.”

Of course Sans lied as he twisted his white under shirt as Frisk looked away to give him some semi-personal space. “ hell if i know, that guy’s always been weird.”
“ It’s just… Weird… I may know of something, but I’m still unsure.”

“ well, i’d like to hear it kiddo.” He chuckled, only to get a sour looked from the child. He peeked over his shoulder blade as he put the undershirt back on, “ what’s that look for?”

“ I’d tell you, but why should I? I mean… You won’t tell me who your friend was.”

Sans sat down on the soft blue ground, wringing out his sneakers and not bothering with his pants. Sure he just had a hip bone, but why be indescent in front of the kid… As well as if anything got conjured up accidentally. “ kid… i-it’s… it’s hard, okay?”

They sighed, handing his sweater back, “ I understand. How about when you tell me, I’ll tell you, okay?”

“ … what if i said it was alphys?”

“ Sans…” Frisk’s foot tapped at the ground as their cheeks puffed up with the disappointed voice that could be compared to that of a mother. “ We both know it isn’t her.”

He snickered, “ okay, okay, ya got me. fine, i’ll tell ya when i get around to it… ‘if’ i get around to it” He gave a cocky grin.

As they trudged on, Frisk held a look. " ... what now?

" I thought you were in your early twenties."

" hehehe, i am."

" But-But they said you hadn't seen them in-"

" kid, did no one ever tell ya monsters live for a long while? sure we might be fragile, but that's just the way it is. i'm sure i'm probably fifty-six in human years, but in monster years, not so much."

Frisk pondered, " Monster are weird..."

" so is your face." Sans cracked a big smile.

“ sooooo… why are are we back here?”

“ To meet up with a friend~.” Frisk hummed out, Sans gave a puzzling look until he noticed the ragged and pissed off Dummy who looked to them.
“ What, what, WHAT?! It's a living...” The Dummy grumbled.

“ … you got an odd taste in friends kid.”

“ Pth, I guess I really do considering I’m friends with you an Papyrus.” Frisk scoffed out.

Sans put a firm hand on his hip bone, wagging his finger, “ okay, wow, rude.”

“ Besides this isn’t the person silly.” They patted the worn out snout of the Dummy before turning around, leading Sans to meet up with-
“ paps?! what are you doin’ here!”

The tall lanky skeleton stood there proudly, “ OHO! THE HUMAN AND MY BROTHER ARRIVES! ARE YOU TWO READY TO HANG OUT WITH UNDYNE?! I HAVE A PLAN TO MAKE YOU TWO GREAT FRIENDS!” Sans looked over to the child with an expression that could only be interpreted as, ‘ Are you fucking serious right now?’. To which the human gave a thumbs up. “ OKAY! STAND BEHIND ME!” Frisk did as instructed, as well as Sans, mostly because if Undyne saw him first, she’d more than likely punch him. “ PST, MAKE SURE TO GIVE HER THIS!” He gave the child a heft bone with a bright red bow tied onto it.

“ uhh… paps?”

“ SHHHH, YOU’LL RUIN TE MAGIC OF FRIENDSHIP SANS! SHE LOVES THESE!” With a hearty knock on the door which just now took Sans to realize it was Undyne’s house from being a large scary ass fish… How long had it been since he hung out with the feisty fish? How long had she had a house to herself?! When did she move out from Troggle's place...?

The door slid open, letting an non suited up Undyne to look over and smile after resting. “ Hi papyrus! Ready for your extra-private, one-on-one training?” Se flashed a grin. Sans tried masking a childish remark of laughter, but Frisk was there to nudge his elbow with their own… Which wasn’t the best idea, making them hiss from hitting bone… This in turn almost made Sans unable to contain more laughter.

“ YOU BET I AM! AND I BROUGHT SOME FRIENDS!” Papyrus moved out of the way to show the two off to Undyne.

Undyne was to happy from seeing Papyrus that she didn't realize who was standing in front of her home, “ Hi, I don't think we've-.....” her mouth shut closed, upon seeing Frisk smile and Sans to wave. Her single pupil shrank as it turned to Papyrus who was just smiling. “ ... Whhhhy don't... you three come in?” She held up a scary smile to be ‘polite’ and went back into her home. Papyrus wiped his feet on the welcome mat, which was just a rug with a fish on it before entering. Frisk followed his example, while Sans skipped it and just walked in… Only For his brother to pick him up and drop him onto the rug. Sans rolled his pupils and wiped his shoes before entering.

Chapter Text

“ HERE UNDYNE. MY FRIEND BROUGHT A GIFT FOR YOU, ON THEIR OWN!” Papyrus quickly scooped up the bone from Frisk’s hands to her finned ones.

“ Uhhh.... thanks. I'll uh, put it with the others.” She gave a small unsure smile, walking over to a drawer, chock-full of bones just like the one she held before coming back over. “ So are we ready to start?”

Papyrus squinted, his eyes drifting away from his trainer and friend, “ WHOOPSY DOOPSY! I JUST REMEMBERED! I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM! YOU THREE HAVE FUN!” He sprinted to the window and jumped out from it, shattering the glass. Which afterwards they could all hear hurried steps running away from the house, leaving all three to stare out the broken window.

Undyne’s gaze reeled in, onto the other two, giving them both a nasty stink-eye, “ ... So why are YOU TWO here? To rub your victory in my face? To humiliate me even further? IS THAT IT?!”

“ No-“

“ yes.” Sans smiled, getting another nudge on the arm from the child. “ i mean no?”

Undyne growled to Sans before talking again, “ Then why are you here? ...! Wait, I get it! You think that I'm gonna' be friends with you huh? Right?”

Frisk nodded, “ not particularly-ow! I mean yes!” Frisk had nudged a bit rougher this time.

“ Really? Oh, how delightful! I accept! Let's all frolic in the fields of frieeendship~!” Undyne smiled brightly.

Sans’ eyes opened up a bit more, “ oh wow, that was eas-“

“NOT!” Undyne snatched Sans up by the collar of his shirt, lifting him up to her enraged face.

“ uhh… kid, lil’ help.”

“ You’re on your own.” Frisk shuffled back.

Undyne snarled out, shifting her gaze down to Frisk, “ Why would I EVER be friends with YOU?!” She hissed out. “ If you two weren't my house-guests, I'd beat the shit outta’ both of you right now! You Human! You're the enemy of everyone's hopes and dreams! And you Sans! You left me and Alphys both, you stopped visiting us like you use too! I WILL NEVER BE YOUR FRIEND AND I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! Now get the fuck out of my house!” Just as she was about to either unhand Sans roughly, or throw him out the now broken window, the younger skeleton peeked his face through the window.

“ DANG! WHAT A SHAME... I THOUGHT UNDYNE COULD BE FRIENDS WITH YOU. BUT I GUESS... I OVERESTIMATED HER.” His eyes looked away, squinting, as to be sneaky, “ SHE'S JUST NOT UP TO THE 'CHALLENGE'.” He said before fleeing once again.

Undyne whisked her head to the window, her ponytail whipping over, “ CHALLENGE?! WHAT?! PAPYRUS YOU GET BACK HERE-WAIT A SECOND-...” Her singe eye twitched before dropping Sans onto the tiled floor. “ DAMMIT! He thinks I can't be friends with YOU?! Fuhuhuhu, what a joke! I could make friends with a wimpy loser like you any day! I'll show him! Listen up Human! We're not going to be friends… We're going to be....” She leaned in with a terrifying look, “BESTIES...” She took a step back from the anxious child. “ I'll make you like me so much, you won't be able to think of anyone else! Fuhuhu! It's the PERFECT REVENGE! ... Why don't you have a seat?” She clasped her finned hands and smiled to the two happily.

Sans got up and groaned, “ jeez, what am i, chopped captain long john liver?” The fish bared her razor sharp teeth at her ‘guest’. It was good that Frisk was there to disrupt the dispute of the two monster by poking the broken window, managing to accidentally make some glass shards fall out the house and scatter outside.

“ Man, I can't believe he leapt through the window like that…” She crossed her arms before her toothy grinned flashed with a pumped up stance like people do when watching sports. “ Normally he NAILS the landing!”

“ that’s paps for ya.” Sans added, a bit proud of the younger skeleton.

The child walked about as Sans lazed at the table before Frisk ran their fingers over the ivory keys of the piano. “ Oh right, I uhh, use to play the piano… One time, Alphy's... uh, 'friend'? Came over here. All he did was lie seductively on the piano... and fed himself grapes... I don't really like that guy. But I admire his lifestyle.” She smirked. The human walked to her room, pointing to it, pleading to take a peek inside, even though, throughout all the runs they never saw once saw it. “ You wanna' see my room? TOO BAD! No nerds allowed!” He face blushed slightly as she made a small cute smile, twiddling her fingers, “ ... Well, maybe some nerds...”

“ does that apply to me or alphys~?” Sans put his knees on the table so he could prop up his skull, giving the fish a semi-seductive look. The two others could have sworn if he had eyebrows, they would be raising up and down over and over. As Undyne began to yell as Sans laughed it up, Frisk opened the drawer full of the bone gifts to see Toby huddled in nibbling on one, winking at them and shutting the drawer again. Frisk was starting to think the Sans was rubbing off on the obnoxious pup. They passed by a cute little fish teacup, eventually making it to the oven.

Udyne groaned out, having dealt with Sans the best way she knew how.. But throwing shit at him, only to miss due to his teleportation. She looked over to the child, “ This oven is some top-of-the-line MTT thing. But, y'know, as much as technology advances... Nothing beats food home-cooked with fire magic!” She showed off a menacing grin, sparks of fire building up in her single eye. Fisk gulped a bit, it had been a while to see the fish even more pumped up. She normally calmed down just a tiny bit after being freed. Frisk’s gaze crossed over various silverware, a forks, spoons, knives, tiny swords, baby axes, mini spears, an small nun-chucks. Until they reached the fridge. “ I hate cold food. So Alphys fixed up my fridge so it heats up food instead! Hot fridge! The world's greatest invention!”

“ that’s only because you ‘cod’ a cold that one time.” Sans pressed in.

“ Sans… I sweeeear!” She gave off a pained and forced smile, trying her best to not throttle him right now. Fortunately her sharp eye laid upon the child admiring the long blade of a sword. She grinned from her prized artifact, “ Humans suck, but their history... kinda rules. Case in point; this giant sword! Historically, humans wielded swords up to 10 times their size! Right?” Frisk took the time to think, pulling up a finger to tap against their chin, before nodding. “ Heh, I knew it! When I first heard that, I immediately wanted one! So me and Alphys built a giant sword together. She figured out all the specs herself. She's smart huh?”

“ does the kid ‘even’ know alph?”

“ Shut up-It's so nice to have you over! Why not take a seat at the table?” She interrupted herself from the low deathly grumble as Frisk hopped to a chair besides Sans’. She clasped her finned hands, “ Comfortable?” Frisk nodded while Sans made a so-so signal. She ignored the cheeky skeleton and got out several bottles, cups, and jars. “I'll get you something to drink…. All set! What would you like?” Frisk’s eyes glanced to Sans who held his usual smile, getting up from his seat. Frisk was just happy they wouldn’t have to deal with what was to transpire. Which happened right then and there as Undyne summoned a spear quickly, throwing it into the center of the table, snapping it in half with ease. Enough to make Sans’ pupils vanish from the sudden violent move, scooting back into his seat. ” HEY! DON'T GET UP! YOU'RE THE GUESTS! NOW SIT DOWN AND ENJOY YOURSELF!” Undyne’s anger son withered away as she calmed herself down with a nervous chuckle, “ ...Um, why not just point to what you want? You can use the spear!”

Sans’ pin-point pupils eyed the magical weapon that could have easily skewered him and leaned away from it as if to say, ‘ I ain’t touching that thing’. Frisk couldn’t help but kick their feet around on the chair, gigging at the expense f the weary skeleton and pulled the spear out from being plunged into the broken table, spinning it around to point to various things. They tilted it much like a spinner before moving the sharpened tip to the crafted sword leaning against the wall. The gilled girl gave a sinister look, holding back any resentment, “ Believe me, I would GLADLY give you your fill of swords-“ Her expression soon changed to a nervous and forced smile, trying her best to keep steady, “ If you weren't my beloved house-guests!”

The skeleton ran his fingers over the end of the energy spear away from the child and pointed to the fridge just to mess with the aggravated fish. “ The fridge?! You want to have the entire fridge?! No!” Frisk rolled their eyes as Sans snickered from the reaction, before taking the spear back into their small hands, pointing it to blue container. Undyne gave a natural smile for once, Frisk knew she liked hot drinks on The Surface, this one being a favorite of hers when she hung out with the human to watch anime with Alphys. Frisk always found it cute that the two women would often snuggle together under some blankets after downing their drink while Frisk wrapped around their side of the blanket only for their head to peek out. “ Oh you want some hot chocolate? Wait, wait, I just remembered... That container's empty. I stopped getting it because it was always a hassle... Asgore kept getting marshmallows stuck in his beard!” This time both the child and skeleton giggled, imagining it, where as Frisk go to see it in person and Toriel threatened to shave his old scruff… They were really starting to miss their past life, but they couldn’t give up on their sibling.

Sans eyed the sickly looking yellow bottle, whisking the spear to it.“ Oh, soda? Actually, even though you pointed to it, the Human doesn't look happy. Heh, it's fine! I think sodas gross too! It rots your teeth... It rots your mind... IT ROTS YOUR FIGHTING SPIRIT!” She pumped her scaled fists up to her sides. Frisk did enjoy soda, but… Undyne liked hot drinks, and hot soda sounded unappetizing.

Sans cocked a unseen brow, “ theeen why do you even have it?”

“ Huh? Why do I have it then? Well uhm…” Her cheeks blushed slightly, doing her small shy smile which was rarely seen.

“ aww, lookit’ the lil’ gopher face~.” Sans teased.

This in turn made the fish’s fins quiver in anger, her obvious blush spreading, “ I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL MY SMILE THAT!”

“ hehehe, that’s fine… ya know, ya should really just gimmie’ some sugar~.” He winked, making the fish even more angry but baffled. Frisk huddled their hands to their lips to not burst into laughter as the skeleton spun the spear to point at the white jar set on the counter.

“ …. Oh…” Udyne finally registered to what the clever skeleton was actually referring to. “ That sugar's for the tea. I'm not gonna' give you a cup of sugar! What do I look like, the ice-cream woman?!” Before Sans could acknowledge a witty come back, Frisk nodded quickly, catching him off guard. “ Do Human ice-cream women TERRORIZE HUMANITY WITH ENERGY SPEARS?! Are their ice-cream songs a PRELUDE TO DESTRUCTION?! IS THAT IT?!”

Sans watched the child’s face turn almost grim as if they were recalling sudden war flashbacks, topped off with the yelling of troops, their eyes open for once. “ The one I know does.” Often times Frisk said yes just to be coy with the agitated blue fish in previous runs, but after being up on The Surface, the local ice-cream woman was pretty finicky once the odd family settled in. Sans blinked, vacantly blankly to them from the odd scenario.

“ ... Wha? REALLY? THAT RULES!” The small human quickly changed topics, sliding the spear to Undyne herself, sifting their face to normal but with a cocky smirk. Undyne’s eye twitched slightly as she squinted in what else, but anger. “ ... Are you...hitting on me?” risk managed to raises their eyebrows up and down, further embarrassing and pissing off the monster as now it was Sans turn to stifle his laughter. “ ?????!!!!!” Finally after messing around, the spear was then moved to some boxes of tea in various colors. Undyne sighed in relief, “ ... Tea huh? Coming right up! It'll take a moment for the water to boil.” The ‘guests’ watched as she boiled up the water, added the sugar to it and mixed it around, pouring it into three glasses.

Sans’ smile seemed forced again as the child noticed the nervous look. They were well aware the skeleton didn’t like tea… Though Both Alphys and Papyrus had reported that he use to… For Frisk, it was just another riddle inside of the enigma called, ’ Sans’ past’. For Sans however… It just brought back the times where Toriel would whip up some tea for her family, making some for the young skeleton as he and Asriel sipped it down. He didn’t realize how desperately he wanted those times back. “ hey, i’m not in the mood for tea, how about some coffee?” When he was growing up and was fairly busy, he became one with the taste of coffee, whether it be fine or cheap to energize him through the day, unbeknownst to Papyrus. If Papyrus ever caught him sipping it, he’d more than likely waggle a finger bone and say something about stunting his growth, which at this point, didn’t matter to Sans all too much… But it was a touchy subject none the less.

“ Sans you're never in the mood for tea! Now shut up and have some! You know I don’t carry coffee, that shit ruins you!” The tea kettle gave out an odd noise, much like the old bicycle from the dump. “ Okay, it's all done! Here we are.” She walked over, giving the saucers out t them so they wouldn’t burn themselves, before heading back to the counter to lean on and sip at her own pace. Both looked down to their drinks, unsure for different reason, those being; pained memories and just flat out it was hot as hell. “ Careful it's hot...” She warned before placing herself adjacent from the two. Noticing as the others didn’t dare bring it to their mouths, she snapped out, “ It's not THAT hot! Just drink it already!” Frisk quickly took a sip, the tea scalding their mouth a bit… But other than that, it was good. Sans did the same, not having to worry about the heat due to being made of bones. Hell, sometimes on The Surface, Frisk and Toriel would find him dozing off in the fire place… Whilst being on fire… Thank god monster clothing and fabric was magical, or monsters like Grillby would have a hard time getting around without being buck naked.
“ It's pretty good right? Nothing but the best for my ABSOLUTELY PRECIOUS FRIENDS!” She forced a… What could only try to be described as a ‘friendly smile’. “ Hey... You know... It's kinda strange you chose THAT tea.”

“ oh shit, is it poisoned?” Sans raised a skeptical look, receiving a sneer from the fish.

“ Shove it Sans. Anyways… That tea… Golden flower tea... That's Asgore's favorite kind-“ She was soon cut off by Sans’ pinpoint pupils shrinking down as he took in another sip, quickly turning his head and spitting it out. “ What the hell Sans?! You were fine just a moment ago! We both now you use to enjoy that type now stop thinking about the past and move forward you bone-head!” She slammed the already broken table, denting it a bit more.

Sans coughed a bit, getting a few pats on the back from the human. “ ahhh! sorry! i just realized something is all! t-that being, i hope paps didn't run into toby today is all” He held back tears from coughing and sputtering out the hot drink.

“ Whatever… You best clean that up later…” She gave out a low snarl. The fact that Sans spat it out, wasn’t due to memories for once that he had buried away in the darkest corners of his mind. It was that… He despised golden flowers… The only reason he hadn’t flipped his sit when he and Frisk fell onto a bed of them, was because he had Frisk right there beside him, and barely even acknowledged the flowers were there. But the sudden thought of actually consuming some, made him feel ill… So ill from being connected to those damned flowers in any way. The sadistic flower that haunted his dreams or past resets, the flowered tea he use to drink with his friend. The flowers that were reason Asriel died… Just so the dying human could see them one last time…

Undyne coughed, gaining their attention, “ Actually, now that I think about it... You kind of remind me of him.” She looked over to Frisk, grinning madly, “ You're both TOTAL WEENIES!” Before going to a solemn and collective face. “ ... Sort of. Y'know, I was a pretty hotheaded kid-“

“ no, really? i would have never guessed.”

“ Shush! Once, to prove I was the strongest, I tried to fight Asgore. Emphasis on 'TRIED'. I couldn't land a single blow on him! And worse, the whole time, he refused to fight back. I was so humiliated... Afterwards, he apologized and said something goofy... 'Excuse me, do you want to know how to beat me?' I said yes, and from then on, he trained me. One day, during practice, I finally knocked him down. I felt... bad. But he was beaming! I had never seen someone more proud to get their butt kicked. Anyways, long story short, he kept training me... and now I'm the head of the royal guard! So I'm the one who gets to train dorks to fight!” She gave a heart smile, proud of herself, before lowering it down along with her fins. “ ... Like, uh... Papyrus... But, um, to be honest... I don't know if... I can ever let Papyrus into the royal guard-don't tell him I said that!” Her eye darted to Sans who nodded without making any remark, flash of anger, or much of anything. He understood well enough.“ He's just... Well... I mean, it's not that he's weak. He's actually pretty freaking tough! It's just that... he's... he's too innocent and nice.”

Sans sighed lightly,” i agree.” He remarked sadly.

“ I mean, look, he was SUPPOSED to capture you... and he ended up being FRIENDS with you instead! I could NEVER send him into battle! He'd get ripped into little smiling shreds...” Frisk shivered almost violently to an extend upon hearing those words. Every damn time they heard that sentence made their spine tingle around. Before Sans could respond, Undyne kept up the conversation, without skipping a beat as her eye drifted away, not noticing the sudden spasm. ” That's part of why... I started teaching him how to cook, you know? So um, maybe he can do something else with his life... Oh, sorry, I was talking for a long time...” She eyed the almost empty cup from Frisk. “You're out of tea, aren't you? I'll get you some more-“ S got up to grab another pack before stopping mid-way. Something buzzing through her head, “ Wait a second... Papyrus... His cooking lesson... HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE THAT RIGHT NOW!” She screeched out before locking her deadly gaze onto the other two. “ And if HE'S not here to have it...” She gave a maniacal sharpened toothy grin, “ YOU'LL HAVE TO HAVE IT FOR HIM!”

“ wait wha-“

Undyne hopped onto the counter and slide across it with a new spark of energy coursing through her as the containers fell onto the floor, some clattering while others broke their glass, spilling out the contents. “ THAT'S RIGHT! NOTHING has brought Papyrus and I closer than cooking! Which means that if I give you his lesson... WE'LL BECOME CLOSER THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!”

Sans leaned back in his chair, quickly looking to Frisk, whispering, “ are you serious…? kid you never told me about this-” The child smiled nervously and nodded. This one part always scared them to no end in all honesty.

“ Fuhuhhuhu! Afraid?!”

“ ... yup, pretty triggered here-“

“ GOOD! We're gonna' be best friends!” She gave off another malicious look before launching herself, landing in between the two, grabbing them both by their heads.
“ ahhh-wa-wait, wait, undyne, this is all too sudden, to soon-can’t we just-ahhhhhhh!” He muscled hands clamped down before she sprung back to the counter, carrying them both by their skulls. Thankful t happened so fast for Frisk that they wouldn’t suffer to much of damage. She set them both down as Sans was internally screaming, which could easily be seen by is hollowed eyes and trauma-induced smile. It was more of the fact that the fish’s thumb had unknowingly went into one of his eye sockets.

“ Let's start with the sauce!” She slammed her foot down, making a top drawer open up with vegetables pouring out and onto the counter. “Envision these vegetables as your greatest enemy! Now! Pound them to dust with your fists!” Frisk gently batted at them. “ OH MY GOD! STOP PETTING THE ENEMY! I'll show you how it's done! NGAAAH!” With one fail swoop, the vegetables were splattered across the counter and wall, some spraying onto Frisk and Sans… Who was still registering what was going on. A large chunk had blasted along Undyne as she smiled nervously fro over doing it. “ Uhh, we'll just scrape this into a bowel later. BUT FOR NOW! We add the noodles! Homemade noodles are the best! BUT I JUST BUY STORE-BRAND! THEY'RE THE CHEAPEST! NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Another clean stomp and another top cupboard opened up to drop a pot and a package of noodles. “ Uhh, just put them in the pot.”

Before Frisk could do anything, the box was suddenly lifted into the air and thrown into the pot. Frisk peered over their shoulder to find Sans joining in now… More than likely wanting to hurry up and book it. “ YEAH! I'M INTO IT! Alright now it's time to stir the pasta! As a general rule of thumb, the more you stir... THE BETTER IT IS! Ready? LET’S DO IT!” As Sans was about to question her method, Frisk grabbed a large spoon that inexplicably managed to find its way onto the counter and started to stir the box around, doing as she said, fearing her mighty wrath. “ STIR HARDER! HARDER! HAAARDER! Ugh, here let me do it!” She conjured up a neon spear above the pot, it thrusted into the pot, smashing the metal and breaking the box for the hardened noodles to be flung all around. “ Fuhuhuhu! That's the stuff! alright, now for the final step; TURN UP THE HEAT! Let the stovetop symbolize your passion! Let your hopes and dreams turn into burning fire! READY?! DON'T HOLD ANYHTING BACK!” Prior to Sans trying to reason with the pumped up fish he placed his skeletal fingers over the dial and turned it to low. He was starting to figure out why exactly Papyrus’ early versions of cooking went from soft mush to burnt up cooking until he could slightly cook mediocrely … Still failing here and there however. Undyne’s eye glimmered, “ Hotter!” Sans turned it to medium as the burner start to spark to life under the pot. He was mostly concerned since he use to watch his father and Asriel make this stuff with water… “ HOTTER DAMMIT!” He cranked it to a high temperature, the pot’s bottom starting to become red as more fire was spread out from under. “ HOOOOOTER!” Sans turned the dial full tilt, accidentally breaking it off. He hear it snap with the child, both looking up to the dial in his palm. Both popped their mouths open from the sheer horror that it was broken and now the stove was setting ablaze.

“ friggen’ mtt-brands…” Sans muttered before Undyne’s sense came back, noticing the ever growing fire.

“Wait that's too-“ A bright flash of red, orange and white shined over the three, pushing them back near the front door. As the house around them was smoldered in a magical fire, not harming them from the small explosion and not containing a dangerous gas, Undyne furrowed her grows, watching the chaos. She folded her arms, “ Ah... Man, no wonder Papyrus sucks at cooking.” He gaze cross over to them. “ So what's next? Scrapbooking? Friendship bracelets?” She smiled as the fire sparked in the back before her fins lowered down her cheeks. She sighed n defeat, “ ... Oh, who am I kidding. I really screwed this up, didn't I? I can't force you to like me human. Some people just don't get along with each other. I understand if you feel that way about me. And if we can't be friends... That's okay. Because... if we're not friends...” Her sincere look on her face grew into a vicious smile with a soul-piercing glare. Before the others could even acknowledge it, Sans was suddenly hanging by his hoodie which was held up by a spear, buried deep into the wall of fish wallpaper. He wriggled around before feeling the nice warmth and coziness of hanging there. He almost felt like going to sleep, so he just kinda stayed put, to tired to teleport for now. Sometimes he would do this and hang on his coat in Papyrus’ closet, making his brother even more peeved. “ IT MEANS I CAN DESTROY YOU WITHOUT REGRET!”

Undyne shut her eyes, summoning one final spear in her hands, posing to ready herself. “ I've been defeated... My house in shambles... I even failed to befriend you. That's it. I don't care if you're my house guest anymore. One final rematch! All out on both sides! IT'S THE ONLY WAY I CAN REGAIN MY LOST PRIDE! NOW COME ON! HIT ME WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT! NGAAAAAAAAAH!” She screamed out in a war cry. Frisk gulped and put up their hands, balling them into fists before looking away and trying to hit the feisty fish. They did a small hit to fake it out, but still a hit due to their growing determination. They bapped Undyne’s shin, looking away fearfully, they were glad it wasn’t Sans with his normal HP.

-1

Undyne froze in place, clutching the spear, bracing herself before blinking blankly. “ What...that's the best you can manage?” She tilted her head, letting her red ponytail wisp to the side a bit. “ Even attacking at full force... you just can't muster any intent to hurt me huh?” She asked, seeing the small child look up disappointed in themselves, almost to a point of crying. “ ... Heh, you know what?” She dropped down her spear, managing to gain Sans’ attention a bit more. “ I don't actually want to hurt you either. At first, I hated your stupid saccharine shtick, but... The way you hit me right now, it” She held her blue scaled arms and averted her eye away shyly and almost sadly. “ ... Reminded me of someone I used to train with... And someone I use to play with...” Her shimmering eyes went back to focus on the human. “Now I know you aren't some wimpy loser.” She then gave the biggest toothy grin she could, “ You're a wimpy loser with a big heart!” She knelt down to their height… Well almost, still being taller. “Just like... them... Listen Human.” She gave a soft smile, putting her blue tinted ans on their shoulder. “ It seems that you and Asgore are fated to fight. But knowing him... He probably doesn't want to... Talk to him. I'm sure you can persuade him to let you go home. Eventually, some mean human will fall down here... and I'll take THEIR soul instead. That makes since right?” Frisk fiddled with the lower part of their shirt it n an unsure way. “ Fhuhuhu. Oh! And if you DO hurt Asgore... I'll take the human souls, cross the barrier... and beat the living hell out of you!” Frisk took in a large gulp. “ That's what friends are for right? Fuhuhuhu! Not let's get the hell out of this flaming house!” She and Frisk both walked out the large building’s mouth like entrance.

Sans blinked, realization coming into him as he thought further along now… How was he going to help the child past Asgore? However, something came up to keep him from worrying about it. “ uhhh… guys?”

After retrieving Sans, Undyne swung her arms behind her back, watching the house being burned in a haze of fire. “ Well, that was fun, huh? We'll have to hang out again another time! But, uh, somewhere else I guess. In the meantime, I guess I'll go hang with Papyrus.”

“ ahh, bunking with us again huh?” Sans cooed out to tease her.

She smiled but talked through her teeth for a moment in anger, “ Shut the hell up Sans… So if you need me, drop by Snowdin, okay?! OH! And if you ever need help... Just give Papyrus a ring, okay? Since we're in the same spot, I'll be able to talk too! Well, c'ya later punks!”

Sans sighed and looked to the smoldering house that even shocked the pissed Dummy nearby. His pupils swayed to Frisk, “ so… wanna’ go rest at the house?”
Frisk nodded before asking, “ Determination?”

“ … determination.” Sans smiled calmly. Sans was thankful they had a washing machine at his house... He really rather not wanted to wear red over him and the child. Though Papyrus would probably be proud he finally washed the damn thing.
--------------------------------------

“ … You both will be beaten by me. I will be stronger, a more powerful entity than any other! Why? 'Cause of you. I was led on by you, and now I'm here…The Old Prophecy of The Angel couldn't predict this. Asriel Dreemurr. No, a serial murderer is no longer the wielder of this determination. I will become the embodiment of Determination itself... Determination that I can control on my own. I am the power of determination.” A much taller version of his old friend stepped out from the bounds of darkness, stripes going up his soft cheeks, horns grown out, and dark piercing eyes with red pupils. He wore that of Toriels’ robe but looser for him to fight more properly as he grinned and summoned a blade of pure magic. He suddenly sprung to the skeleton, wielding down his blade for it to clash against a thick bone Sans held up for his defense.

Sans couldn’t fully grasp what was happening… He was just in pure darkness, then suddenly a more mature vice called out, and now he was right next to an older Asriel’s face which gave of a sinister smile. The area around them started to morph into that of The Ruins as Sans did his best to held up the lengthy bone. His left flaring a dangerous blue as his other eye was hollow from the sudden situation. Why couldn’t he talk? He couldn’t find himself to say anything. Asriel chuckled and started to push the blade easily, making Sans take a couple of steps back. The skeleton was scared out o his mind, all he could do was try to stay his ground and grit his teeth.

“ I understand you two are already claiming to be heroes. Well, it is an eternal eon early for you to oppose ME! You must feel pretty stupid to keep fighting without even knowing... What I truly feel and look like on the inside! Hehe, If you were to ever see my determination, you'd be so petrified with fear, you'd never be able to run away! ...That's how crazy it is! So, do you want me to show you, what’s deep inside the ‘Sacrificial Lamb of The Devil's Body?’” He gave a sneer, “ I’ll show you just a taste Sansy~. Well, prepare to be amazed!”

Within an instant, the goat’s eyes widened, the pin-point crimson pupils drilling their way into Sans’ only pupil of a mix of fiery blue and energized yellow. Their eyes locked on and Sans saw it… For a millisecond, a vision enveloped his mind, further stunning him. The image was faint but slightly clear… A chaotic concoction of red swirled around in a dark void, within the center was the Asriel he knew, the one that was his friend. Asriel was chained and laying there on the floor with a protective bubble, shining many colors at t side from an unknown light-source. He looked fairly weak as he laid there motion as he laid on golden flowers that nearly enveloped him.

His mind was suddenly pushed away to what he was seeing now, lowering his guard in turn. This Asriel that was toying with him didn’t even have to push that hard to keep his blade in place. “ So, it’s not so terrifying, right? Hehehehe, that’s only because you haven't seen the determination bloom! Hehe, it even scares me… Being nothing more that cannot think rationally any more, and even unaware of what I do terrifies me. My own determination in my veins destroying myself by it’s incredible power. Making me mix the past with the present and crave an insatiable blood-lust of dust, being forced to restart over and over for mere nothingness! Ahhh..." He sighed in a deranged sort of bliss. " I’m such an all-mighty idiot! Yep, that's what I am! Hehhehhehheh...and you...you will be... just another insignificant soul to MEEE!” He cackled out, shoving the skeleton to the hard purple stoned wall, making him gasp out from the sudden force. Asriel let his blade vanish into the air, snatching the bone up and forcing Sans up against the wall, choking him… Somehow. Sans kicked around, tugging at the bone to pull it away from under his chin. He still couldn’t talk, as he desperately tried to escape the bone that was now threatening to crack his own ones. Why couldn’t he fight back? Why couldn’t he talk?! WHY COULDN’T HE TELEPORT AWAY?!

Asriel chuckled darkly, swaying his head to the side, his glowing red pupils leaving behind a red trail in the air as he watched the skeleton struggle in amusement. “ You must really be at the end of you rope. In this bizarre dimension, Frisk was the only force fighting for justice... But now, here you stand, waiting to be burned up with all the rest of the garbage of this timeline, trying to correct the wrong of this world...Hahahaha! Ohhh, that's so sadly adorable.” He said, keeping the smaller monster up with one hand as the other wiped away a stray tear of the hilarity. “ I can't help but shed a tear. You know, my heart is beating incredibly fast..... I must be experiencing absolute power! Do you want to scream for help here in the dark? Ehehehahaha! Why not call for your friends, Sans?! Cry out into the darkness! ‘ Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, Asgore, Daddy, Frisk! I'm so frightened! Somebody, anybody, help me!’” He stopped his mimicking before locking his eyes onto the petrified skeleton with a hollow empty look. “ But no one will come… I know you have some type of determination; different from the other monsters, or something. So just try and call for help, you pathetically weak insignificant crybaby of so-called 'Judging'! No one will help you now! Just like me~! AHAHAHAHA… Ahhh... Don't worry, your pitiful suffering will be over soon!” His claw snapped the bone in half, quickly grabbing Sans by the neck with his free hand, pressing him against the wall, moving even closer to his bony body as if to smother him. The other hand clutched onto his teeth that were almost moving to finally speak up, only to be silenced again.

Sans kicked around and closed his eyes, trying to push the other away and from him. Sans flailed about recklessly, hurting himself against the hardened wall behind him as he whimpered out. Asriel cooed out, “ Awww Sans! Now, I know you think I hate you... But I still want to play with you. So perhaps for now, I'll just sneak away to another nightmare for you so you can think about what I will plague you with next~. It's a good bet that we will see each other again... All right! I'll be seeing you!” He chuckle under his breath before whispering darkly to Sans, “ So now which one of us do you think is the crybaby?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ ngrn-A H!” Sans sat up quickly, panting form the sudden nightmare. He couldn’t remember all of it… But he could defiantly tell it was a normal yet horrifying nightmare and not something from a reset. All of these memories was starting to come into effect in more now… He calmed himself down, panting slightly as he looked about his room, finding it… Still clean? He looked skeptical and was about to hop out from his cozy bed, only to tug on something that was a bit heavier than a pillow. He looked over to his narrow arm to find the human child clinging onto it and sleeping soundly. He had just remembered since Undyne came to crash at his house, she took the couch downstairs since the Inn was booked up with loud snoring monsters resting away their troubles for another day. Ever since the ‘date’, if one could call it that, Sans didn’t want the human to bunk with his younger brother, mostly due to the fear of walking in to find noting but dust. Soon he took it upon himself to split the his bed with a large pillow, letting the child have half to the wall as Sans had the other half, not wanting Frisk to accidently fall over onto the floor an hurt themselves. Sans was fine with this, in fact he had fallen a few times off the bed anyways.

Chapter Text

Once the two had gotten dressed and eaten a… slightly terrifying meal from Papyrus and Undyne, which had to be flushed out with a fire extinguisher, the two went out of the festive themed home. The taller skeleton of the two swung his arms around the small human, picking them up and holding onto them as he spun around, making Frisk giggle out. “ I'M SO GLAD YOU AND UNDYNE ARE FRIENDS NOW! YOU TWO GO TOGETHER LIKE PASTA AND BURNING!”

“ pretty sure you don’t burn pasta.”

“ DON’T GET SAUCY WITH ME…”

Sans raise an unseen brow as Frisk was put down, “ brah…”

Frisk smiled up as Undyne came over with some hot ta to help her out in the winter environment, passing by Sans who waited over away from the house as Frisk talked to the two tall monsters. “ We’re going on a tour before Hotland! Maybe I can hear your twos input about certain places.”

“ Heh, you’ve got it punk!” Undyne flashed a sharpened grin, “ If you're going through Snowdin, I won't have much to say.”

Papyrus leaned over with a large smile, “ BUT I WILL!”

“ Heh, there's the rub right?” Undyne’s eye glazed over Papyrus.

Papyrus in turn blinked blankly, “ WHAT?! THERE'S A RUB? WHERE?”

“ In Snowdin, duh!”

“ RIGHT! YOU TWO HAVE FUN, HOPEFULLY MY BROTHER WILL PICK UP THE PACE AN I'LL DO MY BEST TO FIND THE RUB!”

“ Hey, I think I found something!” The gilled girl pointed out, making the other two now curious.

“ OOH, WHERE?! AND WHAT'S THIS HORRIBLE NOOGIE?” Papyrus asked as Undyne suddenly put him into a headlock and gritted her knuckles against is skull.

“ It's the ruuuuuuub!” She laughed out, holding the skeleton against his will in a fun manner.

Frisk eventually walked over to meet up with Sans, “ well kid, time to hit up hotland and-kid?” Frisk started trekking the opposite way, not even going up to take the Riverperson’s boat or asking the skeleton for a ‘shortcut’. He caught up with them fairly easily and cocked his head with a skeptical look before they stopped to look up at him with a bright smile.

“ Can you teleport us to The Ruin’s door?”

“ …whhhhy?” Sans’ invisible brow raised far above.

“ I need to call Papyrus and Undyne about some stuff over the phone.”

He let out a gentle sigh, “ kid, don’t you already know what they'll say?”

“ Yeah, but you need to experience it. And besides…” Their cheerful smile formed into a mischievous grin, “ Don’t you wanna’ mess with them over the phone~?” They teased making the monster slowly turn up a smirk.

“ ohhh, you’re bad… i enjoy your spunk kiddo.” He chuckled along with them before taking them by the wrist and vanishing without a trace.

The two ended up where the child had exited out from and into the slightly chilly winter like area. They were about to called up the two other much more taller monsters, asking about the small area they were near while Sans walked to the double doors, staring at them. He didn’t say anything and instead had a slight frown upon his face while the human kept their spot from when they were transported, looking over to him. Sans moved his hand onto the stone door, stroking it affectionately as if it were an old hurt friend. His hand balled into a loose fist and knocked upon the stone, making it echo out to the other side. He waited… For n response, only to get a ribbit or a scream from a shy Whimsum running from the sudden noise. Frisk walked over, “ Sans?”

“ … heh, sorry kid, didn’t mean to a’door’e this old thing. i just find it nice and peaceful. perfect for knock-knock jokes.” He started to crack out some knock-knock jokes, practicing them to no one. The child frowned and nodded, moving away to give him some space, knowing the true reason. Sans probably knew Frisk had known what he was doing with the heavy doors, yet he didn’t tell them why. More than likely, he just wasn’t ready to humor them just yet as he figured they didn’t mind being told the same stories over and over again. So, instead they called.

“ HMM... THE STRANGE DOOR IN THE WOODS. ACTUALLY, MY BROTHER SPENDS A LOT OF TIME HERE. WHAT'S HE DOING...?”

“Practicing knock-knock jokes.”

“ UGH! I'VE GOT TO KEEP HIM ON THE STRAIGHT AND NARROW!” The younger skeleton on the line paused, hearing the subtle soft knocks in the background. “ ARE YOU STILL AROUND THAT DOOR?”

“ Yup!”

“ OH NO! MY BROTHER'S A BAD INFLUENCE!” Frisk couldn’t stop themselves from a small giggle before Sans quite unexpectedly leaned over.

“ really? i find it kinda charming and a’door’able.” Suddenly the phone’s receiver screeched from Papyrus.

“ oh hey, there’s that lamp.” Sans smiled, patting the oddly shaped lamp e found at the dump. “ alphys got it for me, buuut i kinda had one and paps didn’t want something old and busted up in my already old and busted up room.” He smirked.

“ I think it’s a nice lamp.” The nodded their head, recalling that Sans wouldn’t leave it behind, thus making Alphys fix it up. Then Sans had given it to Frisk for their room as a present from the two monsters. Frisk really did like that lamp.

“ THIS IS WHERE MY BROTHER IS SUPPOSED TO PATROL... BUT, EVERY-TIME I SHOW UP, HE'S SLACKING OFF. IT'S A GOOD THINK I SPOTTED YOU FIRST! I'M SURE HE WOULD HAVE MADE A WEIRD FIRST IMPRESSION.” Oh if only he had known… “ IF HE'S NOT AROUND, HE WON'T COME BACK... THAT'S JUST THE WAY HE FUNCTIONS... BUT HE S THERE WITH YOU RIGHT?”

Frisk looked over to see the skeleton already walking down the path, “ Uhm…”

“ SAAAAAAAAAAAANS! GET BACK THERE AND WATCH OVER THE HUMAN!”

“ NYEHEHEHE! IMPRESSED?! NOT ONLY AM I GREAT AT PUZZLES... BUT I'M ALSO AN ESTEEMED ARCHITECT!” Frisk examined the cardboard and makeshift station. They were thankful Papyrus couldn’t see their expression. “ MY BROTHER HELPED ME FIND THE BOX!”

Their eyes gazed over to Sans who admired the shoddy craftsmanship. They put their hand over the phone, “ You got it from the dump didn’t you?”

“ wha-noooo! Pth, I’m not a dumpster diver… I am however loved by tummies since I carry temmie flakes. One threw a box at me for some.”

“ Why…” They squinted their eyes in question. “ Whhhy do you have those?”

“ because I snack on ‘em at waterfall when i'm bored and bob has the hook up.” Frisk was starting to acknowledge Bob as more of a drug dealer now… Only, with food.

They came by another station with a note on the table stating the guard was on a lunch break… If Frisk could tell considering the paper looked like it was moved around when written on. “ THE STATION OF DOGGO. HE HAS THE AMAZING POWER TO SEE THINGS WHEN THEY MOVE!” The two went silent. “ OKAY, MAYBE IT'S NOT AN AMAZING POWER.”

Sans stayed a distance from the snowman, waiting for Frisk as they petted the icy cold monster. “ IT MUST BE TOUGH BEING A SNOWMAN. TRY TO BE NICE TO PEOPLE MAD OF STRANGE MATERIALS.”

With a quick look to see if Sans was close enough to hear, Frisk whispered, “” Papyrus, did you make this snowman?”

“ HRMMM… I DO NOT REALLY RECALL MAKING ONE TO WATCH OVER THE FORESTS… IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN THE YOUNGER KIDS AROUND THERE. AHHH, TO BE BLISSFULLY UNAWARE OF THINGS LIKE SNOWMEN COMING TO LIFE… IS THAT SNOWMAN STILL THERE?”

Once the call was over, Frisk huffed and started to make a pile of snow next to the snowman. “ Oh? What are you doing?” Asked the frosted monster.

“ Making you a friend. And when we’re all free, we can carry all of you and them into the mountains’ homes where we can make even more so you won’t be lonely.”

“ Hehe, oh what a sweet child you are.” It took a bit of convincing and snowballs to the skull, but the child eventually got Sans to help them and walked off as the two snowy monsters began to enjoy each other’s company. Sans held a small slim smile along his skull, happy to have helped out with something for once…

“ OH HO! THE ELECTRIC MAZE! THAT SURE WAS FUN! EXCEPT FOR WHEN I GOT SHOCKED...” Papyrus grumbled out a bit as the child walked all around the snow mine field that was now deactivated.

“ i thought it was pretty ‘electrifying’”

“ SANS GETS OFF THE PHONE!”

Next was the dog duo’s station. “ THE STATION OF THE MARRIED DOGS... HMM.” Papyrus pondered on the other end. “ DO YOU EVER THINK ABOUT DOING THAT SOMEDAY? BOTH OF YOU?”

“ whoa, wait what? you mean me and the kiddo-“ Sans’ expression was… A mix of shock, embarrassment, and a pinch of anger.

“ YES! DO YOU TWO EVER THINK IT WOULD HAPPEN TO YOU BOTH? THE HUMAN MARRYING A DOG? AND YOU MARRYING A DOG AS WELL?” Sans sighed in relief as he had thought his brother was hypothesizing him and kid hooking up… However Frisk was fairly unfazed. “ NAH... THAT'S WEIRD. THERE ARE WAY BETTER ANIMALS TO MARRY. LIKE A SKELETON!”

“ …paps, we’re the only skeletons.”

“ WELL… THERE’S ALWAYS LIZARDS, GOATS AND ROBOTS RIGHT?”

“ okay, this call is over, love ya.”

“ WAIT WHAT-SANS DON’T YOU HANG UP ON M-“

Frisk leaned over with a smug look as San held the phone away from them, blushing. Frisk’s eyebrows went up and down continually, making Sans scoff much like how a stubborn child would be. Sans knew Frisk didn’t know about him and Asriel due to the constant pestering of who his friend was, so it didn’t bother him much. Frisk meanwhile could only think about Sans and Toriel. Even though it hadn’t worked in the previous times, they still thought it was sweet.

As they passed by the tiled puzzle, Frisk couldn’t manage from looking off in the distance. Sans would have asked, but he noticed the machine that was there was gone… Why did he suddenly have a bad feeling about that? Thankfully, their minds were put to rest once Frisk called up the other brother. " OH-HO! THE PUZZLE THAT DR. ALPHYS MADE! I HAD TO ASK UNDYNE TO ASK HER TO MAKE ONE. I ONLY FOLLOW HERE ONLINE... I'M NOT REALLY AS GOOD AS FRIENDS WITH HER... YET!" Papyrus said cheerfully with such optimism. " SOMEDAY, I'LL IMPRESS HER WITH MY HUGE BICEPS. THAT'S A GOOD WAY TO MAKE FRIENDS!"

Frisk was about to speak, but Sans covered their mouth, " let 'em have this..."

They continued to relax more as they passed by Lesser Dog’s station. " THE STATION OF LESSER-DOG. THIS DOG LOVES TO BE PET/ THAT'S IT'S DEFINING PERSONALITY TRAIT-... WAIT... WHY ARE THEY IN THE ROYAL GUARD AND NOT ME?! I LOVE BEING PET TOO!"

" yo undyne, if you will."

Undyne was heard next to the skeleton on the other end, " The hell you expect me to do? Rub his skull like a fucking bowling ball?"

Papyrus sighed, " IT'S ALL JUST A PUPULARITY CONTEST..."

At the ice puzzle Papyrus laughed out as he explained how he dealt with the puzzle, “ I ALWAYS JUMP OVER THE GAP INSTEAD OF SOLVING THE PUZZLE. SANS NEVER SOLVES IT EITHER. HE ALWAYS JUST... UM... GETS ACROSS.”

“ right on the money.”

“ I THINK HE HAS A SHORTCUT OR SOMETHING.”

“ n’ice’ for you to finally notice paps.” Yet another screaming groan from the phone making the child giggle out.

On the lower path if one were to fail and fly off, Papyrus made nervous laugh. “ WE WERE GETTING BORED WAITING FOR YOU... SO I BUILT A SNOW-PAPYRUS! AND SANS... DID HIS THING. ACTUALLY, IT'S ONE OF HIS BETTER LUMPS.” Frisk agreed to the compliment and swaddled up some snow making a snow-Frisk.

“ hehehe, pretty good kiddo. except it’s missing one thing.” The small human looked up to him wt a confused look. They then watched Sans poke a skeletal finger into the chest of the snow-Frisk before pulling away to show them a cartoonish heart like pattern on its chest. Sans decided to continue until he was suddenly latched onto by the child, embracing him and giving him a warm hug that reminded him of when Papyrus was younger. He chuckled from the modesty, “ ah jeez… you’re killin’ me kid, you’re killin’ me.”

" AH, THE STATION OF GREATER-DOG. HE LOOKS A BIT LIKE A CERTAIN DOG I DON'T LIKE... BUT GREATER-DOG DOESN'T COLLECT ANYTHING! HE'S ONLY A KLEPTOMANIAC FOR AFFECTION! HE'S AMASSED A LARGE COLLECTION OF HUGS AND PETS!" Frisk couldn't help but go, 'aww'.

Passing by the sturdy bridge Papyrus explained why it never seemed to wobble, “ THIS BRIDGE LOOKS DANGEROUS, BUT IT'S VERY STABLE. IN FACT, IT'S JUST A ROCK FORMATION I PAINTED OVER. I THINK IT LOOKS MORE DRAMATIC THAT WAY. I EVEN ADDED THE ROPE TOO.”

Sans leaned over to Frisk, whispering, “ it was like the only thing snowdin rally approved of considering the safety rails, even if you do fall into a soft vat of snow below.” Frisk gave a skeptical look, “ hehehe, what don’t trust me?” With that being said, Frisk looked over, seeing a couple of actual small kids playing down below in the softest snow that could cushion any fall. They peered over and swung on the rope as Sans handled the call.

When Sans looked over to see the child grinning and leaning on the edge with only the rope in their hands keeping them steady he let out a small audible gasp. “ SANS? IS EVERYTHING OKAY?”

“ yeah-we’re just hangin’ around” He partially covered the phone to whisper out, his eye flaring up just a bit since he took it upon himself to watch over the human. “ get yo ass down!” He gestured by pointing to the bridge/rock formation below him. Frisk stuck out their thumb and pointed to themselves as if they were challenging him… Only to fall back due to not having a good enough grasp of the rope. However they seemed to do it on purpose as they gave peace or victory sign before disappearing from his sight. Sans fiddled with the phone, “ i’mm’a call you back!” He hung up and dashed over to grab or levitate the falling child. When he was younger his father had told him about jumping off the rock bridge, mentioning it as merely a rumor… However it seemed true and he just didn't want his children falling into the soft snow below over and over as Sans spotted the human waving up to him. “ … this kid is gonna’ be the end of me-“ Soon he was pelted with a barrage of snowballs from the children down below, making him loose his footing and fall into the softest snow he ever felt. Sans eye hollowed out from the sudden fall, only to be on his back as the snow below him slowly sunk under him. The monster children and Frisk looked down upon him with innocent smiles. “ … one of these days kiddo… bing, badda boom, straight to the moon.”

After walking up a few friendly slopes the two returned their small trek to Snowdin where they were greeted by the other two who walked alongside them, Undyne looked over to the cozy inn, “ Hey, I always stay there when I come into Snowdin! Except they seemed super busy yesterday. I use to stay at Papyrus', but... his couch is like lumpy and jangly? Though, last night it didn’t feel like that, which is good because it always felt like some coins were rubbing up against me. But also his brother kept making hundreds of midnight snacks...”

“ hey, that was one time.” Undyne gave a threatening glare. “ okay… maybe once or twice… or twenty, same difference. but hey, look at it this way, i didn’t do it last night.” He winked over.

“ … Okay, that is true. I’m really suspicious why though.”

“ hey, you chased us around all over the place. we were-“

“ SANS DON’T!” His brother warned as he carried Frisk in his arms, feeling like the big brother for once.

“ … bone-tired.” Sans smile grew into a massive grin as his brother raged internally.

“ THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!”

Sans looked over as they passed by the local food joint. “ mmmmm, dunno’ about that paps. we got grillby’s.”

The taller skeleton’s head perked up as Frisk kept hold of their laughter. “ GRILLBY'S? WE'RE TOO REFINED FOR THAT GREASEHOLE-“

The fish suddenly cut in, her mouth watering from the mention of the warm and greasy-but also well cooked food. “ WHOA! If you go, you HAVE to try the cheese fries! They're AMAZINGLY bad for you! Oh-sorry Papyrus, were you saying something?” She grinned over to the skeleton.

“ JUST MONO-LOGGING ABOUT MY LOVE FOR GREASE! O-OUR FEELINGS FOR GREASE RUN DEEP LIKE A RIVER.” He chuckled nervously.

“ Grease, I...I...I WANT YOU IN ALL MY FOOD!”

Before heading back to the house, Frisk insisted that the small group to walk where that lone wolf threw ice chunks into the river behind himself. “ THAT FURRY PERSON THROWS ICE ALL DAY. NOBODY KNOWS WHERE IT GOES.”

Undyne’s side fins quivered from a small yet steady jolt of excitedness, “ Hey, I know! Alphys told me. It goes to Hotland to cool down the core!”

“ WOW, UNDYNE! I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKED NERDY STUFF!” Undyne gave one of Sans’ deadly glares with a huge smile.

Sans whistled out, “ dang, i’m flattered. never knew you could pull off one of my looks.” Undyne, upon hearing this snapped her head to the shorter skeleton, not wanting to take any aggression out on Papyrus, being called indirectly, ‘ a nerd’ and hoisted Sans up to dunk him into the snow. However he just teleported away, making the angered fish even more pissed off.

“ NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I’M GOING TO FIND YOU SANS!”

Eventually the gilled girl calmed down as Frisk found Sans hiding in the drawer where Papyrus kept his bones under the sink. Upon getting out, Papyrus peeked in from the front door, “ OHO, SO THE TOUR WENT INTO HERE EH? WELL THEN! YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE! GOOD CHOICE! THOUGH I GUESS IT'S TECHNICALLY SANS' HOUSE TOO... BUT I PREFER NOT TO DISCUSS HIS PART OF IT! HIS ROOM IS... IT'S LIKE ANOTHER WORLD! A WORLD WHERE THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO VACUUM! YOU'RE BEST STAYING AWAY FROM THAT STRANGE PLACE DURING THE DAY...” He didn’t seem to notice his brother due to the door being cracked open a bit and went back outside.

“ … Ya know Undynes not angry anymore right?”

The cheeky skeleton shrugged as he got out, “ hehehe, well yeah, but it doesn’t mean that i can’t hide from you to take a nap~.”

Frisk puffed up their cheeks once again, putting their hands on their hips, “ Saaaaans.” He chuckled and ruffled their brown hair, giving them a hard time before the two departed from the home. Sans looked over to his pet rock for a quick moment and held onto Frisk’s hand, either to defend or for their comfort from his own broken up childhood.

“ Hey punks! What's up?! A-“ Undyne’s short snout scrunched up, “ AH-ACHOO!” She sneezed into her scaly hands and sniffled a tad. “ URGH! Papyrus, Sans, how can you stand this cold?!”

“ WE HAVE NO SKIN.”

“ So why don't we stand in Grillby's instead?”

“ BECAUSE I HATE GREASE.” Papyrus simply replied with.

Undyne swung her hands to gesture to him, “ But you don't have a stomach!”

“ NO, BUT I HAVE STANDARDS!” Papyrus held a gloved finger.

" why don't you just stay inside the house?" The shorter monster suggested.

Undyne snarled out, " Because I did that earlier today! I gotta' move my legs! I can't be grounded to one spot, I'd go crazy!" Frisk made a small whimper as she thought about Flowey not being able to move around as much as he use to when confined to the pot.“ Seriously, Papyrus... Sans… Why do you live in an icy wasteland?!” She raged while the two adventurers stood there, watching the conversation go back and forth.

“ THE RENTS CHEAP.”

“ Really? Don't you live in a huge house?“

“ YEAH, BUT MY BROTHER PAYS OFF FOR IT.” Ever since losing their father, the paid off home seemed to not be paid off for… Or well, it was, but without any signatures from Gaster himself. So Sans had one more thing to keep in account afterwards.

“ ... Where's your brother get the money to pay from?”

“ OH, THAT'S SIMPLE! IT'S A MYSTERY.” Papyrus squinted over, expecting Sans to at least acknowledge this, but instead found him and Frisk walking by the shack. The child pointed to the shack then looked over to Papyrus to gesture anything he’d say about it. “ OH HELLO, THAT'S NOT MY HOUSE! THAT'S JUST OUR COOL TOOL-SHED
.
“ So you call it your COOL-SHED?!” Sans stopped as he heard Undyne actually make a pun and grew a large mischievous grin, imprinting across his skull.
“ NO! I'VE NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT! THAT'S WHY WE'RE FRIENDS UNDYNE! YOU ENRICH MY LIFE WITH SHED-BASED PUNS.”

Undyne lifted her webbed hand to the back of her neck to scratch it in slight embarrassment, “ That's the only one I've ever made dude…”

Suddenly without warning Sans popped up right next to her, still wearing the large smile, “ so you’ve gotten into puns huh? guess that means i can call you… pundyne.” It didn’t take long for Sans to be running by Frisk, chuckling but also saying, ‘oh shit!’ as energy spears were strewn about the icy ground with a raging and screaming Undyne in the back.

Frisk followed along at their own pace, unsure where the skeleton could have run off to. So they took this time to go slow, letting Sans rest from his sudden run but to also get some more input. They got to the now mild fogged area where they had fought against Papyrus. As they called, Undyne gasped out, “ Yeah! This is the best room for snow-wrestling!”

“ Snow wha?” Frisk asked.

The younger skeleton was then heard, “ SNOW WRESTLING IS WHEN SHE SNEAKS UP ON YOU FROM BEHIND, THEN TACKLES YOU AND YELLS, 'SNOW-WRESTLING!' IT'S... NOT THE BEST GAME” The child listened to what the conversation was about to transform into.

“ Well, you know what I think?”

“ WHAT?”

“ SNOOOOW-WREEEESLTING!”

“ NOOOOOOOOOOOO-“ The phone line on the other end cut out, presumably by Undyne slamming down into Papyrus and holding him into the snow with a well toned elbow.
----------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Low and behold, Frisk found the normally weary and lazy skeleton napping at his station, waiting for the child. They swore, n matter how long Sans was away from anyone, he could instantly fall asleep. “ This is Sans' station. I'm always catching him slacking off, or sleeping... but his results are JUST good enough to not fire him…” Frisk thought to themselves… Sans sure did have a few jobs… A Royal Guard Sentry Scout, A Hotdog Vendor, and The Judge. Maybe that’s why he was so tired all the time. Frisk didn’t really know. “ Well, except yesterday. He didn't tell me ANYTHING about you! JUST scraping by the bare minimum every time... I guess it's kind of impressive?”

Frisk thought it was pretty admirable realizing Sans wasn’t as lazy as he made himself out to be. They walked over and set their chin across the other side of Sans’ station’s counter as he rested his skull on his arms. An eye opened and he threw on a smile, “ hehehe, hey kiddo, ya ready?” They nodded, letting their soon to be dunkle get up, stretch, popping a few bones, and letting out a mighty yawn that almost caught Frisk to do the same.

“ God, I was supposed to build a puzzle for this room... but I HATE puzzles! So I just put a huge pile of rocks upstream! What?! Don't judge me!”

“ to late.” Sans snickered, getting a furious response from the fish on the other end of the phone.

“ My lack of creativity's making your life easier!”The two giggled to themselves before heading into the first waterfall, avoiding any rocks daring to tread them off their path. When inside the small alcove, Frisk explained over the phone of what they found. “ So you found the room behind the waterfall... When I feel like relaxing, I always take a break there. That means NEVER! I HATE RELAXING! I LOVE being ANGRY and STRESSED OUT! Nah, I'm joking.”

“ really, could have sworn you loved being such a puffer fish with how puffy you constantly are.”

“ Sans… I swear… I will end you!”

“ This is the first room I spotted you. You have NO idea how many spears I wanted to throw!” Undyne remarked as they passed through the reeds. “ But, um, that sea-grass is under scientific protection. WHAT?! It's a real thing!”

“that and you would have skewered a tiny child that isn’t the kiddo here… ya know, now that i think about it, you would have shish-ka-bobbed the kid, that’s pretty messed up-“ Frisk gave a small grim expression.

“ OH MY GOD! Sans shut up!”

Sans closed his tired eyes, smiling as he followed the human, he opened them half way, “ oh hey, it’s the room where ya put the lily-pads down instead of wanting to teleport.”

“ Wait, the Human actually DID the puzzle?!” Frisk could hears Sans mumble out, ‘ it wasn’t much of a puzzle.’ While Undyne kept on. “ You can't just jump across?! You can't do the jimpity-jumpity-joodle?! The limpity-loppity leap?!”

The next room, Undyne sighed in a sound of peace for once… Which almost made Sans unnerved as he didn’t hear her be that happy in such a long time. “ Alphys helped measure out the mud tiles for this puzzle. It was a lot of work, but we got to make mud castled after. We're a good team. She's great at building them... and I'm great at wrecking them! There's barely even a trace of 'em now...” She reflected on the old good times. Sans distinctly remembered before and after Undyne became the captain of The Royal Guard, she and Alphys would enjoy playing in the soft muddied room.

“ Hey Undyne, do you know anything about that bench on the other side of the room?”Sans went silent as Undyne explained her point of view on things.

“ All I can really say is, what's better than a benchful of quiche that builds up there every month? Though… Now that ya mention it, I’m not too sure how it gets there..."

“ Every day, people come here and wish to the stars... I won't let them down! I'll make everyone's wishes come true!” Both Sans and Frisk smiled softly as they made their way through The Wishing Room, finding it sadly sweet that the gruff fish had a noble soft side. Well, that was before Papyrus spoke up, making them almost burst into laughter.

“ I WISH I HAD EIGHT LEGS... SO I COULD WEARS FOUR PAIRS OF HOTPANTS.”

“ I'll make MOST of people's wishes come true!”

Frisk looked to the skeleton who gave a sad smile. “ hey undyne?"

“ What? You have a wish? Add it to the pile punk!” Sans sighed… That gentle moment of Undyne didn’t seem to last long…

“ Along these walls lies our tragic history...” Undyne spoke out from the speaker for the two as Frisk looked at the stone slabs. “ Tragically BORING! Why can't our history be COOL ANIMATIONS like humans?! Someone at LEAST engrave a plaque with swords and kissing!”

Frisk spotted the short skeleton look at the last slab among the blue hued wall, showing a terrifying beast. “ Uhm…”

“ Oh come on, don't act like your history's not COOL!” Frisk hung up, watching Sans who caught the child from the corner of his eye. He walked over with his false smile.

“ so… now what? teleport to the other side.”

Frisk shook their head, making their short brown hair wave about. They walked over to the other side of the land’s dock to a small happy pink rock like monster who hummed out, “Three gold for the ferry~.” Frisk nodded and sat upon them,” Hold on please.” Frisk steadied themselves to hold on. They gestured Sans to hop along… Only to find him gone. They shrugged before the tiny rock dove into the water and traveled under, swimming at supersonic speed. They were actually a fairly large sized plesiosaur like monster, only bobbing their head out of the water. They were normally the ferry for tourists from The Capital, going at a moderately slow pace with the monsters riding it’s back. The two soon popped up at the other dock across the way, Frisk somehow not soaking wet from a protective bubble the monster used to see clearly in the water. As Frisk stepped onto the dock, the pink monster’s flipper threw along three gold coin onto the land, happy with itself. “ Thanks for stepping on my face. Here's the three gold.” They shrunk down to mellow out again. Frisk didn’t know why the friendly monster gave out gold for being rode on… They thought maybe the monster was happy doing a good job and didn’t need many things, and instead would just pick up loose change under the small waves to give to folk.

The child soon met up with the skeleton, passing by more reeds. “ If it wasn't for that grass, I'd have kicked your a-uh, if not for that grooty, I'd have kicked your booty...”

Sans found this amusing, “ groo-“

“Don't ask me what a grooty is!”The two chuckled as they passed by Sans’… or rather Alphy’s telescope she had let the skeleton borrow, getting more info from the fish. “ Hey, here's a neat party trick! Try looking at the southern wall! First you have to throw a party though... Hey, you should make it a costume party! Then Papyrus can have someplace he seems normal! Oh! I should invite Alphys too!” Frisk looked over to the wall just before you go into the small alcove for Nice-Cream to see gems shine in a spectacular pattern on the wall. Sans hadn’t really noticed it before since he was normally at his stations. He rubbed his chin, leaning over to examine the gems more… He would have to analyze them later…

At the small alcove, the blue frosted bunny was nowhere to be seen, leaving behind the box. Frisk peered in to it seeing several bug play poker and leaving the punch-cards to the side as Sans read the long line of flavors on the graffitied slab. “Ugh, ice cream! Sugary... COLD... talk about GROSS! Now this chilly pink stuff that Alphys makes me... THAT RULES! I'll also drink it if it's heated up!” Frisk walked over to the skeleton making a face, which Sans didn’t mind.

“ dude it’s friggen’ ice-cream. you’re so drinking melted ice-cream.”

“ NO I AM NOT!” Frisk let the two stubborn monsters go back and forth on the phone until Papyrus came to the rescue and snatched the phone, hanging it up.

“ There's normally a pair of old shoes in that sea-grass. Strangely, they're made for someone without fins or claws. What kind of monster is like that...? Oh wait! What a slime monster?! Wait, those don't have feet at all! Well, if they fit you, you might as well take them! Whoever wore them isn't coming back!” Undyne mentioned at the small patch of reeds in the glowing water room as Frisk liked to call it. After hanging up and trekking by the echo flowers along the way Frisk shuddered from the thought of another human child being caught dead at the patch of reeds.

“ ya okay?”

“ Y-Yeah… Kinda… Not really…” Frisk rubbed their arm sadly. “ Sans? D-Did you ever have to… kill a human?”

Sans looked away, “ thankfully no… asgore started that rule when i was a kid. i had to take care of paps anyways as i got older. it all happen before me and undyne were even guards. i remember hearing about one who fell down, but was killed in the ruins… afterwards, somebody sealed the ruin’s door. but still, more came out somehow. then when we did become guards, no one else seemed to fall down here… until you.”

Frisk nodded, holding the punch-card closely. “ … Hey Sans?”

“ ….. yeah kid?”

“ Why does Nice have childish hand writing?” They held out the card to Sans so he could take it and examine it. Sans shrugged before handing it back.
“ dunno… all i know that rabbits are good at multiplication, not so much when it comes to writing.” He chuckled as the cheerful rabbit would more than likely not write down something so sad. However… Deep down it was all a lie as he quickly gave the card back to the child, not wanting to acknowledge its existence. He remembered when he was younger he would visit The Wishing Room daily, wishing for his friend to come back somehow. But of course, the flowers murmured other things, being written over and over. Eventually one day he decided t stop and just wrote ‘please come back’ everyday, stuffing the cards into an old nook in the nice-cream room of The Waterfalls. He finally stopped after a month or so… Nice must have found them and decided to use them as punch-cards instead.

Further along, Undyne perked up over the line, “ Oh yeah, Shyren lives around here! I use to give her piano lessons. She was really talented... for someone with no fingers... But that didn’t stop her from practicing with me and her trainer! … But one day, she stopped coming to her lessons though...She only talks with her trainer whose now her best friend… how did her song go again?” Undyne tried to recall it as the two headed into the room with the piano.

“ speaking of which, we found your piano.”

“ Yeah! YEAH! I made this puzzle! Really, it was just an excuse to put a piano here. I LOVE FIGHTING THE IVORIES! Maybe I'll play you something sometime!”

Frisk giggled, “ That’d be nice!”

“ Heh, sure does make ya think of you and me jamming huh Sans?”

Sans smiled calmly as he nearly closed his eyes, reminiscing on the past, glad she still kept Asriel out of the picture like he had asked her and Alphys to. Soon other friends would stop mentioning him to the skeleton anymore, not wanting to upset him. The only one who did every now and then was Jerry… But well… That’s Jerry. “ hehehe, sure does. speaking of which, the kiddo here's a pro at tunes considering they got the wall to open up.”

“ HUH?! They solved the puzzle?! No one has ever-I've been waiting so long for someone to-I mean... uhhh, psssh, big deal, whatever! Guess I've gotta' find a new mystic artifact. Paps your ball is gone by the way.”

“ NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

“ ohhh yeah! now i remember! you gave that ball to her when she became the captain!”

“ IT WAS MY BELIEF IN HERE TO DO THE RIGHT THING!” Papyrus cried out over the phone.

“Awww, Papyrus it’s okay, it meant so much that I made a super hard special puzzle for anyone to even see it, just like you like puzzles!” Undyne calmed the slightly misunderstood a over-sensitive Papyrus, finally making him feel better.

“ WOWIE… ALL THE FOR ME?! UNDYNE YOU ARE THE BEST!”

Leaving aside the cheeriness of the two friends on the other line, Fisk looked to Sans as the two continued on, nearing the statue. “ i’ll be fine kiddo.” He winked, letting Frisk nod lightly, leading the way. As Sans passed by the old crumbed and molded statue of stone, his and quickly snatched up something underneath the old rusty music box, before stuffing it into his pocket to save for later.

Both walked along the path while the castle looming in the distance. Both had gone quiet, only for Undyne to speak up, but also fairly quiet. “ Asgore's castle... guess there's no stopping you guys huh…?” She couldn’t deny the braver of the two.

Finally the two teleported back to where the telescope was, taking another path to find a small yellow duck like monster fluff up its feathers and look up to the two happily, chirping and flapping it’s small wings.

“ hey, i remember this lil’ guy.” Sans said as he had the phone now while Frisk accompanied the bird by walking around with it in circles.
Undyne overheard the chirps , “ That bird will carry anyone past the gap. It NEVER says no! When I was younger, it gave me a lift. It took an hour... but this bird NEVER once thought of giving up!”

“ that was the best hour me and paps ever witnessed.”

“ Cherish this bird...” All went quiet. “ Well? ARE YOU CHERISHING?! CHERISH HARDER!”

Sans simply teleported to the other side of the sparkling watery gap while Frisk encouraged the small bird. It fluttered above them and picked the child up by the scruff of their shirt. They began to hum out an epic tune, further encouraging the small avian, making it speed up. It took about a good fifteen minutes but, it still made it across, setting Frisk down.Frisk smiled, knowing a secret they learned from The Surface when the tiny bird visited the bakery. Frisk put down their hand and spaced their fingers out. Sans watched as the tiny yellow bird waddled over quickly, pushing itself into Frisk’s palm, receiving scratches and pets. The bird monster flapped its wing rapidly as it huddled up to the hand, making a squeaking noise with a vibrating tweet. Nice had taught the child on The Surface a few times, making Frisk gasp out from the sheer amount of cuteness.

After saying their farewells to the small bird who was dubbed Cookie by Muffet and Frisk, the roaring fire was heard nearby… Somehow. “ SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE NEAR UNDYNE'S HOUSE! HEY! WE SHOULD GO VISIT UNDYNE! I'm right here! I LOVE WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER! NYEHEHEHE!”

“ Well, I think we should hang out with papyrus.” Undyne said smugly.

“ REALLY?! CAN WE?!”

“ hehehe, sure paps, but first we need to get past the fried fish house.”

“ HEY! That's my house! Or... it WAS my house, until we set it on fire. But hey, can't say I've never done that before!”

“ really? cuz it sounds like only fire lives there now… maybe i should hook up grillby, let ‘em know i found a house perfect for him.” The reply was of course…. Angry pissed off screeching from Undyne.

“ That's Napstablook's house. They kind of keep to their self, but... that's a good ghost. I try to be a good neighbor, but I think they're scared of me. C'mon, what's scary about a good-natured invite to wrestle?!”

Frisk looked to Sans who had a semi worried face on, “ preeeety sure that’s what scared ‘em.”

“ But, they're incorporeal anyways!” The small human smiled brightly as they walked along the Blook Acres.

“ oh right! We hung out with the poor spooked ghost yesterday.”

“ Oh, you got to hang out with Napstablook?! That's great! I haven't seen him hanging out with anyone since... well, their cousin. They would both watch TV at all hours of the day, then they would practice these weird performances… Where'd they go?Well anyways, don't feel like you have to live up to their cousin Human! Just be your lovable old garbage self!”

“ That’ll be easy since I’m with Sans and he’s a bigger piece of garbage then me~!” Frisk giggled out, making Undyne burst into a fit of laughter.

“ wow… rude.”

“ Ahhh… That was savage… Anyways, Nasptablook's family use to run this farm, but... they've all... passed on... to different jobs, since there's not much business here. Him and his cousin stayed behind to run the family farm. But no one's seen his cousin for a long time. Now Napstablook's all alone... be nice to them okay?! CHERISH THIS GHOST!”

Finally the two decided to just peek through the dump then head on again. “ The garbage dump! So many great things come from there! The only reason we have more modern technology, is 'cause of all the human junk that flows from The Surface! Plus, it's a GREAT place to meet girls! Wait-don't quote me on that one!” Sans snickered out as he was lead along by the child, passing by more garbage heaps. Undyne managed to hear the rushing water of the waterfall nearby. “ That's where I met Alphys for the first time! I was looking for cool swords, when I saw her! Uh... standing there, staring into the abyss...” Undyne trailed off a bit. Sans recalled when Alphys was younger, she was heavily depressed since both of her parents had passed away from the war. Even at an early age, she found herself lost in the world. Even though she was taken in by the scientists, a bit by Asgore, Toriel, and Gaster, she still felt empty. However when Troggle was patrolling around a couple of times, Undyne would head to the dump to look for things. Upon further things, the two girls got to know each other more due to Troggle’s connection with Asgore and Gaster. “ She looked pretty... um... contemplative. So I asked her where she thought the abyss led to! She looked up at me, shocked, and went red in the face. But I'm scary, so I'm use to that kinda stuff! Then she kept explaining all her different theories. She went on for hours! I was so captivated! After that, I kept running into her here. and now we're friends! Yeeee-haaaaaw!”

“ what a sweet story… but the kid likes hearing stories… soooo-“

“ OH MY GOD! Don't make me tell you this story AGAIN!” Sans chucked as he kept poking the fish for fun… Until seeing the flowers the two landed on the previous day, turning around and walking away. Frisk stayed put and asked about the flowers. “ Those flowers... One day, they just started to grow there... I swear, it's like they have a mind of their own... That's ridiculous though!” Frisk bit their lip before catching u with the skeleton.

Passing along the store, Undyne gasped out over the phone, “ Hey! That's the store of Gerson, The Hammer Of Justice! The toughest monster that ever lived! He fought in the war between humans and monsters... and he survived! He's a real hero! Are you gonna' buy something from him?”

“ we bought from him yesterdaaaaay.” Sans whined out.

“ WELL SUCK IT UP AND SEE HIM ANYWAYS!´ Undyne demanded. Frisk peeped their head into the shop seeing a few Capital tourist purchasing and looking around the shop.

“ He’s busy.” Frisk simply replied.

“ NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“ A field of echo flowers... they babble back and forth to each other... Until their words become meaningless noise. Creepy huh?” Undyne explained her slight paranoia of the next area. Frisk agreed and hung up… Only for Sans to grab hl of the phone an recall her, holding it up for her to hear the flowers chatter. “ Stop calling me from that creepy room!”

The two neared the corridor of echo flowers glimmering brightly across the shallow water. “ That's where I first talked to you! Weren't you SUPER terrified? I practice that monologue ALL the time in the mirror!”

“ pth, you practice in the mirror?”

“ UNDYNE...?” The other brother butted in as well as Frisk shook their head with a soft smile.

“ I mean-uh-no I don't!”

“ OH. I WAS JUST GOING TO ASK... DO YOU WANT TO PRACTICE MONOLOGUES TOGETHER?!”

“UH-NO-I DON'T! “ Undyne yelled back, obviously embarrassed.

“ ATTENTION EVERYONE! I AM GOING TO OPEN THE FRIDGE!” Papyrus called out from the background.

“ Do you have to monologue for EVERYTHING?!”

Their descent continued, whilst still on the line as the echo flowers babbled here and there. “ Fields of flowers, whispering everybody's hopes and dreams.. NGAAAAAAAAH! IT FILLS ME WITH POWER! NGAAAAAAAAAH!”

“ UNDYNE NO! PLEASE PUT THE COUCH DOWN AHHH-“ The phone hung up for a second time due to a crash.

Rik blinked before looking to the skeleton wit hollow eyes and a smile plastered on. “ … no, no, this is fine…” Sans was starting to regret having the gruff fish stay with him and his bother.

Along the way, they came across an old crusty monster whose head looked like it belong to a repetitive fungus or muffin like minion in a game. Only, this old man had a single horn with a sour expression. “ Bah! Today's monsters don't appreciate what makes puzzles great! Nowadays 'puzzles' are nothing but lasers and moving rocks... BAH! There's no ART in that actiony, mindless schlock! It's just timing-based drivel! Give me something that challenges the deepest reaches of my mind...” He grumbled to himself before noticing the two. “ You! You're young! You've still got hope! Gehehehe! Here, try solving this block-pushing puzzle!” Sans shrugged t Frisk as they went over to a single solitary block place nearby and tried pushing it. “ What?! WHAT are you doing?! You're pushing it ALL WRONG! Bah, forget it! This generation is REALLY hopeless! Bah, never-mind!”

Sans frowned slightly, pulling Frisk away from the grouchy elder monster, unsure about him and not wanting some old windbag yelling at them… Shit, this kid was starting to really grow on him… He was starting to act like an actual parent… Or uncle… Maybe a mix of both?

He called up the other two, “ hey, there’s some old weird geezer here with a block… know anything?”

Sans and Frisk were both fairly surprised upon hearing Papyrus speak out instead. “ THAT IS WHERE ELDER PUZZLER LIKES TO STAND! IT'S IMPORTANT TO RESPECT OUR PUZZLING ROOTS!”

“ Yeah, someone else has to care so I don't have it!” Undyne brought up.

“ BUT UNDYNE, DON'T YOU LIKE TRADITION?”

Undyne groaned out, “ I worked in an office pushing blocks for a month! my respect for block puzzles was depleted by corporate life.”

“ WHAT?! YOU THREW AWAY MY DREAM LIFE?! THE LIFE OF A SIMPLE SALARY-MAN... COMMUTING EVERY DAY ON A TRAIN FULL OF SPIKES...”

Undyne suddenly took the phone from the sounds of it as they could hear her whisper out, “ I won't tell him that's not how it works...” The two kept themselves from laughing, but Undyne could hear a small snort from one of them while Papyrus continued in the back.

“ WAIT... UNDYNE, DID YOU REALLY HAVE AN OFFICE JOB?”

“ Well, it was more of a... uh... community service thing...”

“ THAT'S UNDYNE! ALWAYS HELPING OUT THE COMMUNITY!”

“ Uhhh, yup! Totally of my violation there!”

The older brother smirked, “ oh, so it wasn’t that one time you bent the royal guard’s sword because they said a fiest kid like you could never become a guard and then your uncle found out about it?”

“ SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANS!” Undyne snarled out.

After cooling down the gilled girl sounded excited as Frisk mentioned the room they fought in, “ OH MY GOD! Wasn't this room the BEST?! Like when I decided NOT to do that BORING monologue... and then went TOTALLY off-the-cuff?! Or when I almost killed you with spears?! Or when I almost killed you with MORE spears?! Aw man, I should have taken photos! Think about how cute a little scrapbook would be...”

“ NOW I WANT A SCRAPBOOK OF MY FIGHT TOO!” Papyrus piped up.

“ Let's start a photo company for boss fights!”

“ ONE WEEK LATER, SAMPLE GLOSSIES IN THE MAIL!”

“ Relive the memories. ah, going off-the-cuff... It really helped that I uh... completely forgot the words to my monologue anyway...”

“ mmmmhmmm..” Sans hummed out making the child hold the phone away.

“ QUIET SANS!”

The two walked along the narrow strip of land that lead to Hotland. “ This is where I was chasing you... but you got a phone call, so I had to slow down.”

“ OH! THAT WAS ME!”

“ WHAT?! What were you even calling about?!” Undyne screeched out in surprise.

“ I WAS JUST SAYING WE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT.”

“ ... As I was trying to kill The Human and beat up Sans?!”

“ WELL-NOBODY STARTS AS GREAT FRIENDS!”

“ Nobody starts as great friends huh?”

“ THAT'S THE RULE.”Frisk listened while Sans averted his eyes. Today wasn’t as painful as yesterday, but it still found its ways to sink into the cracks of his broken mind.

“ Well, you're gonna' END as my great friend!”

“N-NO! NOT THE FLATTERY SUPLEX!”

Chapter Text

“ I still I can't believe Sans was protecting you so I had to chase him down too! I was counting on him to capture, or at the very least let me beat him up for helping you! URRRRRRRGH!” Undyne groaned out over the phone line.

“ I THINK YOU DID HIM A LOT OF GOOD! HE'S GOTTEN REALLY OUT OF SHAPE. HE TIRES EASILY. LATELY HE'S BEEN NAPPING OVER SEVEN HOURS A NIGHT... HE'S NAPPING HIMSELF INTO AN EARLY GRAVE!” Papyrus spoke up.

“ I agree! Your brother needs to-wait, isn't that called sleeping?”

“ UNDYNE! NO! NOT YOU TOO!”

“ Wait, Papyrus... when do YOU sleep?”

“ I'M USUALLY TOO BUSY TO SLEEP, WHY?”

The two shorter individuals heard Undyne chuckle nervously, “ Well, I was just thinking... if you're not using that cool car bed, can I have it?!”

After the long fire-proof bridge their eyes beheld a monster, similar to the clam girl at Waterfall. As Sans approached the odd monster, is calm of a head opened up reviling a pearl like head with a pair of shades. “ O ,k,k,k,k... So, I was thirsty, so I came over from waterfall to get a drink.” Frisk meanwhile started to pour the water onto the dirt near the side of the water cooler, making the skeleton look extremely puzzled.“ O k,k,k,k... are you just carrying that around to look sophisticated? Cause it's not working.” After pouring all the water onto the range rocked ground the cam monster shrugged, “ O k,k,k,k... so now we have a private pool? Worse things have happened.”

“ kid… why did you do that?”

“ It’s for later. But anyways.” With a quick flicks of buttons, Undyne came back n the phone, Frisk telling her about the giant canister of water.

“ Thank god for that water cooler huh?! Actually… You can thank Alphys. She put it there just for me.”

“ aww, she’s taking care of her fishy~.” Sans snickered out.

“ SHUT THE HELL UP! Anyways, now I can drink it on the way to her lab. Though, usually I’m not wearing 100 pounds of amour.” Frisk gulped slightly thinking if Undyne didn’t have the extra coating on her… Running from her might have proved impossible. “ Anyways, thanks for giving me that water I guess... While Sans sat on his ass like always…”

“ hey, you know i’m not use to shakin’ a leg.”

“ I know, I just thought I’d give you a hard time since you're constantly making me angry!”

“ ya know ya love it, right kid?” Frisk’s only reply was to stick their tongue out at the skeleton before hanging up with a chuckle, " well that wasn't a no."

Continuing on from the odd experience o the clam, the two came across two large burly guards in shining armor. One was obviously a rabbit , his ears sticking up and out with his gleaming helmet, while the other one had spikes jutting out the sides, presumably a dragon or such. The rabbit guard looked down to the shorter two and sighed. “ Sorry... Undyne like told us there was totally a human in the area. So, like, us royal guards are blocking off the elevators for now. Ngah! Even if the elevators aren't working anyway, we'll do our best Miss Undyne! Like NO WAY you're getting by us! But between you and me... I think you could go through that creepy lab over there.” Sans seemed to raise a nonexistent brow, as the lumbering monster pointed to a large lab, clearly seeing the feisty fish influencing some guards with her trademark screaming in rage. “ Well, between you, me, that dude, and my bro here, I mean.” The surfer styled rabbit talked as he pointed to Frisk, himself, Sans, and his partner. “ I tell him ALL my secrets.” Sans rolled his pupils a bit, fairly sure the guard didn’t share one damned thing. A moment went by as Frisk tried to move the stubborn skeleton alone, only for Sans to continue standing there until the rabbit spoke up again. “ Hey! No loitering! Like, nah, I'm just kidding. I don't care. Like, loiter your heart out.”

“ hehehe, this is my type of guard.” He winked, finally walking off, letting Frisk fall flat into the small sandy rubble after giving them and the guards the smallest of a hard time. Meanwhile the other just stared at them without a word, silently judging them and making them both feel slightly unnerved. As they backed away from the two strongmen towards the rather large white metallic building, known as The Lab. Sans whipped out the phone, putting it on speaker for the two to hear like always, “ yo fish-head, tweedledee and tweedledum won’t let us by so I can try fixing the l1 elevator.”

“ … Gonna’ have to be a little more specific.”

“ b and d, dumb and dumber… 1 and 2?”

“ Ohhh… wait......what? WHAT?! The Royal Guards are blocking the way?!”

Frisk could hear Sans chuckle and say, “ eyyy, there she goes.”

“ Then I'll tell them to-well, nothing I guess...”

Sans smile stifled, “ … what?”

“ I already told them to see out and destroy you! And I can't just tell them I've changed my mind. you see, Alphys showed me these animations about... uhhh, humans? So I can learn their weaknesses? And one of them is about this human that, uh... well, suffice to say, they can control people's minds!”

Sans passed the phone to the child and threw is skeletal hands over his face to groan internally at the sheer amount of stupidity. He could teleport over, but he was fairly sure that dragon would notice, being more of a listener tan a talker like is partner. Frisk meanwhile held the phone with a confused look, “ Uhhh…”

“ Surprised? I know your kind's hidden power! Anyways, I told my crew if I ever defended a human... I must be under some kind of mind control! And to disregarded EVERYTHING that I tell them! So, sorry... but my hands are tied. By the way, that animation is really good! I'm not going to tell them to let you by! But more importantly… You guys are going through The Lab right? That’s Alphy’s house. Hey, why don’t we all go over and watch anime some time?”

“ ANIME? ISN’T THAT A KIND OF CARTOON FOR SMALL CHILDREN?” Once Sans went by his slight crisis, his pip-point pupils somehow went smaller from hearing his brother… He hissed out slightly as to say, 'Ohhh boy… This won’t end well.'

“ Oh my GOD! It isn’t just for kids! It’s deep! It’s EMOTIONAL!”

Apparently Papyrus was having his fun by teasing the easily agitate fish now. “ Is-“ He started mimicking baby sounds, “ An emotion?”

“YEAH, cause it’s how I’m FEELING RIGHT NOW!” She yelled out over the phone before Papyrus said something about the sofa again before the line cut out.

The two made it past the sliding doors, entering a fairly well sanitized and sterile environment of mellowed blue hue on the walls with blue tiles below. Frisk sighed in relief, stretching their arms out by their side to embrace the cooler climate compared to the over-powering heat outside. Sans’ pupils fixated about, finding it out that the lights were dimmed, maybe even off… It had been again, yet another long time since he walked into the lab. He remembered once his father and the other fell into the anomaly of The Core, poor Alphys had all of this space to her lonesome. She use to live with the other scientists… But now…

Frisk tugged at his sapphire sleeve, lulling him out of his thoughts and pointed to a large terminal. The two made their way over to an impressively large screen showing the two of them. Sans chuckled and leaned over to whisper to the child, a plan forming in and out of his mind. Frisk grinned from it and face towards a camera placed far above on the walls, making a silly face. Sans on the other hand watched the large screen of Frisk’s face and laughed out. Frisk giggled and turned to watch the screen as Sans turned over to make his face, making the human laugh in turn. The two, just for the hell of it, encase it was recording them, both turned to the camera, putting on stupid and goofy faces. Right before they stopped with their faces still visible. The two slowly looked to one another to see the other’s funny looks before they both broke into a fit of laughter.

Once they got their jollies, Sans walked by Frisk’s side, their wrist in his bony hands for safety as they walked down the large dark room. Suddenly without any warning, the lights above suddenly flashed to life, filling the room with bright fluorescent lighting, making Sans pull away and put his arm over himself, hissing slightly. As he lowered his arm, he winked down to the human, making them giggle from the sudden ‘vampire act’. Soon enough, another sliding door whooshed by from the wall, letting the well known intelligent, chubby, nervous wreak of a yellow lizard herself, Alphys. She waddled out from the door looking over a clipboard before putting it to her side as se sensed something. With a small turn of her spiked head she saw the two adventurers standing there, waving to her. After registering the sigh in front of her, she proceeded to have her mouth drop open

“ Oh. My god.” She quickly went into a frenzied panic, dropping her notes and putting her caws onto her head, moving her body around rapidly as her feet scampered around from one side to the other, and the same with the other directions. “ I didn't expect you to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and-“ Se stopped and silently looked over. “ .... Ummm... H-H-Hiya! I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore's royal scientist! B-B-But ahhh-I'm not one of the 'bad guys'!” She laughed nervously to the child. Actually, since you stepped out of the ruins, I've um... been 'observing' your journey through my console. Your fights... your friendships... everything! I was originally going to stop you, but... watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them… A-And Sans! You a-actually went out of your way, putting you guarding duties away ju-just to help this Human out!”

He winked, “ hey, i’m still guarding. though, technically, i’m guarding for another reason.” He said as he leaned over to Frisk, putting his lower arm on their head, mixing the blue with brown as he rested his skull on the curled up hand. Frisk simple stuck out their tongue, being used as a table.

“ W-Well, I must say I’m impressed! E-Especially since…” She trailed off as she got a small subtle look from her old lab partner. “ … Since you normally don’t even come here.” She glared slightly, tapping her foot, making her toed claws clack against the tile.

Sans scoffed, “ pth, please. It hasn’t been ‘that’ long.”

Aphys crossed her arms dismissively, “ It’s been a year and a half Sans... You never even called.”

Sans threw on a cheeky smile, “ potato, tomato.” Alphys cleared her throat, obliviously peeved with the jokester. “ what is it with you people? do you all like keep tabs on me of when you’ve seen me last?”

Alphys sighed before going back to her normal script. “ Anyways! S-So, ahhh-now I want to help you! Using my knowledge, I can easily guide you through Hotland! …Since Sans won’t know where he’s going….”

“ hey!”

“ I know a way right to Asgore's castle, no problem! ... Well, actually, umm, there's just a tiny issue.” Sans gave a skeptical look while Frisk listened, knowing what would come, but again… They enjoyed their stories and would always enjoy listening to them time an time again. “ A long time ago, I made a robot named Mettaton. Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something.” Sans groaned slightly, recalling how his dear brother praised the robotic entity from being so popular. “ Anyways, recently I decided to make him more useful. You know, just some small practical adjustments. Like um... anti...anti-human combat features? Of c-course, when I saw you coming, I immediately decided I have to remove those features! Unnnnnfortunately, I may have made a teensy mistake while doing so. And um...”

“ soooo... what’s the catch?”

“Well… Now he's an unstoppable killing machine with the thirst for human blood? Ehehehe... heh...” SH chuckled nervously at Sans stood their slightly dumbfounded and the tiniest bit irritated knowing the prideful robot was probably now unstoppable, being equipped with such magical forces. “ But, ummm, hopefully we won't run into him!”A sudden light bang was heard nearby, making Sans step away from Frisk as he used them to prop himself up and lounge. Frisk’s eyes peeked about as the yellow lizard put her claws together. “...?” Another subtle, but more lively bang was heard. Sans instantly went into defensive mode, his eyes skimming the room. He couldn’t let the pompous robot harm this kid, not on his watch! … Damn, they really were growing on him… “ Did you hear something?” Suddenly the banging became constant, drawing closer and closer, making the whole lab rumble. “ Oh... Oh no...”

The room became completely dark as an announcing yet slightly robotic voice spurred out, “ OHHH YES~! Welcome beauties...” A grand spotlight showered upon a slightly bulky square metal box with lights on its screen, two gangly arms with gloves, and being positioned by a single wheel. “ To today's Quiz Show~!”Spotlights suddenly flashed upon the duo and lizard separately as confetti rained down upon them in the dimmed room as a fucking disco ball lowered down to spin above them, music buzzing over them all. All the while, quite magically a game show title sprouting up nearby them, tilted up to the camera the two had played around with earlier.

“ the hell is this?” Sans looked to the disco ball and magical confetti that came from nowhere. “ the hell is that?!” Sans stuck out his arms in front of him, gesturing to the game show sign.

The robot however went on, “ Oh boy! I can already tell it's gonna' be a great show! Everyone give a biiiiig hand to our wonderful contestants!” He put away his mic and clapped out for the two. “ Never played before gorgeous’? No problem! It's simple! There's only one rule! Answer correctly...” A sudden drum-roll was played before it and the music cut out entirely. “ OR YOU DIE!” Mettaton’s screen flashed red as he laughed out. “ Let's start with an easy one~! What's the prize for answering correctly?!” The top of the robot shined a large holographic sign above himself, staring down for the two to choose as a timer set down.

‘ Money, Mercy, New Car, More Questions’ Was seen, being tagged with a assigned letter. Before Frisk could answer, the skeleton sighed bitterly, “ lemme’ guess… more quetio-“

“ Right! More questions! Sounds like you get it! Here's your terrific prize~! What is the King's full name?!”

‘ Lord Fluffybuns, Fuzzy Pushover, Asgore Dreemurr, Dr. Friendship.” Frisk smiled and hopped up and down, “ Asgore Dreemurr!”

“ Correct! What a terrific answer! Enough about you two, let's talk about me! What are robots made of?!” Alphys nearby cheered the two on.

‘ Hopes and Dreams, Metal and Magic, Snips and Snails, Sugar and Spice.’ Frisk frowned from their eyes scanning over the first possibly solution… It made them think of their tortured sibling. Sans scoffed and smiled, “ metal magic~.”

Metton put a gloved hand to the bottom side of his square like body, “ Too easy for you huuuuuh~?! Here's another easy one for you~! Two trains, Train A and Train B. Simultaneously depart Station A and Station B. Station A and Station Bare 252.5 Miles apart from each other. Train A is moving at 124.7 MPH towards Station B, and Train B is moving at 253.5 MPH towards Station A. If both trains departed at 10:00 AM it is now 10:08 How much longer until both trains pass each other?”

‘ 31.054 mins, 16.232 mins, 32.049 mins, 32.058 mins.’ Frisk looked over to Sans who smirked, “ hehehe… seriously? that easy-peasy baby bones question? it’s obviously 32.058 mins big guy.” He shrugged, shaking his head a bit, in a cocky way.

“ Wonderful! I'm astounded folks~! Don't 'count' on your victory~! How many flies are in this jar?!” The holograph resented itself with a jar and many flies buzzing about, too much for Sans to keep track on.

‘ 54, 53, 55, 52’ He seemed a jarred for the moment before Frisk flailed their arm up into the air wildly like a child asking a teacher for something, “ 54! 54!”
“ Correct! You're so lucky today!” Sans looked over to the child besides him who grinned. Okay… Something was going on now… There was no way the kid could have been right… Not that he didn’t believe them, but something seemed a bit off, even if they had gone over this part many times. Out of the corner of his eye sockets he caught a glimpse of Alphys making an A from her claws. He smiled, glad that she had their back just encase.

“ Let's play Memory Game~! What monster is this?!”

The holograph showed half of a Froggit’s head. ‘ Froggit, Whimsun, Moldsmal, Mettaton’ Sans smirked, but was cut off by Frisk quickly. “ AH-METTATON!” The picture zoomed out showing Mettaton wearing a shirt with a Froggit’s face on it.

Sans squinted in resentment of almost feeling like a complete idiot. “ clever bastard…”

“ I'm so flattered you remembered! But can you get this one~?!” Would you smooch a ghost?”

All of the answers were ‘ Heck Yes’ as the timer went up instead of down. Both Sans and Alphys squinted at the answers, a bit unsure of what the robot was trying to pull now. “ Uhhh… Heck yes?”

“ Wonderful darling, but it’s for both of you, I need to know other munchkin’s input.”

Sans gave a slight glare as his size was once again poked fun at, “ heck yes…” He started to think of ‘heck yes I’m going to kick your shiny metal ass later.’

“ Great answer! I love it! Here's a simple one~! How many letters are in the name Mettatonnnnnnn-“ The name’s ending kept going n and on while all of the answers, though slightly different went up along with how man the robot added on. Alphys cupped her claws together to form a letter.

Sans smirked as his white shining pupils gazed over to the child who cheerfully jumped up, “ C~!”

The robot stopped and rubbed the bottom of his cubed body like it was his chin, “ Of course that was easy for you! Time to break out the big guns~! In the dating simulation video game, 'Mew-Mew Kissy Cutie', what is Mew-Mew's favorite food?!”

The yellow scaled lizard bounced around from one foot to the other, waving around her arm in a desperate movement, “ OH! OH! I KNOW THIS ONE! IT'S SNAIL ICE CREAM! IN THE FOURTH CHAPTER EVERYONE GOES TO THE BEACH! AND SHE BUYS ICE CREAM FOR ALL OF HER FRIENDS! BUT IT'S SNAIL FLAVORED AND SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO WANTS IT! IT'S ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS OF THE GAME BECAUSE IT'S ACTUALLY A VERY POWERFUL” She soon started to slow down an become more and more quiet, he sleeved arm lowering back to her side. “ message about friendship and....”

Mettaton waggled a large gloved finger, “ Alphys, Alphys, Alphys…” He tutted as she tried shrinking down into her large lab coat nervously looking around embarrassed as her claws fiddled and intertwined with one another. Her long lagging tail curled up to her feet which poke out from the bottom of her coat. “You're not helping our contestants are yooou~?” He asked smugly, already knowing the answer. “ OOOOOOH~! You should have told me! I'll ask a question, you'll be sure to know the answer too! Who does Doctor Alphys have a crush on~?”

Alphy’s normally yellow face turned into a dark shade of pink and red as she gritted her teeth, letting her buck teeth poke out. The hologram read out above, ‘ Undyne, Asgore, The Human, Don’t Know.’ Her eyes behind the tick glasses shot to Sans who was grinning. Her eyes glared daggers to him before Frisk popped their arm up. “ Why isn’t D instead all of the above?”

“ Because I write the scripts darling~.” Mettaton teased.

Sans rolled his eyes as he stuffed his hands into is pockets, having enough of this guy jerking them around. “ it’s a, can we go now? we got places to be, monsters to befriend, and frankly i do trust a calculator because i can clearly count on it, buuuut… your show is so slow it hertz.” Sans casted a grin.

If the robot had a proper face, it would be an intense smile with the look of, ‘ you cheeky little bitch’. He stayed silent from the double penetration of puns and went back to his role. “ See, Alphys? I told you it was obvious. Even the human and non-fleshy human figured it out.”Alphys curled up tighter hiding her face behind her claws, trembling from sheer humiliation.

“ hey!”

“ Yes, she scrawls her name in the margins of her notes. She names programming variables after her. She even writes stories of them together... sharing a domestic life. Probability of crush: 101%. Margin of error: 1%. Well, well, well. with Dr. Alphys helping you... the show has no more dramatic tension! We can't go on like this! But. BUT! This was just the pilot episode! Next up, more drama! more romance! MORE BLOODSHED! Until next time darlings~!” He hollered out as his long thin arms slid back into the rectangle body. The body lowered down, consuming the wheel before small thrusters spurted out, sending the robot flying up and out of the lab. Alphys was glad she installed a metal casing that could be folded up as a ceiling. Once the show-star robot went off into the rest of Hotland the metal ceiling closed shut.

“ wait, if you had that the whole time, why didn’t you open it when it was dar-“

“ Well that was certainly something...” Alphys interrupted the questioning skeleton all while Frisk just waved bye to the robot. “ Th-that last question... He wasn't s-supposed to ask that one...”

“ … sure was a thing… weeeeelp, it was nice seein’ ya alph, let’s get back together in another ten years kay?” Sans turned around only for his old lap partner to scuttle over.

“ Wait, wait!” Frisk snatched the skeleton’s wrist to keep him put. When it boiled down t it… The child was fairly strong as they stood there holding Sans’ bony wrist as he tried tugging away. He was losing a tug to a kid… This was embarrassing… But then again, he miiiiight have deserved it for embarrassing the poor lizard. “Let me give you my ph-phone number! Th-then... m-maybe... if you need help, I could-wha...” She looked at the old phone Frisk had lent out to her. “ Where'd you get that phone?! It's ANCIENT! It doesn't even have texting...” Before she could go on, Frisk set their backpack down and brought out the jar of the small snail who had lost her home. “ Huh?”

“ Sans kinda set fire to this snail’s house, can you help her puhleeeeese?!” Frisk whined out with a puppy dog expression.

“ h-hey, i didn’t do it on purpose… how was i suppose to know over-encouraging a snail would make it’s shell burst into flames? that's not something they teach ya in school, ya know? also, may wanna fill up the water cooler too.”

“ WHAT?! SOMEONE M-MESSED WITH UNDYNE'S WATER COOLER?!"

Sans' gaze shuffled around a bit, " ... it was some clam dude." He said, covering for Frisk. That and that monster was the slightest bit rude to them.

" Noted! W-Wait a second please!” Alphys snatched the jar and phone before scurrying up the escalator then swinging back down from the other escalator, panting slightly. She handed over Frisk a brand new slim phone with a touch screen on it. “ Here, I upgraded it for you! It can do texting, items, it's got a key-chain-I even signed you up for The Underground's number 1 social network! Oh and your snail can stay here to rest and test out her new shell! Now we're officially friends! Ehehe! Hehehe... heh.......”Alphy’s cheerfulness seemed to subsided as her eyes darted side to side. “ I'm going to the bathroom.” She suddenly said, running to the door she had entered from.

Sans toyed with the phone a bit while Frisk ran around the tiled room chasing the now hovering and flying snail with a metal shell and tiny thrusters to move it around efficiently. “ You're at Alphy's lab? Is she there? Hey, tell her I said 'hi', okay?! And, tell me if how she's doing! And tell me if she needs anything and-wait! No! Don't ask any of that! But she's fine right?!” Sans snickered a bit.

“ aww, is someone’s 'eelings' leaking out~?”

“ SAAAAAAAAAAAA-“ The skeleton chuckled before hanging up. Finally when the snail grew tired and slept in its new home, Frisk wandered around the lab, it seemed quite a few things had changed from what he saw back as a kid. He noticed a half-full dog food bag… Or was it half-empty? He couldn’t tell while the small human found a fridge full of ramen noodles and soda. Speaking of which, when the two looked about t cluttered table Alphys had for her notes and main computer, the found a small yellow lizard tea cup with soda in it. It reminded Frisk of Undyne’s now broken fish cup. Sans quirked an unseen brow poking at a beat up figurine of a female human with…Cat ears? His eyes landed on the puzzle of Snowdin, the exact one that Papyrus tried switching on, only for Frisk to walk through it easily. He had thought that the puzzle was automated with that machine, not manual… The two tried to decipher a few notes Alphys left around, but couldn’t understand her chicken scratch. The child poked around the small glittery and pink trash can near the table and complimented it on how it looked cute as Sans gave out a chuckle.
They soon investigated the wall where Mettaton had broken through… Though the weird thing that told Sans something was up, was that there wasn’t much spaced inside the broken wall… Almost like the robot was… Waiting inside? Frisk nudged him to follow, passing by a bathroom sign next to closed doors with yellow feet tapping behind it from the small gap. The two rode the escalator, reaming fairly quiet, in order to relax from the sudden moment of the robot star. There were many books labeled ‘Human History’. Sans tended to stay away from the older and dustier ones while Frisk pulled out a couple, opening them up to find comics in them. Sans peered over seeing one with a giant robot fighting either a monster or alien like princess, an android running in a school uniform of a white shirt, red collar, and a short blue skirt with toast in its mouth. And… two scantily clad chef’s flinging energy pancakes at one another. Frisk tilted their head… They had never actually looked more beyond this pages and dared to flip the next page. Thankfully Sans’ eye seemed to acknowledge the next page as it was being flipped and quickly shielded the child’s eyes. “ Huh, wha-“

“ thaaaats enough reading for now…” Sans’ pupils dimmed into his skull as his blue magic lifted the chef comic and placing it on the top shelf. Along looking around, there was an entire bookcase dedicated to an immersion of VHS' and DVD's of various cartoons labeled human history, letting Sans chuckle lightly. Still the same Alphys as ever. They passed by a strange device that had some pink goo dripping off it. The skeleton and child both scooped up a small bit on the tips of their fingers and tasted it. “ pth… knew it… ice cream.”Passing by Frisk seemed to cough a bit and sniffle. As Sans was about to ask if something was up, he noticed a dusty work table with various tools nearby on the wall and on it, remaining silent… and a bit unnerved. They witnessed a large Mew-Mew Kissy Cutie poster of what might have been of that eat up figurine downstairs as well as an open wardrobe full of lab coats and one surprisingly clean dress.

Sans attention quickly moved to a stack of letters on another table. He stopped to look at who had sent all these unopened letters. Each reined from various monsters such as Snow, Froggits, Doggo, and so on… But before he could think about it more clearly he heard Frisks happy giggly bubble out. He set aside the letters and went to the child who was pointing out pink fish on a lamp. Sans chuckled along with them before noticing it had no light bulb… Maybe he rubbed off a bit on Alphys since he often did that with his lamps at home. After walking by a large squishy blue cube that actually folded out into bed Frisk read out a poster with Mettaton on it as a promo of sorts. “ Thank you for making my dreams come true~!”

Sans however took this precious time to tease Undyne by calling her, “ hey grumpy gills~ guess what~ we’re in alph’s room~.”

“ What?! You're in her room?! Get outta' there! Unless um... she invited you...”

“ hehehe, oh really?”

“ NO WAY! That did NOT happen! Stop that!” Sans hung up as he burst into a fit of laughter. However Frisk quickly rode the downward escalator only slightly laughing, but not as much as they normally would.

“ kid?” The short statured skeleton followed behind them, now noticing the tapping feet behind that one door were now gone… Once outside in the new steaming and arid area, Frisk pulled up their sleeves, getting ready to endure the heat. “ ya ok?”

“ Yeah, I just don’t like it here, it’s so hot.” They whined out. Sans patted them on the head and took their backpack.

“ here, at least lemme’ carry this stuff kiddo. remember, i gotta’ keep an eye socket out on ya” He winked with a sincere smirk, making Frisk’s lips blossom into a soft smile as well. Just a few steps and the new phone buzzed. It read out, ‘UPDATE - just realized i didn't watch undyne fight the human and sans v.v’. Again just a few more feet and it buzzed out again, ‘UPDATE - well i know she's unbeatable i'll ask her abt it later ^.^’. Sans decided t call the lizard from texting so much but… For the life of him, couldn’t find her damn number… Regrettably he had forgotten and often lost her number over the years… Why was he suddenly realizing how neglectful he was to his old friends?

Frisk on the other hand snatched the phone when he was thinking to himself, “ Sans, do you know how to trek Hotland? I mean I kinda due to a certain point… But it’s not really my favorite area, so I don’t remember everything.” Sans’ felt his marrow turn cold… How long has it been since he even dared walked through Hotland without the elevator or teleportation?! He stopped after…The Core… And then with Asriel also gone, he had no real pint since Alphys was hired as the new Royal Scientist, which was fine with him since he had to watch over his brother. “ Saaaans? Earth to Sans?!” Frisk waved their hand before him, making him snap out of spacing out.

“ huh-wha?!”

“ You didn’t uhh… Answer me. Your eyes went… Spooky.” Frisk frowned before getting a pat on the head from their soon to be dunkle.

“ heh, sorry 'bout that, don’t sweat it kid. i may not remember much here, but with you, we can do anything… annnnd besides that, we always got the two knuckle-heads to call up.”

Upon calling… “ NEITHER OF US KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOTLAND...”

“ So we'll just have to COMBINE OUR POWER!” Undyne cheered out.

“ ZERO PLUS ZERO IS STILL ZERO...”

“ Yes, but it's a BIG ZERO! THE BIGGEST ZERO!” That seemed to lighten the mood.

‘ UPDATE - for now i gotta call up the human and sans and guide them =^.^=’. Sans sighed, he was seriously going to have to mention this to Alphys… However before they could even step upon the conveyor belt that was made for monsters to get across the platforms of lands faster a miniature volcano waddled over on four feet with a cheery expression plastered at the bottom. Vulkin strolls in! It glanced at the two before gasping out into a bright smile. Before any warning a large cloud formed from the smoke on top it’s crater like hump, shooting off bolts of lightning at a wide angle. A small zap got Frisk by the arm making them hiss in pain

-3/20

The cloud reacting by rumbling and shooting the bolts out at a quicker pace. Sans tried to grab hold of the brave child but they ran to the small monster who was now upset and worried from getting over excited and accidentally hurting the human. “ Ah! I'll help! Healing magmas!” The squeaked out, summoning fireballs that shot out from the ground, up into the air at both sides of Frisk before intersecting one another. Thankfully Frisk managed to weave out of the way until the flaming balls of lava subsided.

Frisk hugged onto the upset monster, warming their heart up… and body. It seemed to cheer the cute thing up, “ Ah, so lovely!” Once it was let go it followed the two merrily down the belt, parading around them proudly. Frisk enjoyed it and started to parade around Sans, joining them. The skeleton couldn’t help but give a small chuckle, even though Frisk got hurt, they still smiled onward. Eventually when they came to stable land again, the Vulkin started coffee, tea and cocoa in its crater. Te two sat down and rested with the cute monster. Each happily sipping their drinks, boy… Frisk sure did miss the monster’s blend of hot chocolate, after all cooking with fire-magic was the best.

“ Thank you.” Frisk chirped out as they all finished up their cup, healing the small bit of HP.

The Vulkin made a smoke hoop and hopped through it. “ Oh... when you encourage me, I feel... so nicey. So spicy ~!” It soon waddled off joyfully.

Then came the call… Frisk knew the two taller monsters back in Snowdin didn’t have great input of Hotland, but they always found this one part to be funny, but also to show Sans he wasn’t the only one who could tease Papyrus in one way. Undyne answered, “ I rode on a conveyor belt once. I learned pretty fast that they make me sick. Yet another reason not to go to Hotland.”

“ DID YOU HURL?”

“ Yeah, like 9000 times! It was awesome!”

The younger skeleton groaned over the line, “ PLEASE DON’T CALL HER AND MAKE HER SAY GROSS THINGS!”

After the two got their laughs from teasing Papyrus, another update popped u, ‘ UPDATE - gonna call them in a min! =^.^=’. The two soon spotted a floating star, Sans looking over, “ determination?”

Frisk smiled widely, “ Determination!”

~The whooshing sound of steam and cogs... it fills you with DETERMINATION~

Chapter Text

A couple of footsteps and, ‘ UPDATE - I HATE USING THE PHONE I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS LMAO ^.^’. However before they could even move on after that brief pause a snobby looking plane with a large plumed hat rolled over to them. Tsundereplane gets in the way not on purpose or anything! It wrung it’s tip/snout…? Up and away, “ HMF! >_<... Human...” She revved up her wing’s, summoning several small planes that zoomed across above the to, dropping down bombs. This time Sans was quick to react and swooped up Frisk just as a bomb hit the ground, avoiding a long pillar of smoke to rise up. Frisk suggested for Sans to stay back since the plane clearly wanted them instead. As the bombs ceased, Frisk scooted over to the snobby plane, but not too close. It tilted it’s head so the windows could view the small human approaching it slowly. “ E-Ehhh? Human?” It backed away, shaking it’s nose dismissively before trapping Frisk near it. Large planes were conjured up, whizzing by past Sans, entering a long stream of smoke trails the skeleton could not get past. Frisk managed to dodge around the planes as, getting oh so very much closer to the original plane “ Human I...” It turned away shyly as the smoke dissipated into the air.

“ oh whew, thank god… kid!” Sans rushed over happy to see they were still in one piece…

Well that was before the plane snapped out at him from getting to close to quickly, “ H-Hey watch it jerk! T-Though, I guess if there's nowhere else you can stand closer... Standing is so spicy.”

Afterwards the two watched the ground hiss out a jet of cooling steam-which in its own way was weird but whatever, The Author doesn’t like being hot… “ Steam vents? I think Alphys told me about those. The core cools off by releasing steam through those. And at the same time, it double as transport! Pretty cool, if you aren't wearing a dress! Huh?! Did you put on a dress?!”

“ whoa calm down there shark bait, we’re not wearing dresses.”

“ WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO WEAR NE…? OOH, MAYBE I SHOULD-“

“ n-n, it’s fine paps!” Frisk giggled from the image of Papyrus in a tutu.

As the two were blown away to other heightened lands of the area due to the cooling breeze and power of the vents, the eventually found a burnt pan, which Frisk traded out with their notebook and strapped it to their side from their belt.

“ hehehe, cookin’ with style kiddo”

Back onto the main road, ‘ UPDATE - omg ive had my claw over the last digit for 5 mins. omg i'm just gonna do it. i'm just gonna call!’ Sans shook his head, smiling as the shy Alphys he knew was still there, much like Undyne. He didn’t expect for the phone to ring, but as soon as he was about to pick up, it hung up… The two found their way to a long stretch of land with metal orbs whisking back and forth in place while periodically shooting out blue and orange lasers. The phone rang again, at which Sans answered before the lizard could hang upon them again. “ caught cha’ ya slipper salamander~.”

“ Uhh! Wait, am I on speaker phone?”

“ Hi Alphys!” Frisk greeted making the scientist a bit nervous.

“ H-Hi, so the blue lasers! Uhh! I mean, Alphys here! Hi! The blue lasers won't hurt you if you don't move! O-orange ones, um... y-you have to be moving and they...um, they won't um... Move through those ones! ... Uhh, bye!” As she hung up the phone buzzed about, ‘ UPDATE - OMG I DID IT! claws haven't shook like that since undyne called me to ask about the weather... v.v’. The two easily maneuvered about the lasers laser right after traversing past an range laser. ‘update - WAIT THERE'S NO WEATHER DOWN HERE WHY DID SHE CALL ME?!’

Frisk grinned mischievously, nodding to Sans to cal up the fish, “ yo undyne, so me and the kiddo here heard tale that ya called alph about the weather?”

“ What?! Why'd I call Alphys about the weather? Who CARES?! Isn't it natural to love meteorology?!” She said rather defensively.

“ ZOINKS! I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST AN EXCUSE TO TALK TO HER. I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS WEATHER DOWN HERE!”

“ Y-YEAH?! THERE IS! And I'm forecasting an incoming front of SHUT UP!” All the while Frisk shut down the laser with a simple flip of a switch, enjoying the loud conversation over the speaker.

Of course Sans had to hold back laughter along with the human, knowing Undyne wouldn’t harm his brother… Too badly. “ WOWIE! WILL I NEED AN UMBRELLA?”

“ Oh Papyrus. I can't stay mad at you!”

“ IT'S OKAY, I FORGIVE YOU! PSSST, WHEN WAS SHE MAD AT ME?”

Marching forwards the phone buzzed in a lively tone, ' UPDATE - oh my god i forgot to tell them where to go!' There was then a slight pause before the phone uploaded a small text box saying, ' CUTE PIC OF ME RIGHT NOW ^.^'. It seemed to be a photo of the garbage can near the computer desk Alphys had used, layering it with pink glittery filters over it. Just a small moment later the phone rang as the two walked down a single island of the land high above the boiling lava below. " A-A-Alphys here! The-The northern door will stay locked until you... s-solve the puzzles on the right and left! I-I think you sh-should g-g-go to the right first!" Sans looked to the child for them to make up their mind, only to get a response of a shrug and pointing to another stable island to their right. They waited for the stem vent of refreshing air to burst through once the arrow it pointed to was the correct one.

Over on the right island, they came across two larger monsters fiddling with their own phones as a small radio near the smoky black wisp played out music. The skeleton made way over to the other monster who was in a nice business suit. The monster was rather large, showing off some chub, sunglasses his draconic like eyes as his fat green scald fingers fussed with the phone while his stubby tail wiggled. " sup there buddy?"

The large lizard gave a wide smile, " The way to work is blocked so I had time to catch Mettaton's show on my phone. The special effects were amazing today! That human almost looked REAL! of course, an experienced viewer like me knows CGI when they see it." He snickered, Frisk was caught from the corner of his eyes. " Wow, they already made costumes for kids? Those are pretty good, but it might cause some disturbance... Then again, it is fairly fake lookin'." He stroked his scaled emerald chin, Sans rolling his pupils over.

Frisk took their time to peek over the black smoke like monster in jeans and a white shirt much like Sans'. They skillfully pressed some buttons to look at videos while the other whisking hand held some dark black coffee. Frisk thought they may have been related to Grillby in some way as they watched him, not recalling if they saw them at the top of the hill or not since it was fairly dark. The darkened cloud of a monster sensed someone behind his shoulders without moving his sunglasses. " Heh, interested in what I'm watching huh? It's easy, it's Mettaton."

" know anything about 'em?" Sans asked.

The smoke grinned... If it could, " Heeeya Sansy boy, how's my cousin doin'?"

" ah ya know, hot-headed as usual."

Te black smog chuckled, " Anyway, Mettaton? Yeah, he's the most popular star in the underground! His fan club probably has at least two-no, THREE dozen members! And that's not even counting me!"

" hmm, that is fairly impressive." Sans admit as he said his goodbyes, continuing on with Frisk into a metallic clearing upwards from a wall. Once inside Sans scoffed, " impressively dumb."

" Sans? How come you don't like Mettaton?"

" heh... easy kiddo. he's narcissistic, pompous, and full of 'em self. yeah he might be a robot, but alph built him. she should get a lil' bit more respect. and well... paps really likes him and buys his shit so he can become popular and have friends. but popularity doesn't mean a guaranteed for friends." He frowned a tad. " people who follow ya just because your popular normally don't have the best intentions of you, and instead it's just full on empty friendship. i.. i want paps to have friends. real ones to stay by his side... i just want him to be happy for real..."

Frisk patted the sapphired sweater, " You're a good monster Sans Wingdings."

' UPDATE - wonder if it would be unfun if i explained the puzzle...' Sans sighed internally as he clutched the phone. Alphys knew the human had to get through right? Why not just give them the solution instead of calling every now and then. Yes, Sans liked slow, but this was a bit tedious considering Alphys could easily contact them and tell them how to solve certain things that weren't so obvious. " Shoot ship, move boxes." Frisk read out before noticing yet another monster in shades. This one being the head of what seemed to be a fox without any of the white markings. It bobbed up and down. " The door leading through the area is closed? So I tried the puzzle? But I kept running out of ammo, and it kept restarting? And my two co-workers won't help? It's like they don't even wanna' go to work? Why don't you try. Try using the console?" Sans watched the small human pat the fox and grab hold of some type of handle you'd see at an arcade game to steer virtual vehicles. Once move, boxes nearby in a large container shifted about until the target was seen in clear view. Frisk pushed down a small button, making a bullet of magic shoot out from the wall and crack the target in half.

" wow..." Sans blinked a bit, admiring the way they figured it out so easily.

The fox behind the child bounced up even higher, almost making it's shades fling off its fuzzy snout, " Wow?! You solved it?! I'm impressed?! You must be a total nerd?!"

On the way out, Frisk pointed to the phone, making Sans chuckle and explain the situation over the line, wanting to hear the other two's reactions.

" OH NO! THE PUZZLES REACTIVATING... CAUSED THOSE PEOPLE TO MISS THEIR WORK?"

Sans smirked and chuckled, making Frisk cover up their mouth from their own laughter. " yep. that's why i'm missing work too."

" OH MY GOD! SANS GO DO YOUR JOB-WAIT AREN'T YOU HELPING THE HUMAN THOUGH?"

" tch, you 'kid'din' me? course i'm helping 'em."

" UGH... WHATEVER... I'M JUST GLAD I DON'T LIVE IN HOTLAND."

" me too."

" THEN WHY ARE YOU SKIPPING WORK-OH RIGHT... HELPING THE HUMAN, I FORGOT."

At the opposite island of a strip of land a blue glowing laser soon blocked their way. At this, the skeleton shrugged turned around, only to have the child huff in a small out and grab hold of his sweater without having t turn themselves. The phone rang out, making two trapper monsters behind the blue light cover the sides of their heads, cursing at the obnoxious alarm. " y'ello?"

" Alphys! Here! Th-that blue laser seems totally impassible! B-B-But! As the royal scientist, I h-have some tricks up my sleeve! I'll h-hack into th-the Hotland laser database and take it out!"

Once she hung up, the laser dissipated, a small metal piece now covering over the mechanical bit it shot out from. " she and you, both know i can just teleport right?"
Frisk nudged his elbow, giving a small glare, whispering so Alphys wouldn't overhear the topic, " Just go with it, she needs the confidence."
Sans sighed lightly, shaking his skull, " you are way to kind for your own good kiddo... speaking of which, those two kids are free now." His whitened pupils hovered up to direct Frisk to lay their eyes on two teenage monsters in the same type of uniform Alphys had n one of her comics. One wore a red cap while wriggling purple tentacles drew out from the sides of their face as if acting like hair. The purple one popped some bubble gum as they rocked their one feet back and forth on a skateboard. The other seemed like Grillby, only with a green inferno enveloping her instead. And she clearly had eyes that could be seen far easier than the other frey monsters. " hmm..." Sans quickly called up the other duo at Snowdin, " yo gill-guts, there's two kids loiterin' around here. not sure if their skipping or if it was because of the blue las-"

" Huh? Those kids are skipping school?!" She cut off the small skeleton, gasping out" ... Well, I can't blame them, school sucks!" Sans rolled his pupils, so much for 'Big Bad Fun Police Guard...'. How come she always got onto him about doing stupid shit, but never anyone else? " We need to find some way to make it cooler... Hey, what if I visited their school?! Then I could beat up ALL the teachers! Okay, maybe I wouldn't beat up a teacher..."

Sans just hung up the phone then and there, as Frisk grinned watching him, " ... i can't believe that lil' lizard kid was right about her." Frisk snorted out a small chuckle.

Frisk and Sans suggested and surprisingly agreed on talking to the two girl monsters after the next puzzle. This puzzle was much like the other one, this time Sans figuring it out, splitting the work which was very unlike him, because he loved doing nothing most of all. Afterwards the exchanged in some small friendly banter with the skateboarder, " We were hanging out when suddenly, a buncha' puzzles reactivated out of nowhere. This is a huge problem... it rules! They've GOTTA' cancel school over this! Wait a second... AUUUUGH, it's summer vacation!" Frisk recalled that the monster's schooldays were a bit different, that being that their summer was a bit off, but once freed, they had settled in quite nicely on The Surface's schooling. Frisk then suddenly recalled that after this... They only had week left as a break and had to go back to school! They were however, grateful that there were only three months before their own summer.

" hey emma, sup?"

" Oh, hiya there uncle Sans. Finally! Someone turned off that laser! Now that we're free we can... Well, uh, I guess we'll just keep standing here. Anyways, how's Grills?"
" pth, i swear, you and your dad are one in the same. grills is doin' fine and besides that, your dads over on the other side."

" Yeah, I heard him kinda yell earlier en we got locked in. Speaking of which... HEY DAD!"

The black smoke of a monster nearby waved to the group, " YO!"

" CAN WE PICK UP SOME GLAMBURGS ON THE WAY HOME LATER?!

" SURE!"

Sans chuckled, as well as Frisk. Sans often remember ding that with his dad, shouting across the labs... He missed those convenient times... While Frisk got to do that with Asgore sometimes when Flowey was irritated and wanted to try The Surface's food... They really longed for those times as well. As the two stood there in thought the green flame spoke up, " Hm? Nice try, but your loitering technique still needs work."

Frisk blinked before noticing she was talking to them and bashfully put their arms behind their back and kicked up the orange dirt below lightly. Sans however scoffed, " oh please... you know, no one can surpass my loitering skill."

The green fame giggled, " I learn from the best. Hear that kid? You hang with uncle Sans over here, you'll be a loitering master too!"

Now that the two puzzles were solved, a large metallic door with iron locks and steel plating opened up for the two down the middle of the puzzle rooms. As they went in, Frisk averted their eyes, Sans was their dunkle... It made them feel special in a way. " Hey uhm... How come she called you uncle?"

" heh, i'm a friend of grillz, so i use to hang out a while when his family visited. so she just started to up and call me uncle one day."

" ... Sans? Do you ever feel like an uncle?"

" hehehe, sometimes i guess. you ever feel like your someone's kid?"

Frisk's thoughts dived in as they desperately missed being cradled in Toriel's arms, " Sometimes... You ever felt like a dad before?"

Sans' pupils fade off, remaining silent for a moment or so. He sighed, not enjoying where this was going, " ... depends... you ever feel like you're an actual sibling to someone?" It might have seemed rather rude and harsh, but Sans just didn't want to continue this odd conversation.

After the two remained quiet, a small rumble traveled through Sans' hand, ' update - whatever! i'll just explain it!' The skeleton closed his eyes chucking quietly to himself, thinking the lizard was far to say to actually keep calling them. However Sans fell flat n his ass while Frisk yowled out from the sudden loud ringing of the phone. " Uhhh, I think... umm...hey! About the puzzles on the left and right! They're a bit difficult to explain, but-uhhh, you already s-solved them? O-Oh! A-Awesome!" She hung quite quickly as she looked onto the screen of one the numerous cameras.

Before the two went along another set of cooling steam vent that led to on to another and so on, they decided to call upon the two other monsters to see if they had anything topical. " I HEARD YOU GOT TO MEET METTATON!" Papyrus yipped out with excitement and pep.

" Really? Careful, that dude gives me bad vibes..." Sans sighed silently, he could always count on Undyne to share mutual feelings with certain monsters.

" WH-WHAT? BUT HE'S SO POPULAR..."

" I don't care about people just because they're popular."

" WELL, YOU CAN SAY THAT BECAUSE YOU'RE POPULAR."

" Pssssssht, what?! Popular with WHO?!"

" YOU'RE POPULAR WITH ME!"

" Awwww... Papyrus, you're popular with me too!"

Frisk butted in, adding onto the fish's compliment," I think your popular Papyrus."

" AWW, WOWIE! WAIT... DOES THAT MEAN YOU TWO DON'T CARE ABOUT ME?"

" Let's not discuss this anymore." Undyne said, trying to finish the conversation before it went into uncharted and unwanted territories.

Speaking of uncharted and unwanted territories... Once they rode the ventilation of the cold air, they landed onto some land with tile molded into it. They continued... Only to be consumed b pure darkness. Sans lit his eye ablaze and groaned not seeing anything. This wasn't normal darkness nor advanced... It was magical... Frisk huddled next to the skeleton before the phone rang out. Sans holding it in his hand, answered it from the bright light it shined out from the screen. " H-Hey, it's kind of dark in there, isn't it? Don't worry! I'll hack into the light system and brighten it up!"

" thanks a mill alph-" The lights turned on to reveal a large kitchen set, complete with a fridge, counter, sink, microwave, and oven!

Alphys whined out n the phone. " O-oh no..." Sans hung her up as he witnessed the robotic box slowly rising up from behind the counter.

" OHHHHH YES~! Welcome beauties, to The Underground's Premier Cooking Show!" A large glittering pink logo sparkled to life somehow before them reading off, ' Cooking With a Killer Robot~.

Sans looked around baffled, " how did he even... how long has this kitchen even been here-"

Mettaton, complete with a chef's hat twirled a large wooden spin in a gloved hand, stopping t and wagging it abut, " Pre-heat your ovens, because we've got a very special recipe for you today! We're going to be making... A CAKE~! My lovely assistants here will gather the ingredients! Everyone give them a big, big hand!" He clapped, just as another clap-track played out from presumable his metallic body. However, the confetti that showered upon them still seemed to emerge from nowhere, much like Sans did. " We'll need sugar, milk, and eggs. So go for it sweethearts!" Frisk turned to the skeleton and shrugged. They went to wash their hands-something they picked habit from with Toriel. However they were never to get any water-not even a drink! " This isn't a show about washing your hands darling. That's on Wednesdays!"

Sans watched the small human pout a bit as they rose their lower lip in a whine. So with this... Sans grinned, putting is hand behind Frisk's back to walk along with them. He started to do what he like to refer to as 'dicking around'. He pointed to the oven with a lazy thumb and smile, " hey micro-machine. what o we use to bake cakes again? your brother over here right?"

Mettaton ignored the pestering Sans was trying to do, " MTT-Brand Microwave! Origin of the MTT challenge! Put your food in and set the microwave on high for five minutes... If you can still recognize your meal, we'll double your money back!"

The skeleton scooped out the festering and moldy burnt quiche from the child's bag... Thank god Frisk put it in a bag. Mettaton looked over silently. " ... Wh-What is... 'THAT'?"

" pth, some superior technology you are. kiddo what is this?"

" A old crusty quiche?"

" see even the kid knows. you owe me 1000g."

" Does it look like I print money?"

" welllllll-"

" Don't answer that-we don't use a microwave! Instead-Oh yes! We use ovens! And MTT-Brand Ovens can reach temperatures up to nine-thousand degrees! Roasting! Toasting! Burning! Charring! You're excited aren't you darling? TM " A splinter of a shiver ran down Frisk's spine at the mention of charring... mostly because it had 'Char' in the name... Just needed to add one more A into it...

Sans huffed a bit, " you owe me tin-can... oh yeah, 'watt's' with the electrical currents?" Sans asked, eyeing the blue electrical currents of what could only be referred to as 'death'.

" As culinary standards, a death force-field is placed around the kitchen"

Frisk... Being well... Frisk; a good smart kid instinctively ignored the items on the back counter and instead went to the fridge-again, anther habit. " Milk? Eggs? In the fridge? No way darling! They'd get cold!" The child only had their arm stretched out with a hand on the handle before looking to Mettaton and tilting their head to an almost painful angle to question him... Man, four months on The Surface has really messed them up on this run a bit. Finally the two carried the items from the back counter to the front one where Mettaton awaited. He threw his arms into the air, then back down, his hands clutching one another. " Prefect! Great job beauties-" Sans smiled and bowed down to an unseen audience. The robot grew slightly jealous as an extending arm pushed him away. " We've got all of the ingredients we need to bake the cake!" His finger pointed to each items on the counter. " Milk, eggs, sugar... OH MY! Wait a magnificent moment!" He gasped, bringing his gloved hands to the side of his squared body. " How could I forget?! We're missing the most important ingredient!"

Sans snickered and whispered out enough for Frisk to hear and hold back any laughter, " flour? oh wait, you used it all when you were powdering your screen."
Just then the calming music of the background stopped as Mettaton slowly brought up a chainsaw, making Frisk freeze in place and Sans to go quiet, hiding away his pupils.

" A HUMAN SOUL!" He revved it up as intense music played out. Frisk stood there, too stiff to move from the slow chainsaw grinding in the air, getting closer to them. Sans was about to levitate the tool and fling it into the lava down below but was interrupted, along with the robot as a call rang from his meta body. The chainsaw stopped, as did the music, Mettaton now answering a sudden incoming caller. " Hello? I'm kind of in the middle of something here."

" W-Wait a second!" Sans and Frisk sighed in relief upon hearing Alphy's voice stutter through.

" oh alph, you glorious chubby bitch."

" Couldn't you make a-Wait... Sans! Y-You bastard! I'm not chu-chubby!"

" hey, it was a compliment, and besides..." He clicked with a conjured up tongue hiding behind his teeth, " don't you mean, you magnificent bastard~" He winked as Frisk put a and to their own face. " and besides, undyne likes rounder people."

" W-Wait, she does?"

" EXCUSE ME! But we're in a show! Now we're going to have to bleep out those words!" Mettaton warned out.

" O-Oh r-right-right, the show! Uhm... couldn't you use a...couldn't you make a substitution in the recipe?"

Mettaton then went quiet. " A substitution? You mean, use a different, non-human ingredient? ... Whhhy?"

" Uhh, what if someone's... vegan?"

" ... Vegan...?"

" Uhh, well I mean-"

The lizard was soon cut off by the robotic star as he dropped the chainsaw and threw up his hands. The gaming and cam like music filled the air as he happily announced, " That's a brilliant idea Alphys! actually, I happen to have an option right here! MTT-Brand always-convenient-human-soul-flavor-substitute! A can of which... is just over on that counter!" With one flick of a gloved hand, it gestured over to a can nearby on a small table. Sans blinked a moment, unknown this was an actual product... Maybe there were more things in Hotland and The Capital then there were at his rural home. " what..." Sans still found it odd that a monster had the gull to even create a substitute for a human soul-let alone, us it for cooking! Monsters didn't eat humans!
" Well darlings? Why don't you two go get it?"

As this went on, Frisk's stomach growled out a bit, making them walk to the fridge to see if anything was even in there. Only for Alphys to call up Sans on speaker, " Uhm... is it really a good idea to be getting a snack? Well, I guess I really shouldn't judge you... after all, I'm the one eating potato chips in my PJ's!"
" don't worry alph, they won't judge ya... however i will~."

" Uhhh, I mean... h-hey, go over to the right!" The lizard quickly hung up.

Sans and Frisk started to head towards it, Sans looking to the microwave again. " do you heat it up to pretend the substitute is still warm, you sick-"

" Still fiddling with the microwave darling? Can't blame you for being total enamored with an electronic box." Mettaton blocked out Sans' twisted comment aside.
The short skeleton rolled his white pupils before following along until they reached the can. However... The small table shook, Sans instinctively pulling Frisk away just as the table suddenly grew, going up and up into the 'sky'. Frisk squeaked from the sudden firm hold, but also to the table, they seemed to forget jut how fast it spouted from the ground. Mettaton wheeled his way over, almost chuckling, " By the way, our show runs on a strict schedule. If you can't get the can in the next one minute... We'll just have to go back to the ORIGINAL PLAN! So... better start climbing beauties!" He lowered his body to the floor, folding in the single wheel that kept him up, being replaced with the thrusters, and launching off into the air, gaining a head start.

" crap, i don't think i can levitate you the far and fast kiddo. hmm, can't really teleport to it or we'd fall off- can't blast it down, can't see it and levitate it dow-" The hone suddenly rumbled to life. Frisk took hold of it as Sans pondered to himself, wracking his skull around this.

" Oh no! There's not enough time to climb up! ... F-F-Fortunately, I might have a plan! When I was upgrading your phone, I added a dew... features. You see that huge button that says... 'jetpack'? Watch this!" Sans turned round as Frisk pushed the small button, about to question the lizard, only to bear witness to the phone suddenly floating above Frisk and somehow morphing into a jetpack with twice as many thrusters. The jetpack hovered down onto Frisk's back, belting looping over their shoulders and securely clamping together. On the back of the jetpack, sprung out a length rope with similar belts, which snapped over and onto Sans with a snug fit. " D-Don't worry! I made it out of diamond tether! There! You should have just enough fuel to reach the top! Now, get up there!"

" uhhh, kid, do you know how to fly this thing?"

" Not the slightest, you?"

" nope. i'd say we're boned but you have done this before."

With the power of the jetpack, now twice as strong to help hoist Sans along on the unbreakable rope, Frisk felt like an action hero from an anime, a movie or a kick ass engineer fro a space game. They posed, bringing up their arms in front of them and balling up their tiny fists, " To infinity and beyond!"

All while Sans was dangled behind, swinging around slightly. The small rocking made him comfortable like he was in a hammock, so with this he put up a leg onto his other and tucked his arms behind his skull, slowly closing his eyes for a quick power nap. That was until something smacked right into his face, daring to sink into his eye-socket if his eyes weren't closed. His eyes snapped open as a sticky yolk slid off his skull, " what the-hey kiddo, i think i just came across one chicken little's eggs. although the sky isn't falling but the eggs are!" His attention was pulled upon Frisk desperately avoiding a barrage of eggs being scattered around. His pin point pupils locked onto Mettaton up above, flying a bit higher, carelessly sprinkling the eggs about to slow them down. " oh, what the cluck?" As Frisk dodged ad weaved around the eggs, most of them seemed to be aimed for the skeleton, probably due to the fact Mettaton heard his puns and jokes. " whoa! i didn't realize i was a chick magnet over here!"

Frisk snickered, drawing a smile upon their face, which to Mettaton initiated a challenge. The robot changed up his strategy and threw down clumps of sugar down to them, Frisk hardly managing to avoid the heaps of the substance. Some pelted Sans in the face, making him cough a bit, but still being cheeky to further aggravate the robot. " jeez, you come on to strong metta. the nicknames, the cute darling remarks, and now you're trying to give us some sugar. at least buy us some dinner first." Another giggle slid from the child's throat, making the robot's screen flash red. The robot pulled out is final 'attack', tossing heavy yet still powdery flour all around, which caught Fisk off guard due to there being no gaps to squeeze through like on other runs. However... They had forgotten, they had help in this run. A large bone was conjured before them, and quickly plopped into their hands. " c'mon kiddo, slug that flour!" Frisk honestly couldn't tell if he was joking about slugs and eating up Flowey in that clever remark.

risk gained a confident grin, clutching the bone and swung the wall of flour, creating a powdery veil opening for them to get past. They swung and dodged walls upon walls of the powder, of course Sans getting powdered by the flour in the face after one quick jerky movement. Mettaton stopped his advances and slowed down as Frisk neared the top of the table. " My, my. It seems you've bested me. But only because you had the help of the brilliant Doctor Alphys! Oh, I loath to think what would have happened to you without her! Well, tootles~!" He hovered away, only to come back, " Oh yes! About the substitution... haven't you ever seen a cooking show before? I already baked the cake ahead of time! So forget it~! But you can still have the milk I didn't use. Hey, maybe it'll help your bones so you can become taller, cupcakes." He said before tossing over the unused milk carton, again pelting Sans in the face.

" augh!" Sans rubbed his face from the sudden throw of the carton to him as Mettaton took his leave, the table reverting to its normal false size, and the jetpack's fuel draining, lowering them down to the tile. Once the jetpack clamped off Frisk and Sans, pulling the tether back in and reverting to its normal cell-phone self, Frisk patted Sans' arm to see if he was okay. " i'm fine kiddo. i'm just not use to being 'hit on' so much-oww, why?! why did he throw the carton?!" He dramatically yelled out to get the child to giggle, at which they did.

Just then, the phone rang out, " Wow! We... We did it! We... We really did it! Great job out there team! W-well, uh, anyways, let's keep heading foreword!"

" wait, what about we just come back and you fuel up the jetpack?"

" It can only take you guys short amount, I-I mean it's mostly made t be a phone. And besides that, what if it stops an-and-and you fall into the la-..... lava..."

" okay point taken. c'mon kiddo, let's go freshen up before the heat bakes my face into a cake." Sans walked back to the sink for the two to wash off, but upon walking back, a glimmer of yellow and green sunk into the tile somehow. Sans didn't seem to notice it as much due to the crap o his face, but still got a bad feeling none the less. The two washed themselves off with the help of the sink, dusted off their clothes from the powdered food substances, and letting Frisk pour water into cupped hands to drink from ravenously. " whoa, you gonna' be okay there kiddo?"

Frisk sighed from the water and smile over to him, " Yeah, once we take the elevators and move up away from the lava, I'll start to cool down."
The two walked past the substitute can after Sans tried snatching it to throw at Mettaton later, only to find out it was glued down. He would have read it, to see what kinda crap it was made from, but the attention of the child was more important for the time being.

Sans took Frisk by the hand, walking besides them now, down a long strip of land. Frisk cherished this, feeling like they were being watched over Toriel, while Sans unconsciously held their hand in slight fear of the large structure in the distance. Upon walking further, another twinkle shined out.

~An ominous structure looms in the distance... you're filled with DETERMINATION~

The phone rang out, upon Sans answering it onto speaker, " S-See that building in the distance? That's The Core. The source of all power in The Underground." She was trying to explain to Frisk as Sans remained silent. " It converts geothermal energy into magical electricity, by... uhh, anyways, that's where we're going to go. In the core is an elevator directly to Asgore's castle. And from there..." She trailed off sadly, " You can go home." She hung up, but before they moved on, Sans seemed to be stuck in place as he looked over to the building. Although it was hard to tell what exactly he was staring at for a moment as his eyes were hollowed out. Frisk carefully nudged him, gaining his pupils back, to which he seemed t be looking down to the lava.

"huh? sup kid?"

" You-erm... Nothing." They smiled and went along with him, reaching the end of the strip that led to a large faded magenta cord elevator with an R1 in neon red above the doors. However... That wasn't what drew their attention... What drew the attention the most was a gangling shadow like monster, similar to the fade monster teen at The Waterfalls. This one seemed to be in a janitor attire, hunched over with a clawed hand clutching the side of a black and void shadow of a face. The only thing that truly stuck out from this monster was a wide grin to rival Sans' gleaming from the darkened face, and the free clawed hand grasping what looked to be a cloth with a smile on it, complete with eyeless holes.

The cat like figure's tail swished around, glitching at some point of being from one side and then to the other while jittering about before ending up at its destination. The monster cackled lightly, their creepy laughter slowly building up as they grew closer to the elevator. Sans put Frisk behind himself, at which the small human clutched onto the back of his sweater as they slowly waked forward. Suddenly the feline ceased it's laugh and spoke without looking up to them. It spoke in a distorted, almost muffled like voice, yet still compressible. " Alphys might work faster. But the old Royal Scientist, Doctor W.D. Gaster? One day, he vanished without a trace. They say he shattered across time and space. Hahaha" His chuckle sounded like the one Zack would give out on The Surface or in the past for Sans. " ... How can I say so without fear? I'm holding a piece of him riiiight here." He chuckled to himself, clutching what now the two saw as the monster's own stripped off face, making the child gasp out. Sans turned around swiftly, putting his hands onto the child's shoulders, turning them around to not be a witness to the mutilated monster. He spun around angrily to make the cat leave, only to find them gone.

Frisk peeked out and walked to his side as Sans looked about for the creep. Frisk sighed and decided to lighten up the mood by calling the other monsters, telling them they had made it to the R1 elevator. " THE ELEVATOR SAYS R1. BUT WHAT DOES R1 STAND FOR?"

" C'mon Papyrus. think about it." Undyne chimed in.

" HMMM..."

" It stands for RED 'cause that's the color of the lights!"

"I GUESS THAT MAKES SENSE!"

With a quick snicker of Sans and risk, the two decided to drop the creepy feline that seemed to plague them with nightmares. Before moving on up, Frisk let the short skeleton know that the two taller monsters had a conversation about this with each elevator, which he found hilarious. So they went back to the elevator that the two guards were blocking. Though as Frisk called, Sans couldn't held but feel something was off considering the two muscled guards were now gone. Frisk told the two over phone that this elevator had a bright green sign, saying ' L1'. To which Papyrus asked out, " THE ELEVATOR SAYS L1. BUT WHAT DOES L STAND FOR?"

" C'mon papyrus. think about it." Undyne chimed out again.

" HMMM..."

" It stands for L-evator, duh!"

" IS ELEVATOR REALLY SPELLED THAT WAY?"

Undyn scoffed, " Probably?"

After hanging up and taking the elevator to their real destination Sans chuckled with Frisk, " bless these two monsters." He had forgotten how damn funny they were when together.

Chapter Text

The elevator doors opened up to release them out where they were met with another fire related monster to that of Grillby. He was small and often went onto tell people his false last name, trying to full them, because... Well that's what kids do to try an think their clever and sneaky. The small embered monster looked up to the child and smiled smugly, " Heh, I'm Heats Flamesman. Remember my name!"

" okay, but mine's sans and that's frisk, don't forget ours or i'm tellin' the big g." Heats squeaked at the mention of Grillby, he knew fully well his young nephew liked to toy with people. Upon that, he quickly scampered to take the elevator anywhere else. Frisk looked up to the skeleton who merely grinned and let Frisk talk to the other two on the phone.

" WAIT, UNDYNE. IF THE R STANDS FOR RED... WHAT COLOR DOES THE L STAND FOR?

" Uhhhh..." Undyne drew blanks. " Light green?"

" OH! OF COURSE! WAIT. ISN'T THAT TWO WORDS?"

Sans' grin grew, adding to the fire, " light sea green~."

" THREE DOESN'T FIX THE ISSUE!" His younger brother yelled out, making the small child forget about the heat and their stomach pains. The last meal was the night before, and tea wasn't cutting it for them.

" light sea foam green~."

" AREN'T YOU GOING TO WORK IN THE VERY NEXT ROOM?!"

Afterwards, the two went to the next area where they were greeted by some type of harpy like monster fluttering about in a dress and bow, along with another tiny and happy Vulkin who waddled to Frisk and nuzzled up against them like a cat. " hey buddy, here's another one of my posts. just take a rest kay?" While Sans situated the harpy as he went behind the lone hotdog stand/sentry station, Frisk walked over carrying the small volcano who squirmed into their arms happily, enjoying being pet. Once the harpy snagged her hotdogs, she few over nearby and ate one while her surprisingly clean talons held more. Frisk put the Vulkin down so it could receive it's own hotdog, letting the human chat with the harpy.

" I love hot dogs! Hey... Isn't it weird there's snow on that guy's roof?" The harpy cocked her head to the side before shrugging, " ... Guess he's just too lazy to clean it off."

Frisk let out a small chuckle before arriving to the stand, passing by the joyful moving volcano of lava, now with a hotdog in its crater. " Toasty bun~!" It sung out, prancing nearby to enjoy it's meal... somehow.

The child smiled lightly, putting their arms onto the stand's counter to look over at the short skeleton who was doing much of the same. " what's up? wanna' buy a hot dog? it's only 30g." He smirked, winking lazily to the human who put on their 'angry face'. " whaaaat?" Sans teased. " What's with the huffy-puffy look now? don't you have any money?" Frisk did, and Sans was well aware of that. It just seemed a bit unfair was all... Here, Frisk had to go along with Sans, and yet they needed to pay for his food? They grumbled and shook their head. " yeah, you've gotta' save your money for college and spiders." He chuckled. Suddenly a growling roaring gurgle was let loose, making Sans' normal lazy look open up a bit. " what the-oh crap, did some space whales move in?" He looked about, recalling Zack had told stories about various made up things, one being whales from space, and the horrifying songbird eating a cat monster if they didn't eat their vegetables.

Frisk shyly placed their hands over their belly and looked away. Sans smiled softly before handing them a hotdog, " it's fine kid. here's your 'dog. yeah 'dog. apostrophe-dog. it's short for hot-dog." Frisk smiled brightly and graciously took it, turning around and putting their back up against the stand to side down and enjoy their food. Much like Sans was doing with another hotdog. Soon enough, Frisk poked up from behind the counter. " another h'dog? here you go... whoops, i'm actually out of hot dogs. here, you can have a hot cat instead." Frisk giggled and ate it up, noticing it had small nubs as ears on it. They were fine now, but it was best to take one just in-case... " another dog, coming right up... you really like hot animal, don't you?" They slowly put it into their backpack so they could squint their face, looking back to the cheeky skeleton. " hey, i'm not judging. i'd be out of the job without folks like you."

" Says the one whose constantly judging and more than likely has a crush on someone I know." Frisk said, pretty blatantly as a smirk grew upon their face.

" ... ooh... you're good. also, didn't i tell you not to bring up my other, other job?" Sans asked, moving away from the other topic. How could the kid have known-no... They must mean someone else he likes because in all fairness, they didn't know it was his old dead friend considering they had whined to him about who it was.
" You brought it up." Frisk stuck out their tongue, to which Sans mimicked.

" ya know... you're holding too much... guess i'll just put it on your head." He placed a hotdog onto the child's head. In response, Frisk gave a smug smirk and signaled him to put another one on. At this, Sans' grew a smug grin as well, playing into the little game. " here's another hot dog. it's on the house. well, no. it's on you." Frisk put out their arms and let their hands signal to themselves, accepting more of the challenge. " careful. if you eat too many hot dogs... you'll probably get huge like me." He chuckled out, " huge as in super-popular, i mean. i'm practically a hot-dog tycoon now. here, have fun" This continued as Frisk was able to maintain and balance the entirety of the hotdogs to where Sans could snap a clear shot of the child, crossing their arms, smiling, proud for themselves.

" That alllll~?" Frisk winked to the skeleton who leaned back into his seat.

" ... i'll be 'frank' with you. as much as i like putting hot dogs on your head... thirty is just an excessive number. twenty-nine, now that's fine, but thirty... does it look like my arms can reach that high?"

" ... But you levitated them onto my head-"

" can you even afford all these?"

" U-Uhm..."

" whoops, you don't have enough money. you should get a job. i've heard being a sentry pays well." He winked at the semi-bitter Frisk who moved to grab the phone, only to have the hotdogs jut around until the army of weenies crashed down onto them, covering them in a pile to which they poked their head out and blinked from the sudden calamity. " hehehe, at least you in a hot crowd now~."

Frisk snickered before calling upon the great and mighty Papyrus, " WHAT? MY BROTHER'S ACTUALLY AT HIS STATION?"

Undyne sounded a bit in the distant, but was soon heard stomping over, trampling over anything that dare be in her war path, " WHAT?! I thought he only had three stations!"

" NO, HE HAS... AT LEAST FOUR?"

" Who the hell keeps hiring this guy?! Seriously?!"

Upon Sans wrapping up the stand to leave the Harpy fluttered near Frisk to give out the final thoughts about the strange and 'glorified, hotdog tycoon'. " I love hotdogs! But the hot dog guy is leaving... Even though all of his stuff is still here... Guess he's just too lazy to clean it away."

As they left, Frisk called upon the other two, which Papyrus of course, misinterpreted, " MY BROTHER ISN'T EVEN THERE? WASN'T HE SLACKING OFF BY SELLING HOTDOGS?! NOW HE'S SLACKING OFF FROM SLACKING OFF... TRULY MY BROTHER IS A MASTER. NO FURTHER COMMENT."

Finally the two continued on their way, the phone rumbling, ' update - dinner with the girlfriend ; )' The post was connected with a picture of a cat-girl figure next to bowl of instant ramen noodles. Frisk peered over to inspect the photo. Sans diligently asked, " kid... is she ever gonna' get together with someone? i don't mean to be a snarker-ok well i am, but... i'm kinda' gettin' worried about alph..." He ran a skeletal hand along his skull, " man... maybe not visiting or talking to her, really did mess her up-"

Frisk set their hand onto his other hand, letting him acknowledge and looked down upon them. The small human gave a small gentle smile, " It's not your fault Sans. Nothing is. She'll find someone, trust me." Sans gave a slight smile, only to frown once Frisk carried on. His insecurities of what he had done were gnawing at him at triple the speed...

Suddenly, due to Alphy linking the phone into The Underground's Network, an update post came up, which tickled Sans' interest as he put his hand up to his constant grin, holding back laughter. Frisk, upon hearing this, ran over to see the update of coolskeleton95 posting a photo with the text saying, ' ARE WE POSTING HOT 'PICS'? HERE IS ME AND MY COOL FRIEND!'. The picture was of Papyrus flexing in front of a mirror wearing sunglasses, giant muscular biceps pasted on his arms, and the biceps also wearing sunglasses. The burst of laughter ran through the air, catching the attention of a monster wound up as a body made f string, two stubby feet, and a maniacal grin of a pyromaniac under a ball of flame. Pyrope bounded over!

it giggled and bounced around them both, conjuring up a device to what one would find on an oven to turn up the heat. Frisk jumped over to it, cranking the thermostat, making the Pyrope excited, but also making its head heating the entire area. " Hot, Hot, HOTTER, HOTTER!" It demanded, summoning bombs that bounced about to them, exploding n any type of impact after a few bounces as the two skillfully dodged the exploding fragments. It seemed to want more heat. Again the human cranked it up more, " Feel the heat." It warned as a long piece of burning rope was flung to them, moving side to side with an orange magical glow in the middle. Sans grabbed hold of the now slightly fatigued child and ran through the magical flames, avoiding the harmful rope. Soon enough the room was sweltering as the bounded monster cackled out, " Burn, baby. BURN!" Thankfully, the heat inducing monster calmed it's fireball of a head, letting Frisk recover. "Hahahaha, ya wanna' 'hang' out?" Frisk smiled, about to nod, " Hahahaha, sorry, I'm all TIED UP! Psyche! Owned!"

" rude..."

" No one wants to be MY friend! I'm too spicy to have any friends!"

" you're about to be on thin icy if you don't get outta' here B U C K O". Sans warned dangerously making the hyper monster spring away. " ya okay there kid?" Frisk nodded, wiping a bit of sweat off from their forehead, upon afterwards, Frisk hugged him in return. Shit... This kid was growing onto him more and more... To break down the rough time, the updates kept flowing in, making the two smile of how adorable Papyrus was, and for him to be treasured as a precious cinnamon-bun. ' UPDATE - LOL CoolSkeleton95! ... that's a joke right?'

' THE ONLY JOKE HERE, IS HOW STRONG MY MUSCLES ARE!'

Frisk took hold of the phone and ran their finger to call up the two, at which Sans' interest was peeked. " You think he still has that stuff on~?" Frisk teased the older brother.

" you bet your sweet head of fuzzy locks of hair i do." He gave off a goofy grin before fussing with Frisk's hair with his knuckle-bones, ruffling it up in the process.
As they called, they could clearly hear Undyne about to ask what was up, only to pause and answer with, " Papyrus... why are you wearing those?" Sans held back laughter along with the small human, covering his wall of teeth.

" PAPYRUS? EXCUSE ME? I AM THE VERY COOL ONLINE GUY, COOLSKELETON95!"

" What?! NO! You're Papyrus!"

Papyrus then whispered out... rather loudly that everyone could actually her him, trying t be sneaky. " UNDYNE! SHHH! YOU'RE GOING TO REVEAL MY SECRET ONLINE PERSONA!"

They heard the gruff gilled girl huff out, " FINE THEN! I'm not Undyne! The names... StrongFish91!"

" WHAT?! REALLY?! OH NO! STRONGFISH! PLEASE BRING BACK MY FRIEND UNDYNE!" Papyrus sounded slightly panicked which tugged the two to comment, ' aww' for the easily confused monster.

" Uh ok..."

As the call ended Frisk held onto a smile, " You know... Their like a mini soap-opera or sitcom." They hummed out.

Sans got a good chuckle out f that before slowly realizing... It was kinda true n a way, " ... oh my god, you're right. kid, you have just blown my mind." Sans started out into space to get a friendly rise from the child who laughed out and nudged him playfully, snapping him out of his pretend state of enlightenment.

Upon walking down a lower path, the phone vibrated, but this time it wasn't an update. Instead, it was napstablook22 sending a simple friend request. As the skeleton peeked over at Frisk who gasped out loudly, truly wanting to accept the request-no matter how many runs-they still eagerly accepted it. Unfortunately each time... it already rejected itself. Frisk sighed lightly, hoping this run would have made a difference with the meek ghost. Sans patted their shoulder from the slight disappointment, which Frisk quickly shrugged off, upon finding a slightly burnt and stained apron. To which the two goobers had a say in it. " AN APRON LYING IN HOTLAND? THAT MAKES SENSE."

" Yeah, cooking is defiantly fire-elemental!"

" UNLESS YOU COOK A POPSICLE..."

" Would you really call it, 'cooking' a popsicle?"

" THAT'S WHAT YOU CALLED IT LAST TIME WE, UH..."

" OH MAN! I almost forgot about that! What a mess! It took forever to hose everything off!"

Sans upon remembering, quit vividly what happen with The Popsicle Debacle of True Horror-as he liked to refer to it took the phone away gently not to frighten Frisk. " hey that's right! undyne, you still owe me twenty-five socks after what you did!"

" Uhm... Undyne's not here right now, this is StrongFish91!" She responded nervously before hanging up.

Frisk's eyes slowly made their way up to Sans, in a very puzzled and questioning look. " why not twenty-six?"

" hehehe, let's just say the dryer we have likes to transport my socks to another dimension, stolen by some faun. it's best not to think about it." Frisk's expressions of confusion rose until they threw up their arms and shook their head, not wanting to know anymore about the situation. " that sock had 'sock'-holm syndrome anyways."

The next small area contained a convener belt heading to an electrical fence of sheer blue static. Three large tubes set themselves near the belt with red buttons just begging to b pressed. The phone rang out, " H-Hi! It's Dr. Alphys. This p-puzzle is kinda... um... timing-based. Y-you see those switches over there? Y-You'll have to press all three of them within three seconds. I'll t-try to help you with the rhythm!" The two nodded two each other, unaware the lizard ad hung up n them. The two hopped onto the belt which surprisingly quickened their ace instead of a steady one to push the buttons. They each pressed a button, about to fight over with slapping each other's hand to push the last button, only to be drawn away from it as the phone rang. " Okay! Now press the third one!" She paused as the two looked at the phone, Sans merely raising up a hand with the expression that cold only say, ' really?'. " ..... H-H-Hey! Look like you-only needed to press-two of them!" The static charged field vanished upon their sight.

This seemed like a good time to call the others. " WHAT? YOU HAVE TO SOLVE A PUZZLE ON THE CONVEYORS?"

" Oh MAN, did I ever tell you my conveyor puzzle idea?!"

" WHAT... IS IT?"

" Imagine four basketball hoops on the sides of a conveyor loop. The conveyor keeps speeding up, until you get sick. Then you have to puke in all four hoops in a row!"

" I HATE THIS!"

" You have to time the pukes! Oh yeah! You wanna' hear more of my great ideas?!"

" I'M GONNA' HANG UP NOW!"

The next area however was one-if not THE MOST HATED room of Frisk's choosing. They remember, being all hot and sweaty, even with the cool breeze of the cold steam, having to figure a particular path to get across the small islands of switching vents due to the conveyor belt going down one way. They groaned a bit, tempted to even ask Sans to teleport them over... But they needed to endure it to fill up their Determination. And f course upon entering the area, Alphys sent out, ' UPDATE - that's the last time i try to help with a puzzle lmao'. And soon enough called them , " Uh, H-H-Hey! I'm going to the bathroom, so I'll be MIA for a bit. I'm... I'm sure you can handle this puzzle yourself!" Thus why Frisk ultimately despised this room so much...

Sans noticed how troubled the human looked and called upon the aid of his brother and Undyne. Not to help solve this conundrum, but instead, to give some hope of laughter. " WHAT? HOW'D THIS PUZZLE WORK? UMMM... WHOOPS, I THINK IT'S UNDYNE'S TURN TO TALK!"

" WHAT?! No, I HATE puzzles! Papyrus, YOU do it!"

" WELL, ALPHYS MADE THE PUZZLE RIGHT? YOU SHOULD JUST CALL HER UP... AND SAY IN A HOT VOICE" At which Papyrus gave out a weak sounding voice of a shy girl in anime, " ' ALPHYS... I NEED HELP WITH A-*AUDIBLE WINK* PUZZLE..." This instantly made the two smile, holding back an laughter as Undyne fueled the fire to dare them to let loose.

" OH MY GOD! NO! SHUT UP!"

" FINE! GIVE ME HER NUMBER! I'LL DO THE HOT VOICE!"

" NOOOOOO! THAT'S EVEN WORSE!" Undyne shouted, furiously.

" *AUDIBLE WINK* WAIT, WHOSE NUMBER IS THIS?"

After the obnoxious puzzle which Sans had to use his skull ne quite a bit, the phone buzzed with another 'urgent' update. ' UPDATE - OMG! ppl think mew mew 2 is better than mew mew 1? LOLLLL that's a joke right...?'. Sans face turned into a puzzled one... Did anyone besides Alphys ever watch Mew-Mew Kissy Cutie down here? Or did she somehow get access to The Surface...? Well, with that being tossed aside, Sans met up with Fisk who was patting a small mouse before it scurried back into its hole. Frisk got up with a cheerful smile, reaching out to a shining star of light, looking back onto the mouse's hole near a table of some high-tech brand safe.

~ Knowing the mouse might one day hack the computerized safe and get the cheese... fills you with DETERMINATION~

Upon examining the safe... Frisk and Sans figured out that somehow it was melted inside and some on the outside, thus it being stuck onto the hardy table. " Where are all these tables coming from?" Undyne questioned out to herself along the phone's receiver.

" MAYBE THEY BELONG TO THE MOUSE."

" What would a mouse need a table for?"

" TO PUT CHEESE ON." Papyrus inquired, obviously making the tough woman a bit salty.

" But where's the cheese come from?!"

Sans spoke up to the two, " doesn't it come from milk?"

" OH MY GOD! GET OUT OF THIS CONVERSATION! WAIT... DOES IT COME FROM MILK? THEN... WHERE DOES THE MILK COME FROM?"

Frisk raised a brow to the skeleton, also interested in where the hell milk came from. " Sans... If milk comes from a cow... Where does the milk come from under here?"

" simple. cow-monsters."

" ... Then where does the milk come from the co-"

" i'll explain when your older." Sans quickly cut off the rest of the question with a hollowed nervous look.

' update - omg... DON'T THEY GET IT RUINS MEW MEW'S ENTIRE CHARACTER ARC?!'. Sans rubbed the temple of his skull... Was Alphys even using the restroom? ' update - my mew mew 2 review: mew mew kissy cutie 2 is neither kissy nor cutie. its trash. 0 stars'. As Sans continued watching the nerdy lizard's reaction to a some anime no one truly cared about down in The Underground, a sudden yet familiar tone of voice busted through the air. " Hey! You! Stop!" The two did just that and looked over their shoulders, turning around to be greeted by the bulky and burly royal guard 01 and 02, who had been blocking their way much earlier.

Sans smiled up to the lumbering bunny in armor, " hehehe, how's the weather up there bud?"

The dragon like monster groaned, " ...hot..."

" It's kinda okay-wait d we like even get weather-I mean! Nyagh, never-mind! We've like, received an anonymous tip about a human wearing a striped shirt." The two shorter ones slowly traveled their eyes to each other, remaining silent as best they could, hoping the surfer sounding bunny wouldn't notice to quickly. " They told us they were wandering around Hotland right now... I know, sounds scary, huh?"

" oh, yeah, yeah, sure. absolutely petrifying and all that jazz. don't worry fella's we'll be juuuust fine."

" Like I'm sorry, but, well, just stay chill. We'll bring you someplace safe okay?" Before Sans could try and reassure them, they took a gentle hold onto Frisk's wrist, trailing back the way he came while the dragon guard did the same with Sans. Sans gulped silently, his pupils darting over to Frisk, unsure what to do or say. Should he teleport? We're they 'TRULY' safe? Was this meant to happen? After a few paces away from their original stopping point to the two smaller ones, the rabbit acknowledge the dragon stopping.

"..." He leaned his bulky shoulders over to the other, placing an armored hand over to whisper.

" Huh? What is it bro? The shirt they're wearing? ... Like, what about it?" The bunny tilted his head, making the metal clink together as he narrowed his eyes from under the helmet. " Bro... Are you thinkin'... What I'm thinkin'?" The other nodded. " Bummer." He let go of the child, as the other did with Sans. " This is like... mega embarrassing. We like actually totally have to kill you and stuff."

Sans threw his hands up in self-defense-... or rather, acting weak, " whoa, hey, what'd i do big guys?"

The dragon snarled out a bit of black smoke from its mask, pointing to the shorter monster, towering above him. " ...Traitor."

" ...can't we let bygones be dragones?"

" Like, team-attack!" The two heavily armored guards each took out long sharpened blades that could easily slice a piece of fruit in half without even trying. Both stood side by side until the dragon leapt right over the smaller ones, making it to the other side, swinging his blade into the air with the rabbit who stayed behind. The blades from the two swords, shot out metallic stars, whisking by the two, making them both put each other's back to one another and weave into the opposite direction to avoid any damage. As the two guards readied another strike, charging up their magically infused weapons, Frisk dashed over to the dragon monster and grabbed hold of the apron they had tied around their waist from earlier on. They then started to furiously wipe of wet mud that was caked onto the guard's chest armor to reduce down the arid temperature.

As Sans witnessed this, he teleported right before the large intimidating rabbit monster, making him bounce back slightly ajar. Sans quickly separated himself from his wondrous sweater and tried to clean the rabbit's armor... Only to slide right off from it being so well polished. " Like, hands off the merch!" The rabbit made a signal that was to be known as the, 'away with you' or , 'shoo pest'.

However for the other large towering monster heaved and huffed a bit, his metallic armor starting to heat up from the lava far below. The metal was soon conducting the heat inside it, threatening the soft underbelly o the monster. " Getting... Warmer..." The large guard panted out, " Can't...take it... armor... to... HOT!" He yelled out, making the other two monster nearby stop and look over to the troubled dragon. The dragon snarled and pierced his blade into the ground, so his now freed hands could tear of the chest plate. The plate snapped off as he threw it onto the ground, making the land have a new but small indent in it. " Ahhh... Much better." He sighed in relief, hunching over for a forked tongue to lull out.

Frisk smiled, " Niiice." They really wished they had sunglasses on for the moment. While the other two seemed rather bothered. Sans not so much, just more of, overly intimidated. He had seen Undyne's manly girl pecs, but this guy was on a whole other spectrum. Meanwhile, the rabbit monster fidgeted around nervously, trying not t stare over to the dragon. Frisk giggled and patted their small hands onto the soft underbelly, playing the muscular chest as a bongo.

Sans' eyes side to the monster he was 'fighting' and smirked deviously. He scooted over, jumping up to wrap his arm around the rabbit's armored up neck, forcing the shaken up monster to hunch over to Sans' level of height. " pst, hey buddy... you should be honest with your feelings and tell 'em wassup."

" O-Oh jeez-oh! Oh man! I-I don't know-"

" look at 'em~." Sans winked, reaching his arm out for the rabbit to view to the dragon who was up straight now, swinging around his attacks abut quite messily, missing the child completely. " look at those abs."

" B-But what if-"

Sans suddenly took hold of the rabbit's helmet, his skeletal hands n each side so both of their eyes could meet. " dude. i understand. i've been like this before. if you never gain the courage to speak your heart, you may never get another chance. i mean he issss up against a human right? humans are dangerous right? take the chance while you still can. if you don't express your true feelings-..." Sans didn't even notice he was starting to choke up slightly as tears formed in his now hollowed out eyes. "you'll never get another chance and live your life full of regret... don't end up like me... be better than me." The muscular rabbit's ears tilted down, touched emotionally at how... Pathetic the skeleton looked for the sudden moment. He sniffled and nodded, before leaving the skeleton's side. He bounced over to the dragon who was still not hitting Frisk in the slightest.

" B-Bro! I-I... D-Dude... I can't... I can't take this anymore! not like this! like 02! I like... I like, LIKE you bro! The way you fight... The way you talk... I love doing team attacks with you. I love standing here with you, bouncing, and waving our weapons in sync..."

The dragon at the moment had his blade above his head about to strike down but paused. " 01...?