Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sans was never much of a fighter. Even when he has fragmented memories of fighting in the genocide run in his dreams, he wasn’t giving it his all. He was never really a fan of fighting anyways. If he can’t fight for others, what makes you think he’s capable of fighting for himself?

It’s been a few months by now since they reached the surface in this timeline. Being together with all his friends, seeing them happy, it brings him peace. Or at least it was. At least it did…

But lately, it seems like all those old negative thoughts have begun to resurface again. And no matter how hard he tries to move on, he just can’t. Seemingly the burden of so much knowledge is weighing him down too much. He wants to tell others, he wants to relieve the pain. But he can’t. He can’t do that to them, no one deserves to carry such a burden on their shoulders like him. So for their sake and happiness, he’ll take the sacrifice.

Part of him is thankful that the memories of previous timelines are nothing but a blur. A bunch of scattered puzzle pieces, but another part of him is furious. Why was he aware of so much? Why does he even have to remember anything at all? Why couldn’t he just live in ignorance bliss like the rest?

He thinks about the times when he used to be happy, genuinely happy. Before all the Flowey bullshit, he still had hope, he was still determined, hard working, trying his hardest. He had the sparkle of hope that he’d be able to go home one day…

Right…home, there’s that too.

Sans isn’t even from this world. He and his brother come from a completely different parallel universe. When everything was cracking and falling apart, Sans made the choice to play the hero. He made a sacrifice to help the heroes save the town, save the world. But the consequences were…not pleasant to say the least.
To say he was traumatized from it would be an understatement. But the old sans was never bothered by that. Even when he lost his old life, his old home, his old friends, the old neighbors, his old shop, he still persisted in the hopes of getting it all back.

Maybe all the pain and sacrifices would’ve been worth it if he managed to go back with Papyrus. But that never happened.

For years, he tried to convince himself that maybe it was for the best. Maybe this was what he was destined for. And sometimes, you have no control over your own destiny. Sometimes what you want or your choices just don’t matter.

He remembers how he moved far away into Hometown from the place he grew up, in hopes of cheering Papyrus up. While he had a lot of great memories, papyrus didn’t have much pleasant ones. He had hope that moving far away into such a small town would help Papyrus start anew again, a fresh new beginning. That’s what sans did at least. He opened up a business, moved into a new home, got things settled, began getting along with neighbors, and even making new friends.

He tried really hard to be there for Papyrus, get him to come out the house, he did this all for him after all, but it seems like Sans was too caught up with himself. His life was so average, so calm, he was just…happy. And selfish. He never noticed how neglectful he was to his little brother, who was barely 18 at the time. He was so focused on himself, his shop, the bills, social gatherings, friends, that he failed to realize how truly sad his little brother was. He wasn’t there for him, he wasn’t able to read people well, pick up on clues, he was so naive and too trusting. He was such a horrible older brother. So irresponsible.

Part of him absolutely despises Flowey and the Roaring Knight that caused him to be stuck in such a mess in the first place, but if there’s anything he’s grateful for, it’s that the damn flower and freak of nature taught him how to be more careful, to always be hypervigilant, read people well…to not trust anybody.

Everything was his fault, they moved in at the wrong place at the wrong time. Or again, maybe perhaps it was meant to be.

Over the last 9 years, he’s watched his brother slowly flourish into the skeleton he is today. In the underground, he became more productive, more energetic, more…happier.

Yes, Papyrus was able to move on, adapt to their new situation, but he couldn’t. Sans was so obsessed with the past, with going back, to when times were better, to when he was…happier.

But the second he returned that he can’t get what he wanted, that life doesn’t work like that, that he is not the one in control of the world. Well…

He gave up.

Even when he seeked help for Alphys, who was apparently a scientific genius in this world, to try and fix the machine to go back, it just never worked.

He didn’t particularly give up completely. He was still functional, looking after papyrus, talking to people at the bar, helping others, telling jokes at the hotel, having a small sentry job, doing as much socializing as his batteries could, comforting friends or hanging out. No one could really tell something was wrong with the short skeleton. He accidentally put up a facade for the whole world and they fell for it.

Oh Sans? Yeah he’s Papyrus’s brother, he’s short, lazy, tells puns and jokes, always smiling happily, yep the older irresponsible brother that’s him. He has no goals or aspirations in life at all, he just wants to sit there or nap all day, laugh all day.

Yeah, that’s who Sans is…

Of course, very, but very few know the deeper truth about him, as much as he wishes they didn’t, as much as he wishes to lie and hide it.

For starters there’s Alphys, he tried his best to keep as ambiguous as possible, but he had no choice but to tell her a lot of things about himself in order for her to help him out with the machine.

“O-OH MY GOD ALTERNATE UNIVERSE E-EXIST!?!”
“Shhh!! Not so loud...”

He remembers the first time he met her, this other Alphys at least. His memories of the old home are very blurred and faded, probably as much as he remembered resets and timelines.

There are parts of him that sometimes resent Alphys, they spent a lot of their time watching Anime and eating ramen rather than working on the machine, but another part of him is grateful that he made a new close friend. Someone he needed in these trying times. He could’ve gone to Papyrus many times, but he decided to suffer in silence to not hinder his brother’s happiness. It’s one of the few things that keep him going after all.

Of course, he tried to be there for Alphys after the amalgamates happened. He’d bring her dog food for the dog ones, comfort her, comfort the other ones, he’d get slimed but he couldn’t care less. Even if he gave up on himself, gave up on his feelings, hopes, dreams, self care, he couldn’t give up on others quite yet. He had to at least be a little useful in this world. It’s the least he could do. Poor Alphys from this world has been through so much. She has anxiety and depression that could get severe. He failed to save her in some timelines, and she ended up taking her own life. At the very least it wasn’t permanent, he tried hard to make sure it wasn’t permanent. She’s a sweet king soul. Very well meaning, she’s not innocent but she definitely has no ill intentions. If anyone deserves love, care, and help in the world it’s her. Sans’s troubles are nothing compared to hers. He tried really hard to be there for her, make sure she’s well, that she doesn’t try anything that she could regret. But trying to constantly look after others, trying to always help, put them before putting yourself, it gets draining. It gets tiring…

So naturally after the Flowey bullshit, he and Alphys drifted apart for a while. He recalls getting close to her again in a few timelines. Like ones where she’s the queen of he recalls correctly, or him and Alphys being the only ones left besides the others at the shelter in her lab. He vividly remembered this one line she told him right before he left to go fight the human.

“S-s..Sans…!!! Stop! P-p-please don’t go…! It’s…it’s s-suicide!!”

He remembers how he paused at the doorway, the air felt heavy, the silence was loud as it echoed through the lab making everyone hear it. He only spoke two words before disappearing,

“I know.”

He knew. He knew it was suicide to fight the human. He knew there was a 99% chance he’d lose. He knew, but for some reason, he did it anyway. Maybe that’s why he did it. Maybe he just wanted to finally be at peace, go join the others. Or maybe he got a random spark of determination to be the hero again, gained hope that he can control his story again. Maybe he did it out of anger, out of vengeance for the fallen ones, out of respect for those he failed to save. Or maybe it was because he couldn’t afford to not care anymore. He was found with the hopeless situation his life was in, stuck in a time loop of different outcomes. It would all reset away at the end anyways. But, he saw the data, he read it, the timeline…

It was going to end. Everything was all going to stop. There would be no reset, there would be no other timeline, it was all going to end.

Just like how an old home, an anomaly ended the world. At least he thinks so, he can’t remember if there’s anything left, if everyone’s ok, if the hero’s won or not. He knows nothing since falling through the cracks of time and space with Papyrus. He wants to know, he’s worried about them…but.

It’s no use.

But at the very least, he can’t let this world end either, he can’t let another batch of his friends suffer anymore. So he fought, as much as he hated it, as agonizing as it was, he did it. But he failed. He died. He remembers waking up in cold sweat after feeling like his body split into a million atoms, after the sharp pain that struck across his chest.

It was horrible. Death was horrible. Yet at the same time…it was nothing new. Death felt so familiar. Maybe it was because it wasn’t the human’s first time, or maybe it was because of Flowey’s resets. It doesn’t matter to be honest, death felt like, like the peace he always wanted.

 

Maybe…

…

Maybe he should d—

“H-hey Sans…! Is u-uh, everything alright…?”

 

Sans jumped, like he was being snapped out of some trance. He looked over to see the yellow dinosaur with glasses. It’s Alphys. Wait…which one? The scientists one or the teacher one…?

“Y-you uh, kinda left the group for a while there, ajd looked space out. I-I thought you were going to t-take a nap but…th-then I saw you were j-just spacing out f-for quiet a while there…”

Sans looked over to see the other hanging out, after a quick calculation he determined that he was in the parallel universe, on the surface of their “happy ending”. He scratched his head and tried to play it cool,

“Uh yeah, sorry, I’m just a bit bone-tired heheh.”

Well crap, Alphys didn’t really seem to buy it,

“Y-you know, you can tell me anything…r-right?”

He sighed, the least he could do was tell her half of the truth sprinkled with a white lie.

“Well, ok, truth is, I’ve been feeling a little homesick. The surface has been a big reminder of it lately…”

Alphys wanted to say something, but he didn’t let her, “But I’m doing ok! This is my new home now, I just get a bit sad about it sometimes, nothing we can do about it, it’s all good.”

“A-a-are you sure…?”

“Pawsitive.” he said as a dog ran by them.

“Pfft— o-ok, I trust you. Remember, I-I’m here if you—need anything, ok?”

“Sounds good Al.” he said, rubbing her shoulders to reassure her. He put on his smile and winked.

Yep.

H e w a s o k .

Chapter Text

Sans isn’t the fighting type, at least not at all compared to Undyne.

Even back at his old home, Undyne was always loud, protective, she’s always been the real hero of the story.

Undyne would always fight tooth and nail for what was right, she would always serve true justice. Her mind and heart was always in the right place, someone like him envies her hope and determination. To be able to not give up, give it everything you got, fight until the very end. Such passion such energy, it’s no wonder Papyrus gained such strength, he had only the best friend and teacher anyone could ask for.

These people are so helpful, so kind, so useful, so strong, all the things he lacked.

He remembers how the officer one would sometimes stop by his old store, first she’d ask if he had any robberies to report, before buying simple things. She’d compliment on how much of a funny guy he was, a hard working noble man.

She’d also always buy water, and complain a lot about how nothing ever happens in that town. Quite ironic really. She bought chocolates from him, on her way to buy flowers for someone, presumably Alphys, right before she disappeared and went missing the next day.

He knew something was up with that town. But when he snooped around, he found out things he shouldn’t have.

He was just worried. He really cared about these kind honorable people, they don’t deserve anything bad coming their way at all.

He remembers his final moments with the officer fish, he sacrificed his life for hers, he took the last key that was needed to end the world. At least he thinks he did, the world cracked anyway. Whatever they needed the badge for he had no clue, but he had it, it was one of the few things left from his old home.

“You’re a hero man, I promise I’ll help you out! Promise me you won’t give up on us!”

Promises are meant to be broken after all.

He’s absolutely none of those things at all. That Undyne must’ve mistook him for someone else. At least this Undyne, the one who’s in the royal guard, sees him for who he truly is. Especially in a few timelines.

Before all the Flowey resets, Undyne was more patient and kind with Sans, perhaps too much. She was way too kind and patient to someone like him, a lazy man child who just loved to push boundaries.

It was actually Undyne who encouraged Papyrus to push sans into getting a job, any job. They gave him sentry duty in the end. He ended up taking multiple posts, at first Undyne wasn’t pleased with such choice, but sans messed around with his short cuts a lot, enough to get on her nerves and get the message sent across that he can take up multiple jobs, even if he ends up napping in most of them.

Ah yeah, the naps. He feels like Undyne pesters him more about the naps than Papyrus does.

Sans had trouble sleeping a lot the first few years after being sent into a parallel universe. Things were getting better, until Flowey came rolling around. The horrible memories and awareness of previous timelines only ever appeared in his sleep. He genuinely can’t remember the last time he had a normal night's sleep.

He used to wake up screaming, Papyrus would rush in to comfort him, ask him what the nightmare was, he’d always lie or avoid the question all together. He got so tired of being a burden to Papyrus, that at some point he learned how to control himself from waking up in such a scare, or maybe perhaps he grew so used to it.

He also tried to just not sleep at all at times, causing him to take constant naps throughout the day to make up for it. His sleep schedule became such a mess he’s convinced that he doesn’t have one anymore. Not that he needs one anyways.

Maybe he doesn’t deserve to rest easy. Not when he could be doing so much more. Perhaps it was a sign from the universe.

There were definitely some timelines where Undyne comforted him, ones where Papyrus died. She was always there for him, concerned, perhaps a little too overprotective. Part of him felt like she didn’t really actually and truly care about him at all, she was just doing it out of obligation because she cares about Papyrus and he was just Papyrus’s brother.

It always got on his nerves that she was treating him like an active suicide risk. Which is ironic considering that there were other timelines where Undyne fell into deep depression, and it was HE and his brother trying to talk Undyne out of suicide.

Then he also remembered the more unpleasant timelines as well.

Undyne was always hotheaded and blunt, especially about the naps, but there were certain timelines where she’d really go all out to say what’s on her mind.

“The hell where you?? Where were you when Papyrus died??? What the FUCK could you have possibly been doing that was much better that trying to talk him out of trying to confront that murderer!?”

He did not respond. He never responded. He wasn’t a big fan of fights, he’d just disassociate, hoping that this numbing hopeless feeling goes away soon with the next reset.

“Oh let me guess!! I bet you were NAPPING again were you?? Just like always! Your lazy ass sleeping away while your own BROTHER was being murdered.”

please…just stop.

“Lazy!”
“Good for nothing!”
“Weak!”

He also remembers how at some point, he was just sick and tired of being all alone, being the only one to carry the burden of having the knowledge of resets. He thought to himself that maybe he could tell her, Undyne was a hero after all, she’d been kind in some timelines, maybe she’d be forgiving and understanding with him. But it backfired horribly.

Perhaps it was the fact that gaining such knowledge would be like a whiplash. It would be difficult to process all that information on the whim. Maybe she should’ve given her time, but the damage was already done.

“You knew…you knew this whole time?? How many timelines as it been where you stand around and do nothing?! How many times have you just stood there watching?! How many damn times did you let this happen?! Tell me!!! How many fucking times!!?”

please…no more…

“How selfish are you!? How could such a lowlife person like you just sleep it off like nothing?!”

just reset…please…

“The least you could do is sacrifice yourself for them!! For your brother!! Don’t you care?! Do you not love anyone!?”

Maybe she’s right.
They don’t deserve to die. No one deserves to die.

 

Maybe he should be in their place inst—

“Hey man! You doing alright?” Said Undyne as she plopped herself down the couch right next to him, with such force that it caused him to jump in the other seat. She stretched as she wrapped an arm over behind him and positioned herself in a relaxed pose.

“You keep staring at that bottle of pills like they’re poison or something.” She chuckled.

“Ah, yeah, I’m fine.” He responded, although he sounded a bit more melancholy then he would’ve liked. Which caused Undyne to question him further.

She shook him, perhaps a bit too aggressively, and asked, “Come on man! You can tell me, I don’t mind. What’s up with you?”

He once again sighed in defeat. Another half truth and white lie wouldn’t hurt.

“Yeah I’m cool, it’s just…I’m a bit disappointed that I need medicine to help me sleep at night, I used to be an average person yknow…” he said shaking the bottle of prescription sleeping pills.

Papyrus had forced him to see a doctor about his constant nightmares, insomnia, and napping problem on the surface. And behold, the shitty simple solution.

Undyne was going to say something, but he added on to prevent the pity, “but uh, it’s fine yknow, these should help me in no time, that’s what medicine is for after all no? So don’t worry about it” he said in his usual grin and wink.

“Hey dude, look…”
Uh oh, she was going to say what she wanted to say anyways. Of course…
“I’m sorry for all those times I yelled at you in the underground. I never knew you were having sleeping problems. You should’ve told me!! I would’ve totally understood, heck! I would’ve even helped ya out!!”

“Hey listen it’s ok you don’t have to—“

“ANNNND!” She said once again shaking him, “I think you’re pretty tough for working so hard with such little sleep! Just make sure you take care of yourself bone-head!!” She said as she noogied his skull.

After a second, she settled down and spoke softer, “But really dude, I’m here if you need it! Yknow imma great listener!”

“Heh…thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

His mind was not there at all.

Chapter Text

Sans never really loved being a fighter, in fact, he hates it more than ever. He grew an unhealthy hatred for it. Part of him feels like it came out of nowhere, but unfortunately he knows the truth.

He remembers why, at least remembers enough to be aware about it.

It’s that darn god forsaken flower. Sans always hated how clever the flower was, being able to reset exactly to erase all his tracks and even mere existence. He knows there’s a talking yellow flower, he knows it’s up to know good, he knows it has the power to SAVE and RESET, mess with the timeline, he knows that Alphys accidentally created him by injecting determination into the flowers.

He knows that damn bastard has messed with Papyrus more times than he’d like to imagine.

What frustrates him more is that he has no proof. He has no proof of this flower’s actions or even of its existence because that damn son of a gun resets it all back to zero. It was always on his mind.

Nothing stressed him more than trying to hunt down a ghost of time and space. He felt insane, he was going crazy.

Maybe he was. Maybe he was losing it. Maybe there was no flower, maybe all the nightmares and dreams of all his friends and neighbors being killed or manipulated into killing each other was just all made up in his mind. Maybe no one actually tortured his brother and everyone else he cared about. Maybe the old lady behind the door was actually ok in those timelines and…

Wait…

Right.

Maybe he wasn’t losing it. Those timelines actually happen. People actually died, were tortured, forced or manipulated into killing each other. Worse things. Unspeakable things.

Maybe they did happen.

But that doesn’t make him feel any better.

How many times did he try to stop it? Try and fight it, try and keep grip on the last sliver of hope he had left? How many times did he fail to save and protect everyone?

How many times did he…give up?

Too many to count.

Only two things could bring peace to his mind. For one, the fact that there’s a good chance he gave that flower hell. Really showed him a thing or two. The second thing is being reassured that it’s all real.

When he asked the human about it at Grillby’s, part of him was hoping that the human would know about it given their relationship with Saves and Resets. But alas the human knew nothing, or at least refused to tell him. He thinks they tried to tell him but he played it off as Echo Flowers to not raise any suspicion on Sans himself.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel both dread and relief to know the flower was very much real at the end of Frisk’s journey. Of course it was horrible but the relief to know that he wasn’t crazy all along was just…nice.

Sans wasn’t a fan at all how the Flower came up with them to the surface after a few weeks. He was willing to forgive Frisk, the human child, but not that darn flower.

Just looking at it brought too many memories and emotions. That flower did so many things that he hasn’t paid the consequences yet for. But here he was, celebrating the happy ending with them.

He had no choice but to respect Frisk’s wishes, he felt like he had kneeling down to a god. If you think about it, Frisk does have god-like powers. So he has no choice but to obey.

But he can’t help but have a dreadful feeling of death around that flower, but even Spider Lily’s give off such a deadly aura. That feeling of death wasn’t just the feeling of grief, it was also the feeling of being killed, the feeling of…

A feeling of…something…too familiar.

 

Something that, he's been feeling recently.

 

He wonders…in previous timelines.

Has he ever tried to k—

 

“What the— HELL are you doing Smiley trash bag?!” Shouted the flower from the ground

Sans felt like he was drowning, as he gasped for air snapping back into reality.

“Are you trying to kill yourself or something????” He bluntly asked with no shame.

Sans frantically looked around to make sure no one heard that, concerned for a misunderstanding.

“Huh-hgk—?!” Sans grunted in response. Questioning what flower meant before realizing the situation as a sharp pain struck through his hands.

He looked down to see that he was slightly dripping blood all over, he was aggressively gripping into a bunch of roses with thorns in them. He immediately let go upon realization.

“Ah shoot. Would you bee-leaf me if I said I didn’t realize?”

“Are you serious?!” Shouted the flower annoyingly as he went over to him. Sans pulled back as a reaction, so the flower pulled his—petals? Vines? Up in the air in surrender.

“Relax, I’m just gonna heal your dumbass up” he said as he used vines to pull them down and heal them.

“Woah, didn’t know you could do that.” He was definitely surprised.

“Yeah well apparently I can, Toriel has been teaching me and your brother remember?” Said the flower in annoyance.

Really? She has? He cannot recall…ah. He’s right.

“Why?” Is all he could say as so many thoughts rushed through his mind.

“Huh??”

“I mean, why are you helping me?”

“You cannot be serious right now.”

“Nope you’re right, I’m not serious, I’m sans!”

“AUGHH!!” Screamed the flower in annoyance as Sans laughed it off.

“Listen!! I don’t even like you! I should’ve even be here helping you, but I’m doing it for Frisk, and everyone else!” He grumbled.

“Oh is that so?” He replied with a smirk.

The flower then spoke in a softer less arrogant tone, “Look…I’m sorry.”

“What?”

“I owe you an apology. Many of them..”

“For what?”

“Don’t act stupid I know you’re aware of timelines.”

Sans stayed silent. He wasn’t expecting this conversation to be happening right now.

“Listen, I don’t know exactly how much you remember them or not, and I don’t really care about that anymore. I just owe you an apology for everything. And you don’t have to forgive me right away either. I’m just trying to, own up to my actions or whatever.”

“Why are you doing this?” Sans asked, bit more seriously this time.

“Don’t you notice trash bag? This happy ending, it’s permanent now. And I can’t have you going off dusting yourself stupidly like this or you’ll ruin it for everyone!!”

“I wasn’t trying to—“

“Ok yeah maybe not in this timeline! But I’ve seen you do it before!! Just don’t do anything fucking stupid okay!?! If you die in this timeline, I ‘ L L K I L L Y O U.” He threatened before disappearing in the ground immediately before sans could react or say anything.

He looked back at his hands, they were about 99% healed. He could go to Toriel or Paps to heal and rest and say he just accidentally pricked himself since this time it looks more believable then the dripping mess before.

He turned his head over to see the crushed roses.

“Huh…So I HAVE done it in other timelines before.”

Chapter Text

Sans had no choice but to become a fighter. All those sentry jobs just weren't cutting it enough to pay the bills. Which is ironic considering that on the surface, gold is considered as riches.

So while monsters may be thriving enough for retirement, back in the underground, it was a real struggle.

He remembers the very first time he met the king. It was just 2 years after being ripped away from home, sent into another universe.

He was thinking about Asgore. How he finds it funny comparing it to his other counterpart, and the whole dark world stuff.

Sans at some point questioned if he was dreaming for years. Nothing felt real, time was nonexistent. What—

“Excuse me, is everything alright young man?” Asked the goat in a Santa costume.

Yeah embarrassingly enough, he met the king while disassociating in the middle of town during Gyftmas. He managed to get Papyrus all excited about meeting Santa, he apparently ran off somewhere after getting gifts. Asgore must’ve noticed this, which is why he followed up with,

“If you’re looking for your brother, he went home, he said he’d wait for you there.”

“Ah, I see. Thanks Asg- I mean your majest- uh I mean Mr…Santa…guy.”

Asgore laughed as if he were actually Santa Clause, a heavy low yet cheerful laughter that echoed. He patted his shoulders, expecting it to be heavy but he was actually quite gentle.

“Ah, you may call me whatever you find the most comfortable.” He replied

He would like to call him Flower man, but this guy wasn’t the same as the other one.

Sans decided to flee home, hoping that looking after Papyrus would be a good enough excuse. But he was quickly stopped in his tracks.

“Ah, hold on now, you did not answer my question.”

“Huh?” Sans got nervous. He can’t recall what the question was.

“I had asked if everything was alright, young man?” Asgore clarified.

“Oh..! Ah yeah. I’m fine. Thanks for asking, I really gotta go now. Papyrus gets cranky without his bed time stories heheh. Welp, it was nice knowing ya—“

“Say, I’ve never seen you two around these parts before. Nor have I seen you in other areas of the underground. Are you from here by any chance?”

Well crud. The king noticed that two of his subjects aren’t really his.

It’s only been 2 years since they got here in this other parallel world. Sans was really hoping to get away with it, as he’s been settling in, or at least Papyrus has better than him. Barely in his 20s and he’s doing better off than his brother who’s almost 30.

Far from the “young man” he used to be. Asgore is barely a few years older than him, so he finds it odd that he’s addressing him as such. Perhaps it has something to do with the laws of this parallel universe.

“Err…well you see, funny thing is…well…uhh, um well—“

“How about we talk it over with a nice cup of tea over at my place?” Offered the king.

Well that’s embarrassing. Not only did he fumble to come up with a good excuse or at least a shitty lie on the spot, but he was also just invited to have tea over at the king’s castle.

“Does tomorrow sound good?” He added

As much as Sans wanted to decline the offer, he found himself curious. He accepted the invitation, but made himself clear, “ah, how about, next week? No offense I just need some time to uh…mentally prepare myself.”

Asgore just laughed in response, with the same ho ho ho but sounding more like himself this time.

“Ah, whatever you find the most comfortable, I’m willing to accommodate. But there is no need to be nervous. I promise I do not bite hahaha!!”

Sans couldn’t help but awkwardly laugh along with him. It’s comforting yet at the same time this man makes him anxious.

“Ah sounds good then. So uh, next week afternoon…?” He questioned, wanting this interaction to end as soon as possible.

“Sounds like a plan my friend. I shall see you then.”

Sans waved goodbye as he speed walked towards his home. As soon as he closed the door his knees felt weak as he sunk down to the ground, his back against the door. A few seconds later Papyrus rushed over to Sans very excitedly.

“SANS!! SANS!! LOOK WHAT SANTA GOT FOR ME!!” He cheered in joy, “IT’S THE NEW ROBOT ACTION FIGURE I WANTED!!”

Sans was tired, he was so tired and stressed out, but he managed to put up a smile and direct his attention to Papyrus the best he could, “That’s wonderful bro, I’m happy for ya. Is your collection complete now?”

“Almost!! I just need one more!! And of course any future ones to be made NYEH HEH HEHHEHE”

Sans smiled warmly, feeling the comfort of seeing his brother so happy, even if his eyes were tired in a depressed way. “That’s awesome bro, keep being great and you’ll get those for sure.”

“Why of course!!” He said pridefully before calmly adding on “By the way brother, I saw you talking to Santa!! What did he say?! Did he tell you about me!?” Papyrus asked with joyful energy

Ah right, that.

“Oh, right, ah it’s nothing, he was just inviting me over for tea next week, so add that to the calendar of ya will.”

“YOU’RE HAVING TEA WITH SANTA CLAUSE AT HIS PLACE?!”

Oops.
Sans clarified, “Ah no bro, uh Santa was telling me how the King invited me over for tea.”

“THE KING?! Ah I see!! Well what could he possibly need from you??”

“Dunno bro, but something tells me he caught on that we ain’t from here…” sans admitted

“Oh…” Papyrus said, more concerned.

“Don’t worry about it bro, you know how people here always talk about how amazing the king is, besides—“ he said as he started getting up from the floor, walking over to Papyrus to pat him. “—your big bros got this, we’ve gotten this far with no problem after all. Just gotta keep going forward.” He said confidently.

“Very well brother!! In that case, let's find a proper outfit for you!!” He exclaimed dragging his brother

“Aww come on bro, that’s not nessasry…”

“Nonsense Sans! You’re meeting royalty! If you don’t have any outfits we’ll buy some right now!”

Sans sighs in defeat, he could always change out of them when he goes anyways.

-

A week later the day of the meeting arrives. And as planned, Sans changed out of his clothes half way there. When he arrived, he was met with a heavy aura from the golden hallway.

The pillars stood tall and proud, and the checkered pattern of the floor looked like it could infinitely go on forever. As he walked down that hall, he noticed the glass panels making shapes, The Deltarune.

“Heh, was never much of a religious guy…” he told himself nervously. He felt like he stepped into such a sacred place, which definitely doesn’t help calm his nerves down for the meeting he’s about to have.

The one thing that made him question his sanity was the shining light that bled through the windows. Aren’t they trapped underground? Where’s the light coming from? Perhaps it was an illusion from the pillars casting a dark shadow. Regardless of anything, he walked down that hall and went into the next room.

Before entering the throne room, two things happened. Firstly, he kept thinking about how odd it was that the king was unguarded. Not a single person in sight the whole way into the castle. Not even some servants or butlers. He chalked it up to the fact that the king is very humble, and must be strong enough to stand up for himself. There’s also the fact that there’s royal guards all across the underground, so if anything malicious ever comes through, they have to get through them first.

How funny.

Anyways the second thing was that Sans almost walked into the wrong room. He felt the presence of death nearby, and remembered how in this universe, Asgore has murdered humans for their souls. In hope of freeing monsterkind.

He immediately turned around, hoping to not think about it anymore.

He slowly walked into the throne room. The atmosphere of the room immediately alleviated him. He took a good look to examine his surroundings. It was…a very beautiful day oddly enough.

The floor was covered in green, the walls golden, and spots of purple could be spotted throughout the room.

There were the gentle tweets of birds singing, the bright and lively flower pellets blooming. Then of course, the low gentle voice of a man humming a song as he watered the garden.

Sans was hoping that the king would’ve heard, noticed, or at least sense his presence. But he just proceeded to water flowers while humming. It was a solid two minutes before Sans decided to make himself heard.

“Ahem, I hope I’m not interrupting anything…”

“Oh! I apologize, I did not see you.” He laughed as he put his watering can down. “Please, follow me” he said.

Sans wanted to feel reassured, but he got nervous all over again.

“So, tell me young man, what’s your favorite kind of tea?” He said, leading him into a beautiful room that had a simple white table with chairs, already set up with a tea set and snacks. Which honestly put him at ease again.

“Ah, I don’t really mind, whichever you want is fine with me.” He answered

“Ah, very well. How does Golden Flower Tea sound? It is my personal favorite.” He calmly shared.

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good to me.” He smoothly replied.

“Excellent, please, have a seat. I will be right back” said the King with a warm smile before leaving again.

The second he was out of sight, Sans exhaled as if he was holding his breath underwater. Maybe he shouldn’t have changed his clothes after all, he can’t help but feel a bit embarrassed now. He ate his stress away by snacking away at the treats on the table.

Exactly 5 minutes later, Asgore came back with some hot tea. He began to pour some into the cups as he started asking, “Ah, it seems like you really liked the treats, would you like me to refill them?”

“Ehhh, not right now, let’s just get this over with before I explode” He answered honestly. And to tell you the truth, he has no idea how or why he’s being so open with him right now. It’s like the king has casted some sort of spell around his castle that makes it so people are unable to lie. It was honestly kind of terrifying.

“Ahahah, alright then.” He said taking a seat. “There is no reason to be afraid. I do this all the time with my subjects. I really like getting to know all my people.” He said as he took a sip of the tea, and set it back down on the table. “So then, tell me a bit more about yourself if you will.”

Sans hesitated a lot. He wasn’t sure what cards to play. Should he be honest? Should he lie? How much should he tell him? What would be the outcome for each choice made?

“I see you’re still a bit nervous. Let’s see…if I shared something about myself, would that make you feel better? Or perhaps a bit more encouraged?”

“…I. Only if you want. I don’t really mind.” He answered quietly.

“Hm…very well then.” He said confidently.

He couldn’t lie, the king sharing about himself definitely made the meeting a lot more relieving. Asgore began to talk about everything he’s lost, his son, his wife, his old life. All the joy in life. The burden of taking a life away. How much he’s dedicated to helping his people, it’s the least he could do.

It made Sans feel two things, for starters a lot of Asgore’s feelings about himself hit too close to home, but of course, Sans’ struggles are nothing compared to Asgore’s. Which leads to the second part, he felt so bad for this dude.

He can’t tell which Asgore had it worse, which was honestly horrible because this man is nothing but kindhearted and genuine down to the core of his soul. This poor guy deserved nothing bad that ever happened to him.

Asgore wiped a tear away and sniffed before trying to cheer himself up, “Ah, I must apologize, I hope I didn’t overshare. That’s enough about me, please, tell me more about you.”

Well shoot. It’s only fair enough after all. Sans chose to go for the vaguely truthful route, but decided to start it simple.

“Welp. For starters, my name’s Sans, sans the skeleton. I’m almost 30, and I have a little brother who’s barely 21, uh, his name is Papyrus…”

“Oh! I see, I thought your brother was a bit younger but that is alright. He’s a wonderful young man isn’t he?”

Sans couldn't help but smile warmly, “heh, yeah, my bro’s the best.”

“And I see that we are only a few years apart as well, I apologize if I ever made you uncomfortable for calling you a young man,” laughed Asgore.

Sans tried to play it off as well, “Nah it’s cool. I don’t really mind.”

Asgore on the other hand, seemed to get a bit more serious, in a concerning tone, he said “You know, you tend to say that a lot, but something tells me that’s not entirely true, is it? Tell me Sans, what’s really on your mind.”

Sans’ mood immediately dropped again. He’s never been caught before. Man, this guy’s good.

He only learned from the best after all. Of course, Sans knew how to read the room and pick up on clues before, but if anyone helped him master the skill. It was Asgore.

When sans vaguely shared the truth that he and his brother were from a parallel universe ripped away and trapped in here now, and how he seeked doctor Alphys for help, Asgore was there for him.

It was Asgore who provided extra funding for his machine. It was Asgore who provided Sans with some training in magic, it was Asgore who taught him how to dodge. It was Asgore that helped him gain so much skills to the skeleton he is today.

Which in turn helped him be able to train and help Papyrus get stronger, especially after he gained goals and aspirations to join the Royal Guard.

To say Asgore is strong would be an understatement, he’d train and fight with him time and time again even if he hated it. And one day he proved himself worthy. So worthy in fact, that it was Asgore that provided him with just a prestigious high paying job,

The Judge.

“I-I don’t know about this Asgore, What about Undyne? I thought she’d be a good candidate for the position.”

“Yes, Undyne is very strong, she proves herself very worthy.”

“Then? Why me…?”

“Because, while Undyne may be capable of it, she lacks that Judge of Character I’m looking for. Patience and Justice. You sans, have them both. And you’ve proven to be strong enough for the position. Besides, Undyne can stay captain like this.” Explained Asgore.

“I…I don’t know man…”

“Hmm…” he said, as he kneeled down. “You don’t have to take on the job offer. I know it can be quite the responsibility. And you already have a lot on your plate, I simply wanted to provide you with a fair opportunity. I want to do nothing but help my people, different worlds or not, you and your brother are also my subjects.”

Sans hesitated. On one hand he’s right, Sans is in need of the money. And the job doesn’t sound that bad, at least not in the worst case scenario. Asgore has done so much for him already. So the least he could do was this.

“Well…as long as there’s no dress code, I’ll take it.” He said jokingly.

“Sounds like a deal then.” Replied Asgore joyfully.

Oh…oh well then. That was that then. Except things didn’t stay calm for long unfortunately. The Flower came rolling along and really made everything worse.

Few resets in, and Asgore caught on about the phenomenon, and so did Sans as well.

They were having tea one day, when Sans noticed how off Asgore was, especially around Golden Flowers.

“No golden tea today? I thought it was your favorite.”

“Ah well…I thought we could mix it up for a change, you know…?”

“Come on fluffy buns, tell me the truth. You and I both know we can’t lie to each other.”

Asgore chuckles, “Well, seems like I picked the right Judge after all then…”

There was a moment of silence before Asgore told him his odd dreams and memory troubles he’s had, especially surrounding a Golden Flower. How things felt so repeated, like it’s been done before, over and over.

That’s when Sans shared that he’s been experiencing the exact same thing as well.

Asgore added on how he feels the same way whenever a human arrives. It was then and there where Sans knew that it wasn’t a coincidence. Many researches later with Alphys, he came to the conclusion about the power of determination being able to persist death, thanks to being able to manipulate time with SAVE, LOAD, and a RESET.

That’s all he’s ever shared with Asgore however. When he kept finding out more and more, he kept it to himself. Not even Alphys knows anything about Flowey.

Sans had hoped he would be able to do something about it alone. After everything everyone’s done for him, it’s the least he could do. But he failed.

He failed to be a friend, he failed to be the hero, failed to be the judge. Always fighting too late into the game. It’s like he took all that generosity, kindness, and time wasted being trained and threw it on the ground. He’s so selfish and ungrateful.

How could he do such a thing?

…

He doesn’t know why but the thought of vehicles crossed his mind suddenly. Perhaps thinking about this royal Asgore reminded him of the flower man, with his run down truck from the other world.

He remembered how just a few weeks ago, Frisk and Monster Kid were playing together, a little too close to the road. The ball rolled away, and oblivious little MK went to get it, even when Frisk yelled out for them.

Without thinking, Sans short cutted into traffic, grabbed the kid and somehow the ball, and quickly shortcuts out. This caused the driver who almost ran them over to crash nearby. The human angrily got out to fight with them. Thankfully Asgore was there to deescalate the situation.

He remembers how he was praised so much and called a hero.

Heh, yeah. Some hero he is. He couldn’t even save his loved one from genocidal toddlers.

Sans had only a single thought on his mind constantly since that day.

What would’ve happened if he was run over?

Would he immediately die and turn to dust? Would it go flying everywhere? Would he be hit and THEN die and turn to dust? Would his bones shatter and then he dies?

 

He was genuinely so curious.

 

He wonders…maybe he can find o—

“Careful there my friend! You are standing too close to the road there!” Exclaimed Asgore as he put a hand on his shoulder. Although sans could barely hear a word he said due to the roaring sounds of traffic from the cars and trucks passing by.

“O-oh..! My bad. Uh…” he said awkwardly, stepping away from the road.

“Is everything alright? You seemed a bit spaced out lately.” Questioned Asgore.

“Yeah I’m fine!” He said causally.

But not even Asgore would fall for that.

“You know my friend, you and I cannot lie to each other. Tell me, what’s on your mind?” He said with concern in his voice.

He can’t tell him…he just can’t. And he wouldn’t be able to lie his way out of this one either. Maybe…just maybe saying half the truth would be enough.

“I’m just…tired. I’ve been so tired lately.” He said, with defiant tiredness in his voice and eyes, his smile a little wobbly.

“Oh my, is your medication not working?”

“You and me both know it’s not *that* kind of tired…”

“Ah…I see.” He said before pausing for a few seconds.

“Would you like to come over for some tea? That always helps you out, does it not?” He offered.

“…yeah, sure. Why not” he said in a more cheerful tone, despite how fake it was.

 

See, here’s the thing about Asgore;
He’s not as good of a reader as he may think he is.

 

“Wonderful! How does the golden flower one sound?”

“Sure, I don’t mind.”

He minded very much.

 

He always hated tea.

Chapter Text

Sans…wishes he was a fighter. He wants to fight for things. For his friends, his family, his loved ones…for…Tori.

He wants to fight for his love of Toriel.

Tori…oh Toriel. Where can he even begin? So many memories. So many emotions, so many thoughts…

 

For years, Sans had tried so hard not to ever think about her, yet at the same time he couldn’t help it. He thinks of her all the time. Nearly 24/7. There was a good period of time where he thought that she straight up didn't exist in this parallel universe, or had at least died based on the grief of King Asgore. There was no sign of her at all anywhere.

He really had it good back at home, his old life. He was an idiot for taking it for granted. Sure, it was awkward and very complicated due to the fact that she was a divorced mother, but hey, she was single. It’s only fair game.

There’s many things that’s made him miserable over the last few years. Aside from the sheer fact that he lost his entire life, it’s the little things about it that made him the most upset. For example, the stars,

and the rain.

There’s no rain in the underground. There’s no drizzles, no storms, no snow. There are no clouds, no clear blue skies, no sunshine, no starry night skies, no moonlights. Nothing. There’s nothing but rocks and whatever pathetic imitation there is in Snowdin and Waterfall.

Sans used to love the rain…he loved the stars. He loved all the clouds, the beautiful colors the skies offered all the time. He misses them. He missed them so much. Part of him always worked so hard to help these poor monsters out of the underground, to experience the joy and delight of nature on the surface.

After he gave up trying to go home, it was his next goal, the last hope to keep going towards life. But even then, he lost the appeal of it. He was slowly forgetting how it was. How it felt to look at real snow, how it felt to feel the droplets of real rain hit and run down his skull, he missed seeing the real stars sparkle and shine across the dark painted sky above him. Infinitely. The sky could go on forever.

He missed the feeling of peace, and relief he felt, when he would be there during each experience. A feeling that’s been so long since he felt, he’s forgotten how it genuinely feels.

The only reason why he even remembers rain at all is not because of the reminder of Waterfall, it’s because he was reminded of Toriel all the time.

Ms. Toriel and him were somewhat close friends before, she’d shop at his store often, finding it closer to home and therefore more convenient, they would chat, share jokes, have some small talk. Life was great. But it got even better one rainy night.

The day it rained.

He will never forget that day. No matter how much the cosmic horrors of the universes mess with his head, no matter how hard he tries to forget about it. He remembers that day as clear as the cleanest water you can think of. He remembers *her* like it was just yesterday.

Sans decided to not open up that day. Last night was odd, he had a feeling that something was going on in that town. He even woke up disturbed. When he left the house to open up for the day, he heard rumors about officer Undyne disappearing.

After messing around with the local teenagers for fun, he ultimately decided to keep it closed. So he was closed all day. He did it so he could have some time for himself and the shop. Clean around, restock, do inventory, check for any bills, make calculations and accounting. He chose a perfect day to do it as well, it started raining in the afternoon, and really rained down hard hours later. So no one was really out at all. It sounded like it was going to rain all day and possibly well into the night as well.

Which sucks because as much as he would’ve loved to go out and play in the rain a little, he had adult responsibilities to do. Besides, being by yourself can get a little lonely, he hasn’t been able to meet anyone who’s ever loved the rain as much as he does.

He actually got about half of the things he had planned to to get done. Partly because he slacked off a little, and because he decided to do a little investigation about the town, and the rumors he’s been hearing. But the other reason was because something unexpected happened later that day.

He doesn’t remember what time it was exactly, but it was definitely many hours before midnight, when he heard a knock on the door.

That’s odd, he could’ve sworn that the closed sigh was up after he was messing around with those teenagers.

He thought that it was maybe said teenagers messing with his back. He wouldn’t be surprised getting some ding dong ditch or prank calls. However, he heard the knocking again, this time more desperate.

He walked over to open the door, it was Ms. Toriel.

“Oh! Heya, can I help you?”

“Oh I’m terribly sorry! You see, last night, someone slashed my tires, but since I didn’t hear back from the officer, I assumed everything was safe, so I chose to go to church by foot for a choir practice in the rain, but I’m afraid it started raining a little too hard for my liking.” She began to frantically explain while looking around “Are you closed today? I did not know, I apologize. I can just walk to church if that’s the case.”

A small part of him wanted to tell her “yeah I’m sorry, I'll be open tomorrow. Good luck at church” because he needed to focus on his store responsibilities and the side research, it was stressing him out but he couldn’t. Something else stressed him out even more.

First of all, that would be rude. The poor lady is cold and soaking wet, having fur must not be nice in the rain. Secondly, there was the fact about her slashed tires, and the officer. She must have not heard about the rumors.

If she didn’t hear back from Officer Undyne, then she definitely went missing, which is alarming for someone like Undyne of all people to just disappear like that. And the fact that her tires were slashed is even more concerning, that means someone’s targeting her, she’s potentially in danger and she doesn’t even know it. So out of genuine concern, he let her in.

“Uh yeah I’m closed but you can come in and chill! I don’t mind at all. Please, come in.” He insisted.

“Ah, very well then, if you insist!” She said with relief stepping out of the rain. A huge puddle formed underneath her. “Oh! I’m very sorry for the mess”

Sans just laughed it off as he went to get the mop.

“Ah don’t worry, you ain’t raining on my parade. I mean water you know I was in the middle of cleaning anyways! Ahahahaha”

She couldn’t help but laugh. Oh that laughter of hers. It was like music in his ears.

A few jokes later, she actually helped around his store, however he felt bad so he decided to “take a break” despite taking it easy all day.

During that time, they actually took the time to really get to know each other even more than before. He really got closer with her. Deep conversations, jokes, small talk. It was amazing.

He really got to know her a lot better. He noticed how upset she seemed, despite trying to hide it. She ended up opening up to him a lot about her recent stress and worries she had. He remembers how she wanted to derail the conversation away from her worries.

“My, you must’ve worked hard all day. Is that why you closed for the day?”

“Haha yep. Although I won’t lie I was slacking off a bit today haha. Ironically enough the rain distracted me.”

“Oh? How come.”

Even though she hates the rain, he decided to take the opportunity to finally get out there and show her.

“You see.” He said, opening the door, “I actually really love the rain!” He explained as he stepped outside.

“O-oh really? Why’s tha—Ah—Mr. Sans! Aren’t you going to get soaked??”

He remembers how he stepped out, and let himself slowly embrace the droplets falling down. Feeling the cold prickles bounce off him or drip down his skull. Closing his eyes for a moment. Nothing but silence and the sound of rain, the smell of rain. It was more relaxing than a shower. Taking deep breaths. Like time wasn’t moving at all. The dark atmosphere was so comforting, like being wrapped in a blanket. Peace.

This was peace.

He extended an arm out, and turned to look around at the lady. “Yknow, sometimes you just gotta let the rain wash all your worries away, even if it’s temporary, it’s the small moments that really count in life. That really helps you look forward to a better tomorrow.” He said with a warm smile. “That. That’s why I love the rain.”

The lady looked hesitant. He wasn’t really expecting anything, but to his surprise, she slowly stepped outside to take his hand. He was a little taken aback, and didn’t know what to do. So he just let her take the lead.

“Is that so?” She said calmly, looking up at the sky.

He looked up as well, however his eyes were probably way too focused on her instead of the rain. “…Ehehe..yeah…I always loved the rain, ever since I could remember. My parents would always buy me rain boots, rain coats, and umbrellas. They would get mad when I wore none of it then wake up sick the next day hahaha! I couldn’t help it, I loved playing in the rain, jumping in puddles, and da…” he said slowly trailing off as his movements began to shift along with hers.

“And…dancing? Have you ever…danced, in the rain?”

Oh boy.

He remembers feeling his nonexistent heart jumping out his ribcage. He could feel his cheek bones getting warm despite getting hit with the cold rain. “Yeah…I would, dance…I danced in the rain a lot…” he spoke out gently, as his body rocked back and forth ever so slowly with her.

She smiled, it was probably her usual genuine happy smile, but for him, it was the most star struck smile he’s ever laid his eyesights upon.

She spoke in her beautiful voice, “I understand now. How wonderful it feels, the…the peace.”

She understands.
Finally, he’s finally found the first person ever in his life who understood his love of rain.

“May I, have this dance?” He asked like an absolute idiot.

She just laughed softly, “Well, water you think we’re doing right now silly! Don’t get cold feet now.”

He couldn’t help but laugh back. They probably danced for a solid 3 minutes before the rain started calming down.

“Oh! The rain is letting down now..” she said letting go.

“Ah yeah, bummer haha…”

“I should go dry up, perhaps I could still make it in time…”

Part of him didn’t want her to go. He had a bad feeling about something, but maybe that was just a selfish excuse for her to stay with him.

Something however was on his mind, that he had to ask. “Say…how come you changed your mind about the rain? I thought you hated it, the whole reason why you were here in the first place no?”

She looks around in embarrassment and laughs, “Well, I suppose your declaration of love for rain has won me over.” She relied

The way she worded it caught him off guard, “Hnnnnnngh…” which only made her laugh even more.

“Well in any case, it’s too darn bad the party is over.” He said walking them both back in his store.

“Well…I suppose. It is getting late…maybe I could cancel choir practice and…”

Sans didn’t want to say anything, as much as he wanted to influence her, it’s best to let things happen naturally.

“Perhaps we could keep having a nice dance over at my place? Maybe a drink as well? What do you say?” She asked hesitantly.

Holy shit.

“Ah well— it’s whatever you want of course. No pressure or anything…”

She looked unsure of herself. She looked like she had asked the wrong question, so he wanted to reassure her.

“But of course I think that would sound lovely if you choose to…I’m just glad you feel better after all.”

She smiled in relief. “Very well then. Give me a second. I shall make a few phone calls.”

“Sounds good. I’ll clean up to really close up for the night in the meantime” he said calmly

And that they both did. As soon as they were done, they headed out, but as sans looked back, he saw his house and quickly stopped in his tracks.

“What’s the matter my friend?”

Papyrus.

“Ah, just one sec, I should check on my little brother real quick, you can wait here!” He said jogging over to his house next door.

As he was leaving he overheard Toriel frantically remembering and worrying about her kid, Kris.

He unlocked the door and yelled out for his brother, he barely got a small response. His brotherly instincts wanted to stay and check up on him, but damn when will he have another opportunity like this again?

Maybe he was being too selfish and neglectful.

 

Maybe he doesn’t deserve love. Maybe he had it coming. He was so irresponsible and ungrateful and he payed the consequences for it. Maybe he deserved to be ripped away from his entire home life.

 

Maybe…

“Who is there?”

 

That voice.

 

There’s no way…

 

That voice. It can’t be—could it? Is she…

He needs to calm down. Focus on where he is. Retrace his steps. Ok what happened?

He was at the ruins door, telling knock knock jokes. It’s been 8 years since he’s been underground in this parallel world. One year before Flowey & Frisk.

For the past few weeks, he’s been roaming around the underground, remembering and examining every inch of it. Even if he was supposed to be working, he couldn’t help it. He was hoping that taking regular walks would save him from going insane being stuck in the same small space.

He does this often on his sentry shifts, especially the one in Snowdin where it’s less populated and he gets checked up on less frequently. He came across a large door on one of his explorations.

It was very funny actually. All he had to do was keep walking forward down the road from his sentry station. He doesn’t know why he never did it sooner.

It was a large purple door with a delta rune symbol on it.

“Heh, man. Even in this world you haunt me, huh?”

So, this must be the rumored door that leads to the Ruins. It explains a lot now. It was very difficult for sans to get the specific position in Snowdin, it’s basically the first person in line when it comes to facing a human. They are known to always come through the ruins. But a quick vouch from Asgore got him the job.

Even though he works as the royal Judge, due to their agreement that Sans wanted it to be kept anonymous, he still needs to keep the other jobs in order to pretend that he’s an average citizen contributing to society.

Ever since he found the door, it’s become his new favorite hang out spot. Deep in the forest, where it’s all nice and quiet. The tranquility definitely gave him some peace of mind from the dreadful situation he was in for the last 8 years.

He remembers knocking on the door out of curiosity. When he got no response, he came up with the idea that that place should become his new knock knock joke place to practice. His small part time gig at the Mettaton resort doing stand up comedy needed some new material.

He went there every time he had the shift. Which would be about 3 times a week. He was there knocking them away for about 3 weeks.

 

Until one day, he got a response.

“Knock knock.”

“Who is there?”

Ah, so that’s what happened. Someone responded to the knock of the door. And it just so happened to sound just like…

Like…

No. He must I’ve misheard.
Maybe if he goes on with the joke, he can hear the voice again for clarification.

“…dishes.” He said smoothly despite how absolutely panicked he was in that moment.

“Dishes who?”

Shit.

There’s no doubt about it. That voice…it belongs to none other than Toriel.

So there IS a Toriel in this world after all.

All those years he spent waking up, dreading the loneliness of having no one by his side, no one to love or care for besides his brother, all this time…

And she was RIGHT there, just a small walk away from his post.

Heh. There’s no way. This has got to be some sick joke. The universe loved screwing with him after all. Heh.

Heh heh…

Heh heh heh.

“Dishes a really bad joke…”

Sans didn’t know what he was expecting, but when he heard her laughter, it struck him like a knife stab.

He was hit with a mixed vomit of emotions, memories, and feelings all at once.

So many repressed memories and feelings surfaced back up like a plumbing pipe that exploded.

It was then, that all the memories he made with the other Toriel flashed through his mind. For a second he thought he was dying, they say life flashes before your eyes before death.

Along with her memories came along all the memories of the surface. Of nature.

Of the rain.

That night it was raining. The place where it rained.

Ever since then he’s been absolutely unable to un-associate the two. Whenever he thinks of rain, he thinks of her. Whatever he thinks about her, he remembers the rain.

It became so painful for him, too painful. He avoided that specific part of Waterfall like the plague because of it.

No matter how hard he tried to forget either, he’d always remember. It was always there on the back of his mind.

There’s a second thing he noticed and picked up on hearing her laughter. Her laugh, it wasn’t exactly like the other Toriel. This one was more broken.

She laughed, laughed, and laughed like it was the funniest joke she’s heard in years. The kind of laughter that shattered a broken person who was in a very dark place for the longest of time. Perhaps too long. It made him wonder,

what the hell could’ve happened to this Tori?

Then he remembered about King Asgore.

He lost his son, and adopted human child. He killed 6 children so far. Asgore lost his wife.

His ex wife was in the ruins.
The humans are known to go through the ruins.
So not only did she lost 2
Children, but 6 more as well
Ah…
He understands now.

It’s funny, because for the next year she’d eventually tell him everything, at least vaguely enough. But with that one single laughter that she gave out, he already knew absolutely everything about her. At least almost. Of course this Toriel was not the same as the other one.

That didn’t really matter to him at first. He reconnected, made new bonds again.
Fell inlove with her all over again.

Looking back at it, he realized now more than ever how important they were for each other.

Two lonely people at their absolute lowest, finding comfort and company with each other. Soothing each other’s pain.

He’d go there everyday, same time as always, sometimes spend all day there on occasions. Papyrus caught on eventually, but he actually let it slide because he was closer guarding the door where humans are rumored to come from. After discovering such a place, Papyrus set up some bars, although he made them too wide for anyone to go through.

He was in denial about it a lot, but Papyrus told him how much she’s changed in the last few months. He didn’t notice until he found himself cooking a pie when Toriel shared a recipe over to him. He couldn’t tell if he was nervous or just sucks at baking but it ended up as a quiche, he put it under a bench out of shame.

Sans knew so much about her, and yet she knew nothing. He never even noticed how they never shared each other's names. He missed her so much he assumed that she knew everything about him.

But that Toriel is not the same. It was hell trying to keep absolutely everything hidden from her. She knew of his sorrow but he could never tell her. How could he tell her?

He doesn’t really matter that much anyway.

Even with all the Flowey shit making things worse, Toriel was always there for him, making things just, slightly more manageable. Maybe not always there in the timelines where she died, but she was there when she could. She and Papyrus were one of the final few people helping him through his shitty life. Keeping him going.

They were the last threads he was hanging onto.

Sans remembers the first time he met her face to face. At least in his current timeline right now.

It felt like seeing her for the first time all over again. He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

It was really her. She looked older and more tired, but so did he, and that didn’t matter, she looked just as beautiful as the day he lost her. 9 years of misery seemed sort of worth it.

Sans knew for the fact that they weren’t the same. He came into acceptance with that. He was excited to bond with this other Toriel all over again. A second chance.

To try…again.

But…he can’t. How could he?

He doesn’t deserve her. She deserves so much better than that.

How many times did he lie to her? How many times did he fail to save her, hurt her, watched her suffer without support.

He knew everything about her but she knew nothing about him. The real him, the truth.

 

He doesn’t even belong in this world.

 

He got angry.

How many damn times did he sit by and let her die? How many was it? How could he? If he really loved her he would’ve fought for her. Fight for her life, for her love.
Is he even trying in this timeline either?

 

Tori deserves a better person,
one who’s willing to fight for her…

 

One, who’s willing to die for her—
“Sans!!”

He jumped in his seat like he was woken up from deep sleep. Except he was very much awake.

“What are you doing??” Asked Toriel worriedly

Sans looked around as he dropped whatever was in his hand. The knife clacked down on the plate right next to the half eaten stake. He quickly examined his surroundings.

He’s at a fancy restaurant, the type where people wear formal clothing and have candles lit everywhere. He saw a bunch of humans around.

Right. This is the surface of the parallel world. Currently in the happy ending timeline. How long has it been since the last reset…? He doesn’t remember ever going this far into the ending.

“Sans! What is wrong? Are you ok? What happened?” Kept asking Toriel concerningly

“I…uh…” Sans felt like he was dreaming. None of this felt real. He was just so unfocused. “What…what’s wrong T-Tori…?”

“You were disassociating too much there my friend. You were gripping into that knife and pointed at yourself, you weren’t listening to me and—!”

“I’m gonna go home. Thanks for the meal…” he said deadpan as he stood up to leave.

“W-wait…” she said, trying to get up from her seat. “Sans…! Hold on now p-please…!” Trying to catch up to him.

Sans reached to open the door when he was pulled back a bit by his arm.

“Sans, what’s wrong? I can tell you’re not ok. I do not understand, did I say something wrong? Please my friend, tell me.”

The stress in her voice broke his heart. She has better things to do than to worry over someone as pathetic as him.

When he opened the doors he saw how it was raining. Toriel was still after him, he knew she hated the rain. So he stepped forward, now avoiding him like it was raining acid.

“Sans, you will catch a cold like that, please step out of the rain my friend…!”

Sans closed his eyes and looked up as he held his hand out.

…

Nothing. He felt nothing but cold, and wet.

“Sans—“

“I can’t do this anymore Tori.”

“Wh—“

He cut her off once more, “I can’t man. I can’t do this.” He turned his back to her.

“What are you talking about…?”

Sans felt himself crying. But he couldn’t tell from the rain drops running down his face.

Maybe it was convenient that it was raining, it helped hide himself well, since now he’s absolutely incapable of lying his way out of this one.

“I need space Toriel. Please.” His voice sounding a little too broken than he would’ve liked.

Her heart dropped after hearing him say her full name like that. He didn’t even need to look at her to see her pained expression.

“I’m going home now…maybe we can chat in a few days.”

“Please just wait—!”

 

But he was already long gone.

 

-

 

Sans struggled to open the door to his house. Thankfully because of all the struggle, Papyrus opened the door.

“Sans! You’re back earlier than expected. How did the dinner g—?”

He immediately just barged in and marched towards the stairs.

“Sans! Wait hold on.” He said, grabbing him. “Why are you so wet?! How long were you standing out ther—“

“let me go.” He said seriously.

“Sans…?” Asked Papyrus, dropping the confident loud tone for a more concerned one. “What happened?”

“No.”

“No??” Questioned Papyrus. “Sans tell me what happened to you?! Why are you soaking wet??”

“I walked home, that’s all. Now let go.” He explained tiredly.

“No! Not until you tell me what really happened—!”

“I just TOLD you. Now LET me go.” He said with a tone of annoyance.

“Brother—!”

“Dammit Papyrus let me go!!” He screamed. His voice cracking.

Great. As if he couldn’t become worse of a person than he already was.

“Sans…?” Said Papyrus in a disheartening voice. “Brother…are you ok? What’s wrong? Ms. Toriel was supposed to drop you off…why did you walk in the rain? Why are you so upset? Did something go wrong during the da—“

“why are you asking so many questions.” he said in a deadpan voice.

“…” Papyrus said nothing and just stayed silent.

“I’m gonna go shower—er…take a bath. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Sans wait— just please tell me brothe—"

“I’m gonna go. Take. A bath. We can talk. Tomorrow.”

“Sans—!”

“PAPYRUS! I’M WET, I'M COLD, I SMELL LIKE A DAMN DOG, AND I’M TIRED. WE CAN TALK TOMORROW. GOOD NIGHT.” He snapped, marching up the stairs and slamming the door as Papyrus tried to chase after him.

Papyrus hesitated, and ultimately decided to give him space. He stayed at the door for a few minutes before receiving a phone call and rushing down stairs to talk privately.

-

“Hello?!” Answered Papyrus.

“Ah! Papyrus. Thank goodness you answered. Sans was not picking up his phone and I got worried. Is he alright? Is he with you?” Asked Toriel worriedly through the phone.

“Sans is home safe! He locked himself in his room just now…is everything alright? What happened tonight?? I was just about to call you!! He came in soaking yet yelling all over the place!” He explained.

“I wish I could tell you my friend. But I have no clue. Sans has seemed a bit off lately. Especially tonight. Like…he keeps spacing out quite frequently. I tried cheering him with our conversations, but I completely lost him at the mention of rain when I heard thunder outside…”

“I see…very well. Thanks for telling me Ms.Toriel. Worry not! I shall look after him!!” He said confidently.

“Thank you…that’s a bit relieving…” she said, although with a saddened tone.

“Is everything alright with you?” He asked.

“Ah..yes. I’m just…worried is all. You see…” she hesitated telling him.

“Go on!! I’m listening!”

“Your brother…Sans, he…well you see, we ordered some steak, and they come with some knifes and a fork, when he completely spaced out, he gripped into the knife really hard and…”

Papyrus stayed silent, awaiting to hear the full story.

“Well, I’m just afraid of what he would’ve done to himself if I had not snapped him out of it…”

“I see…” he said make seriously, before switching over to a more confident tone, “Thanks for telling me. I assure you that I’ll do my best to take care of him.”

“Thank you…have a good night Papyrus.”

“You too, I’m sorry.”

“No need to apologize. Farewell now”

“Bye bye…” he said before the call ended.

Papyrus sighed as he looked up to where Sans’ room should be.

“Brother…what has gotten into you these last few months…?”

-

Meanwhile at the other side of the door, sans was trying so hard not to break down in tears as he curled up on the floor.

He kept muttering to himself “Don’t cry dammit don’t cry. You’re a grown ass man don’t you dare cry like a fucking child…”

He can’t believe he just did that. He snapped at his little brother, threw a tantrum and slammed the door to his face. How low could he possibly get?

Sans scuffled around as he sniffed, he peered forward to see his balcony door. He dragged his feet towards it as he opened the door. It was still pouring outside.

He stepped into the rain for a minute.

 

…

Nothing.

…

It’s fine.

 

He always hated the rain anyway.

Chapter Text

Sans cannnn…’t. He can’t. Sans can’t fight. He just can't fight it anymore. He quits. He gives up.

…It’s over…

…

 

—

 

“you must really wanna go home.”

 

He remembers the very first time he met the human. The actual first time, before the second wave of time looping resets.

He woke up that morning feeling very uneasy. Like how he woke up the very first time Flowey started resetting. He had a bad feeling about it but assumed Flowey was back on his bullshit again after waiting a very long time. It felt more like loads and saves than a reset, or else he would have repeated the whole month all over again.

But when he got to the ruins, he found out the truth.

He was there at the door, doing his usual routine of hanging out with the lady. Except he already heard her voice through the door before he even knocked.

Listening closely, that’s when he knew.

A human has fallen into the underground.

The 7th soul needed…

 

“hey. i know the feeling, buddo”

 

He remembers the promise he was asked to do, he was actually considering to do it, however deep down he was looking for an excuse not to, and the second he met the human, he got it.

“turn around, and shake my hand.”

Using a whoopie cushion prank as his first impression was smart on his part. It helped him read the human well, see their first reaction to really pick up on the kind of person they are.
In the first timeline, they laughed, in other ones, they weren’t human. And in recent ones, well the human turned around before he could even say anything.

Determination. Their soul was determined. They were the new gods of this world. Their determination overwrites Flowey’s.

So, they can come back from death.

So…they don’t need his help.

Of course, this was only just a theory in the first timeline, since he had no solid memory, he doesn’t have enough evidence to back up his claim. He’s purely going off on this gut feeling and being able to read a person. It was only after getting such memory fragments in dreams and the premeditated actions of the kid where he knew for SURE the human could Save, Load, and Reset.

 

“though…”

 

However, here's the thing. That soul, it was an anomaly. He could’ve sworn it was the EXACT same soul from before. It has the power to end worlds.

It ended his old home.

It could possibly end this one as well…

It was dangerous. He had now more reason than ever to kill the human and take the soul. He had so much pent up anger and hatred for his situation. He figured that if he killed it, he could relieve King Asgore from the burden of murdering a 7th child. However…there was then Toriel.

“Watch over them, and protect them, will you not…?”

So instead he kept watch of the human, following them throughout the entirety of the underground in the shadows. Thanks to his short cuts, he was able to be hidden for the majority of the time, showing himself at convincing times like with Papyrus.

During his observations, he noticed how genuine the human was…at least the first time around, and the current one.

So because of that, he decided to let go of the past for a bit, and really get to know the human more. I mean hey, if they befriended Papyrus and the others really well, why shouldn’t he as well?

Of course in other timelines he’d stay wary of the human, keep his distance. Straight up disappears if they killed Toriel and especially Papyrus. There’s no way in hell he’d ever get near a disgraceful Dirty Brother Killer.

But in the good timelines, he’d get to really know the kid, bond with them, have some good memories and laughs. It was…wonderful for a change.

 

“maybe sometimes it’s better to take what’s given to you.”

 

He really wanted to confirm his theory that the human can indeed manipulate time, but he didn’t want the human themselves to raise suspicion on him, he already knows from first hand experience how messy the world can become when someone too gets curious over a person. So he had to be careful with their conversations. Get all the information he could out of the smallest of details he can pick up.

He got what he could at Grillby’s bar. He messed around with the kid a bit, like using his short cuts or a classic telescope prank. He even remembers prank calling them in a few rare timelines. There aren’t that many kids in the underground, he sort of misses messing with neighbors and children.

Of course, by the time the Kid reached the MTT Resort, he knew almost everything he needed to know, he just needed to confirm one last thing.

 

“down here you’ve already got food, drink, friends…”

 

He didn’t notice it then, or maybe he was in denial but…

“is what you have to do…really worth it?”

Perhaps he was projecting himself onto the kid a bit…ok maybe a lot. He couldn’t help it. Maybe deep down the reason why he personally connected with the kid wasn’t because of their shared knowledge of resets, or because they were friends with his “friends” and brother, but maybe…

Deep down.

He was really hoping he found someone who could understand.

Understand the feeling of being home sick. Understand how it feeling being trapped underground. Understand the burdens and stress of secrets, quantum science, time and space bullshit. Understand…

“…”

Surely they understood, right…?

 

“j u s t g i v e u p . i d i d .” he whimpered.

 

“ah. forget it.”

Not even Papyrus understands him. Papyrus was able to move on, thrive, create new goals and aspirations, develop constant motivation, and adapt to their new environment. But sans? He can’t do any of that. He became a lazy pathetic useless bum.

He was so lonely, so isolated, he was secretly hoping that with this new person that came along, he could at least have someone to relieve all this pain to. But he can’t. He can’t do that to the kid. And maybe he was being too selfish as well.

He may not have a chance or opportunity to go back home, but they can. It’s just out of their reach. This child has a chance to go back home, and any good person would help someone get what they want, even if they can’t ever have it themselves. Because why would someone ever want somebody else to suffer the same misery they went through? He wouldn’t wish this pain he carries onto anybody.

“I’m rootin’ for ya, kid.”

He couldn’t help but remember about the promise he had made. It was on his mind the whole time. He technically broke his promise if the human did die during a Load. He used the pathetic excuse that the human can just cheat death therefore not need protection. I mean technically speaking, he would’ve stepped in if the kid’s life was in danger, but somehow, he felt like the kid went through it smoothly like they knew what was coming next.

The only areas where he helped them was the fight with Papyrus and distracting Undyne towards the end of the chase, as he felt like those two obstacles would be the most difficult. But still, he broke the promise, not just once.

He hates his emotions, his memories. Everything. The Kid reminds him of the promise. The promise reminds him of Toriel. Toriel reminds him of the rain and the rain reminds him of…

 

“w h y e v e n t r y ?” He continued to weep

 

He figured he should tell the kid context about himself. Or perhaps he really needed this. Open up, he had so many bottled up feelings. He was so silent, always wearing a comedy mask. Maybe this one time, he can let the mask slide for a second. Just to make sure the bottle won’t explode. Let it spill only a little.

Besides, if he tells the kid about the promise, he might be able to get the last bit of information that he wants.

“…”
“Let me tell you a story”

His dumbass gets too caught up with the day he remet Toriel. He didn’t notice how he went on and on talking about their time together. He couldn’t help it.

Maybe, in some other time, in some other place,
It’s raining somewhere else.

Some other sans out there right now is washing all his worries away under the rain with another Toriel.

But for now, everyone's stuck here. In a cave that’s drowning in hopelessness. As one by one monsters fall into the darkness when they lose grip on the last strings of hope they had left.

 

“Y o u ‘ l l n e v e r s e e t h e m a g a i n .” he croaked.

 

He had to get to the point he wanted to make. Even if it meant lying about many things about himself. But finally, he could get the answer to the million dollar question.

He turned around to not face them, as the room echoed deadly “…You’d be dead where you stand.”

He felt bad for doing this, but he did it for multiple reasons. Firstly, being bluntly honest, he would've definitely killed them if this was a world ending anomaly. Secondly he needed to see the type of reaction he’d get out of them to officially conclude his theory of whether the kid reset or not.

He definitely spooked them, in order to both calm them down and not raise suspicions on himself, he played it off as a joke. He chose his next words very carefully.

“You haven’t died a single time!”

There. That’s it. That look on their face. That look told him absolutely everything he needed to know.

“Am i wrong?”

No answer. It’s confirmed. The human can indeed reset. And what follows after that would just be more confirmation through fragments of memories in his dreams.

But…during that dinner. That suddenly didn’t seem to matter anymore.

Sans would only have that dinner with them during the best timelines, timelines where the kid chose the best and genuinely kindest decisions. He couldn’t help but be endeared by such a small kid.

He…sort of grew a strong bond for them. Maybe more than just a friend…like, family.

Family…? Family how? A sibling perhaps? He’s not sure.
He’s not fit to be a father, heck he can’t even take care of himself or his own biological brother. What makes you think someone as pathetic as him can take care of a kid?

Well, that doesn’t matter, as long as he lets them know, maybe the kid will turn out alright.

“Take care of yourself, because someone really cares about you.”

He cares about the sweet kid a lot. Even if he lacks the confidence or ability to love them properly like they deserve, he knows for a fact that Frisk has a whole set of friends and family waiting to offer all their love to them.

But him…?

He has no one.

But honestly, should that even be surprising??

Haha, it’s hilarious!!

I mean seriously, who would actually care about him?! Sans the skeleton, a man in his mid 30s, rotting in bed all day, quitting everything, not even trying in life, practicing zero hygiene, giving all of his possessions away because honestly why should some low life good for nothing like him even try? He doesn’t deserve it. He doesn’t deserve nice things, or a proper bed frame, or deserve to stay clean and healthy. He doesn’t deserve any love or friendship or any company. He deserves nothing. He IS nothing.

And nothing belongs nowhere.

He doesn’t belong in this universe. He’s not from this world. All the kindness he was given is just pathetic pity. He deserves none of it, what has he ever given in return? Nothing but a lazy ungrateful unserious selfish attitude. All the things his friends have told him are true.

Friends? Oh please. Those aren’t his real friends. He has no friends. He’s lost them all. He lost them all the day he fell through that crack. He’s lost them all the day he let them die those first few resets. He’s not a loyal man, so clearly they don’t see him as a true friend. They are all just too kind for their own good. They don’t actually care about him, they just pity his sad ridiculous life. Their misery and struggles are way more valid and important than his. His pains are absolutely nothing compared to theirs.

He doesn’t matter.
He doesn’t care.
He’s just…

tired…
he’s just so tired…oh so very tired…

 

He wants to fall…fall asleep for good…go to sleep forever.
Let himself fall into the darkness.
Succumb into the shadows.
Let the negativity finally drown him because,

because sans isn’t a fighter.

He was never much of a fighter. He was never a real fighter. He hates fighting. He wishes he could fight but…
He can’t.

He can’t fight.
He just can’t fight it. Not anymore…

He gives up.
He quits.

 

—

 

It’s ove—

“SANS!!!” Yelled out a voice.

That sudden burst felt like someone just pulled him out of the darkness. Everything still felt so fuzzy and a blur, was this perhaps a dream or…?

“Sa-sa-sa…Sans…pl-please don’t…d-don’t do—it!” Cried the weeping child.

Those words sent shivers through his spine, as he felt like the world cleared a little more. He looks around in genuine fear and confusion.

“Wha…wh…” he turned around to where he heard the voice coming from. Rubbing his eyes from a stinging pain.

Was he crying…?

“F…Frisk…? K-kiddo? Is that…you…?

The shaking child just suddenly burst into tears as they ran towards him and hugged him, squeezing and pulling like they were hanging on for dear life.

In that moment Sans immediately put all the focus and attention he could on them, forgetting everything he just felt moments prior to this.

“Woah! Hey buddo, come on now what happened?? Why are you crying?? Are ya hurt? Do you need me to call Toriel? I can—“

The kid just began to cry even more. As they lifted their face up from where they were dug in his chest, he saw the most broken expression he’s ever seen on them. His soul dropped.

“…kid…?”

After pulling him forward aggressively, he almost tripped and stumbled. His ankles were oddly really sore for some odd reason.

“W-woah there…! C-calm down kid…! What- what’s going on—??”

He tried his best to remain focused on the kid. The kid is selectively mute, and being in such a mental breakdown caused them to frantically sign language away.

“Woah woah woah…slow down ok…? Calm down. It’s ok. Just breathe.” He comforted them.

As frisk took deep breaths between the hiccups, they managed to calm down enough in 2 minutes.

“Ok…better?”

They shook their head no.

“Well…at least better enough to explain to me what’s wrong with you…? Go on, take your time.”

Frisk suddenly had some sort of pissed off expression. Did he say something wrong?

“Woah there kid, what did I do??”

They then signed the most horrifying sentence he’s ever heard,
‘You tried to kill youself just now, isn’t that right?’

He froze. Everything felt cold, like time had just stopped in place. He felt so light headed.

He couldn’t help but laugh, this has to be some sort of terrible prank. Or maybe he didn’t understand sign language properly. “Heheh…I uh…come again…?”

‘You were about to throw yourself off and—‘ he looked away, he didn’t want to see what else they’d say next, as he did, he turned his head around just enough to see what was behind him.

A giant hole in the ground, just barely a couple of feet away from him. Then he remembered how Frisk had pulled him forward when he turned around, away from the hole. Meaning that he was originally way closer to it before. Nearly on the edge of it. He felt the weight of the planet crush down on him upon putting the pieces together. There’s no way.

There’s just no way.

“U-uhm…kid…F-Frisk.” He said slowly looking away from the hole, yet still not looking at the kid in the eyes, “…where—where are we…?”

When he heard no response, he ultimately turned to look at them.

‘Mt. Ebott’

No way. What the hell was he doing all the way out here on Mt. Ebbot?? That’s like miles away from town. Wait a second…

“Hold on, what are YOU doing all the way out here kid? Where is Tori—? Where is everyone?? Did you seriously climb all the way out here on your own—?”

‘I should be asking you the same question’ signed Frisk with a serious face as they wiped their tears.

He felt so pathetic. Here he is, a man in his mid thirties being scolded by a literal child.

“Why…” spoke the child in a raspy voice.

“Huh?” He turned his eyes to look at them again. They just stared at him back and said nothing.

‘Why’ they signed…

He doesn’t know why, but that simple question broke him.

Why? Why is he here? Why does he feel this way? Why did he have to endure all of this pain? Why did this happen to him? Why was he the one who suffered everything? Why does he remember stuff? Why does he have to be aware of so much? Why can’t he move on? Why can’t he be helpful? Why can’t he try to live? Why…

Why does he want to die so bad…?

He fell to his knees and hands, and held back tears. Quivering from holding them back. That feeling of wanting to just disappear was trickling back. It was then where he couldn’t deny the fact that he was indeed suicidal. He couldn’t deny it anymore. No matter how hard he tries to lie to himself. The fact that he has the urge to crawl over to that hole and let himself fall is evidence enough of that. But deep down, he doesn’t really want to die.

He’s scared. He’s scared of death. He’s always been scared. He dreads that feeling of being split apart. Of having nothing but darkness. He has no will to live on but he doesn’t have an ounce of strength to end it either.

Then suddenly, he felt a soft gentle embrace wrap around him.

The kid’s smart, real smart. He picked up on the fact that they were tapping Morse code on his head. He tried to pay close attention to it.

I
T
S
Pause
O
K
Pause
T
O
Pause
C
R
Y

He couldn’t help but tear up. And quickly soon after he finally broke down. He cried. He wept and wept like a little child.

 

All those 9 years of holding back, holding it in, bottling it up, masking it up,
It all came rushing out at once. And he felt like absolute shit in doing so.

 

Sans never liked to cry. He always found it to be a waste of time. What good can crying do for someone? Crying never helped him save him and his brother. Crying never helped fix his machine. Crying never stopped the resets. Crying never brought people back from the dead. There’s no use for crying…

Except maybe…

Maybe crying helps in other ways.
Maybe he needed to cry, to process his emotions, to process all the pain.
Maybe crying did have use after all, no matter how hard it is or how horrible it feels.

Sans’ grown ass was sobbing on the shoulders of this kid, holding onto them like they are the one who will disappear. What broke him more was the soothing embrace the child gave him in return.

Pathetic was it not? Here he was, an adult being talked out of suicide and comforted by a mere child. How low could he possibly get…? He never thought his life could ever get this low.

But maybe for once, he should be selfish. For once he should let himself be comforted.

Maybe for once, he should reach for the light, the shining star, to guide him out of the darkness.

He doesn’t know how long he cried for. Probably like a good 5 or even 10 minutes. Once it was over he was wiping his tears away sniffing while Frisk pat him on his skull

As shitty as he felt, for once, he couldn’t help but feel relieved. He gave a genuine warm smile to them as he rustled their head in return.

“Heh, you’re a good kid Frisk, please, never change.”

The pure happy smile Frisk made in return was more than enough to help him get up.

“Well, we should get going then. The others are probably worried about you.” He said getting up leaving the cave.

Frisk looked back at him worried. They tried to sign out “They are worried about you, too…” but he refused to look.

He did look back after a while, and extended his hand, “Well, what are ya waiting for? Come on buddo”

Frisk ran to take his hand as they left casually trending down the mountain.

—

After a few awkward minutes of silence, sans felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned around to look at them.

“What's up kiddo?”

They timidly said out loud, “never…answered…question.”

“Mmmm, what question kid?”

Frisk hesitated, not wanting to trigger Sans again, but with a sad but in an adorable little kid voice, asked once more, “Why?”

Sans was slowly walking, until he eventually stopped in his tracks. He looked behind him from where they were going out, and sighed.

“Well…I guess it’s only fair I give ya an explanation.” He said. They both proceeded to go down the mountain once more.

As they went down, Sans kept thinking about how to go on about this.

Where can he even start…? How much should he tell them?

“Hmmm…” he said. Before saying “How about this, let me ask you a couple of questions and then we can go on for there, sounds good?”

Frisk nodded, to which then Sans responded with “Ok good, so first question. Do you remember the timeline where I gave you the keys to my room? I believe it was a couple timelines ago but I wouldn’t really know for sure…”

Frisk shook their head and gave a thumbs up.

“Ok good, well first of all…” he began before snickering “Did I get ya?”

Frisk quickly turned to face him with a pout and began to playfully punch his arm in annoyance. Sans couldn’t help but laugh.

“Heheheh. Alright, alright. Well…back to the point. Did you ever happen to find some keys in my drawer?” He asked

Frisk signed out ‘Yea, I did, the one to your basement lab right?”

“Yeah there we go! Now we’re gettin’ somewhere.” “Ok, so. How’s this, ask me about anything you saw in that room, I’ll tell ya and that should be able to explain some things. Deal?”

Frisk nodded, right before turning their head to put on a thinking face. “Mmmm….” He looked like they got a lightbulb, then signed out “Don’t Forget”

“Ah, that. Heh, yeah.” He said, scratching his head. He stopped in his tracks, Frisk behind him.

He supposed that he had to tell them the truth eventually either way, no matter what item they would’ve chosen, it’s all connected to the fact that…

“Frisk…” he said calmly. “I’m…I am not from here.”

“Hm?” Questioned the child.

He turned around to face them, he looked at them with his usual grin, except with deep tired sadness in his eyes. “I'm not from this world Frisk…I come from a different universe, one parallel to this one…”

Frisk looked at him with both confusion but understanding. He looked away anyway. This was perhaps his third time explaining it to someone, but that doesn’t mean it gets easier each time.

After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and softly turned around again, “Here, follow me. I know a shortcut” he said walking them back up the mountain for a few seconds. Just as they turned the corner, they suddenly appeared at the bottom of the mountain.

 

—

He looked around for a second as if he were searching for something, “Ah, there. Over here kiddo.”

He took them to a nice spot in the forest, the sun was out, the sky was blue, and a few cotton clouds were sprinkled across it. It was a beautiful day. He sat under the shade and stretched. He then looked at Frisk and patted the spot next to him. “Come on, don’t be shy.”

Frisk ran over and sat right next to him, legs crossed. They looked over to him to pay close attention.

“Ahem. Well then, you asked about the little drawing right? Well those 3, they’re 3 little heroes from my world. I somewhat knew 2 of the teens, especially the human. But essentially they tried to save the world from darkness” he explained. But then he looked away in disappointment. “They and others as well, although I don’t know if they actually won or not at the end of the day. Not sure whatever happened. I don’t even know what DID happen…”

He paused before deciding what else to say. “Hey…remember how I threatened you lol?”

Frisk once again looked unamused.

“Heheh, yeah, well I’ll be honest with ya, that soul of yours Frisk.” He said pointing at their chest where their soul would be, “I have reason to believe it’s the same anomaly that this other human had in my world.” He reasoned.

Frisk looked up at him, feeling like this was bad news, but sans reassured them.

“Buuuttt, there’s also a lot of good evidence to suggest that it’s in good hands now.” He said

“Like I said kiddo, you’re a good person.” He said with a warm smile ruffling their hair once more.

“Heh, but yeah. Reason I drew that out was because when I got here, my memories were all scrambled up. I was afraid of losing em, so I made that and wrote “Don’t forget” to well…not forget” he said with a wink. “It was supposed to be something motivational for me but well, I think you and me both know what happened to that…”

Frisk looked down in sadness when he said that final statement

“But in any case. Let’s continue, shoot me your next question.”

Frisk looked to think again, when they snapped their fingers, “Badge!” They said.

“Ah, the badge. Funny story about that. You see; in this parallel world, everyone else exists there, just very different.”

Frisk turned their head to the side like a confused puppy.

“Well, what I meant to say was, I got it from Undyne, the other Undyne. In that world she’s a police officer. Asgore exists there too, he WAS an officer but then he got fired and runs a flower shop. Alphys and Tori were teachers at the school in town.”

Frisk leaned forward with interest. Sans actually felt better explaining this to a kid, it felt like reading them a bed time story.

“Lets seeeee, there’s many folks there, I could go on all day. All with different lives. You see in that world, a war never happened, and we lived in a more modern times, at least comparing the fact that monsters in this world are ancient. Oh! And we don’t really have magic in that world either. I theorized it’s because we coexisted with humans more, and their determination made us develop more physical forms and less magic. We still turned to dust when dead of course but I have reason to believe that lack of determination in this world made monsters adapt by having more magic to sustain their bodies. So yes, that’s why bleed unlike others”

Frisk watched as Sans cheerfully gave them information to learn. They were just glad sans was feeling a little better at the very least.

Sans continued on to ramble.

“Of course Papyrus does too but I suppose he spent less time living there than I did.”

Frisk abruptly signed, ‘Wait, Papyrus is from there too?!”

“Heh yep, of course he is. You see I—“ he then paused for a moment, and slowly made a saddened expression again. Frisk looked guilty like they said something wrong, but sans pat their shoulder to reassure them.

“You see…Papyrus didn’t really have the best life. Our parents died when he was young, I got over the grief easily but I suppose he had it hard. School life didn’t make it any better. He was always so closed off, reclusive, always indoors…always…sad. Heh, that probably sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” He said looking at them, before looking down again.

“When he graduated, I decided to move us to a small town far away from where we grew up. I was hoping he could have a fresh new beginning, get a fresh new start. I did it for him…but I guess in the end, I got too caught up with myself that…”

He turned his as far away as he could from Frisk.

“I wasn’t always like this. I used to run a mini mart. All by myself. Grillby moved away from that town, and I had the inside remodeled. I did all the work. Stocked the self, cleaned, accounting, cashier. I did it all on my own…”

He takes a deep breath.

“I suppose, I moved us at the wrong place and the wrong time. Just weeks after moving, that town…”

He takes another long pause.

“I had a feeling something was up with that town. Odd mayor. Few residents, very restricted place, weird religions, suspicious people…”

His tone gets a slight hint of anger in it.

“Then Undyne goes missing, I start seeing stars everywhere. I wake up feeling uneasy, those teenagers act odd, someone slashed Tori’s tires, shit kept happening and…”

He tries to calm down, he rather not think about the rest of the story, and just skips to the end.

“The world was engulfed in darkness, evil seeping through into our world. It was a mess. I believe the badge was one of the keys needed to fully go through the destruction of that world, which is why I…”

He lays his forehead on his knees and covers one side of his skull with one arm as he grows more and more angry. Going off on a tangent slowly forgetting frisk was there.

“I thought, maybe I could help. I really grew to care for those folks. No one deserves all that bullshit! But I wasn’t born a hero. I played stupid games and won stupid prizes! I was so selfish and irresponsible poor Papyrus nearly paid the price! I—“

He felt a hand be slowly placed on his back, and relaxed from his tense position. He took a deep breath and a few seconds to compose himself.

“Heh. Sorry…” he said as Frisk rubbed his back on reassurance.

After a minute or so, he began to talk again.

“We slipped into the cracks that covered the town, sent across time and space. And we’ll, long story short, here I am…” he said hopelessly.

After another minute or so, he looked up again trying to force a cheerful smile, “So, uh…any other questions?”

Frisk really hesitated, but sans insisted, “Come on Kid, it’s ok, I really don’t mind.”

Frisk looked around for a few seconds, before quietly saying “blue prints, and—broken machine…”

“Ah, you saved the best for last,” he said causally.

“Well, long story short, those blueprints came out of nowhere, but seemingly were a key from the universe to help me fix the machine to get us back home. When I first got here, I seeked the Dr.Alphys for assistance. So yeah she more or less knows the truth about me.” He explains.

“Asgore somewhat knows as well when I had tea with him one day a couple years in, living in the underground. He helped fund the project. He continued before laughing in despair, “Hehe, but well, since I’m still here, it’s easy to guess what happened to THAT silly old project hehehehe….”

This time, Frisk just laid their head against his shoulder, and said nothing.

Sans sighed as he rested his skull on their head. He closed his eyes, and they both stayed in silence for a good 5 minutes.

He let himself relax for one, truly relax, embrace within nature rather than the darkness of his mind. Really let nature temporarily wash away all his worries, something he’s not done in the last 9 years.

He felt the breeze brush against his bones, feeling the sun light specks peek through the shade, and the green grass prickle below him. He also felt the warmth of Frisk right by his side.

Listened as the leaves rustled in the trees, different birds gently tweeting as they harmonized with the gentle howl of wind, with occasional buzzing bees passing through.

He could smell nearby flowers blooming and the fresh ever green grass mixing in with the freshness of the air filtered by nature’s natural trees.

He must’ve been drifting off to sleep, because Frisk tugged him up, and he felt like he was gaining clarity from falling asleep.

“Hnnh?” He said tiredly, lifting his head up as Frisk lifted theirs. “Oh, my bad. It’s been a while since I’ve slept. Ran outta medication days ago...” He responded quietly.

After a minute or so, sans began to talk again.

“Yknow, part of me is happy for Papyrus. I mean look at him, he’s so happy, energized, kind and noble, very outgoing. He’s everything I wished for him to be…” he said.

“He managed to move on from the past, adapt to this new world…but me? Heh, just look at him Frisk. I’m nothing like him, I’m nothing like the young man I used to be…” he spoke tirelessly.

“Yknow, I thought I accepted the fact that I can never go back, that this is my new home now, that I’m stuck here forever. But…deep down I never really moved on. I just tried so hard to convince myself of that. I realized during our dinner, how hard I tried to project myself into you, in the hopes that at least SOMETHING or SOMEONE out there could…could finally understand me. Truly understand, the real me…” he said in disappointment.

After a few moments of silence, Frisk asked, “How…long?”

“Come again?” He questioned. Frisk responded in sign language, “How long were you underground, away from old home.”

Sans looked away and responded with “…9 years. We’ve been in this world for 9 years. Technically longer with all the resets but on a technicality that never existed so, yeah. 9.”

Frisk looked away in guilt, but they asked anyways, “Why’d you give up…?” Sans began his final thoughts.

“Yknow, I tried. I really did, but, at some point, with all the resets, feeling so helpless, having absolutely no control over my life…it was hard, Yknow?”

Did he ever really?

“I just found no reason to keep bothering anymore. I really tried moving forward in this timeline. I gained that small spark of hope to try again, have a second chance, new opportunities, but…”

But what? What’s his excuse?

“It’s just hard. It’s really hard, it’s hard giving it my all, to care, knowing that one day, without warning, it’ll all reset like it never happened, with no memory of knowing…” he said shakily curling up into a ball.

“I wanted to try kid. I really did. I wanna be happy again, I wanna have goals and aspirations once more, I want to move on I-“ he began to choke a little, “I don’t wanna die. But deep down in my mind, it’s like I’m sabotaging myself. My mind is too far gone, there’s no hope for me I—“

He felt Frisk get up from their spot and stand proudly infront of him, he looks up with tears in his eyes, and questions, “Kid…?” As Frisk held their pinkie out at him.

He took one quick Look, he knew that look. That determined look on their face, the kind that no matter how hard you try, that Kid won’t give up. They won’t give in, they’ll fight for it till the very end.

The kind of determination he always envies.

“Kiddo?”

“I promise I won’t reset ever again.” They said confidently.

Sans slowly picked himself off the ground, “Frisk…? What are you—-“

“I promise, that I’ll never reset ever again. This timeline, it’s permanent. So promise me you’ll try. You’ll try to live again, no matter what. Promise me you won’t die!”

Sans felt the wind blow hard as he looked at them in fear.

“K-kid…Frisk I don’t—I can’t—yknow I don’t like making promises—“

“P-please!! Pinkie promise!!”

In the back of his mind, deep deep down the darkness, he saw a light, a shining star, leading the way out. For once in his life, he saw…a choice.

He can finally make a choice. He’s in control, he can finally willfully choose his fate.

 

“…heh. Hahah…!” He laughed as he slowly walked over to them and kneeled down to meet their the level.

“So, if I promise you to give life a try again, you promise me you’ll never reset again? Is that the deal here?”

Frisk confidently nodded yes.

“Man, I dunno…” he said playfully, “I mean a promise is one thing, but a pinkie promise? That’s a huge deal kid, you sure you can take on that responsibility?” He said ticking them as Frisk laughed.

“Y-yes!” They said trying to regain that determined posture again.

“Ha! Alright then, it’s a deal.” He said taking off one of his gloves. It ended up revealing some scars, but in that moment he could care less, Frisk knew the real him now, he had nothing to hide anymore.

He wrapped his pinkie bone around theirs, and shook it. “There, pinkie promise! I’ll keep my end of the bargain, so ya better keep yours!” He said with a smile.

Frisk smiled brightly as sans stood up and slipped a glove back on.

“Ok kid, let’s go home for real now.” He said taking their hand.

“Follow me, I know a short cut” he grinned.

 

—

When they reached town, Frisk let go of his hand ready to take off.

“Where ya going kid? Tori’s house is that way”

They signed ‘I’m staying over at a friends house!’

“Really? With Tori’s permission?’

They nodded confidently.

‘Very well then. I’ll see ya around kiddo, take care.” He said as he turned around to walk home, but he turned around again when he heard his name get called.

“Sans!!”

“Yeah Buddo?”

“…You take care as well! Cause—cause—because someone really cares about y-you…!” Frisk said before running off.

He looked back in awe, before smiling softly, “heh…I guess people do…” he said, turning around to walk home.

Before he got home, a little weed popped up in his front yard.

“Well well well, looks like you’re in reallll trouble now” said the snarky flower.

Sans sighed in annoyance. “What do you weed.”

“Whattt…? Don’t give me that attitude! Not after that scare you gave us.” He said rolling his eyes.

“Wait, what…? You know too…? Who told y—“

The flower interrupted, “Of course I know you idiot!! Who do you think was the one that went to get Frisk?! Ugh I had a feeling you’d forget our entire conversation!”

“What conversation?” Sans said genuinely puzzled.

Flowey let out a heavy sigh. “I found your stupid ass heading for that mountain! I followed you there and next ya know, you’re about to dust yourself off like nothing!!”

Sans for extremely uncomfortable, but the flower kept going.

“You kept mumbling on and on about belonging nowhere and how you only belong in the underground and now you can’t move on in the surface. Yeah well, I would’ve believed ya if you went through the other darn side of the cave, not down the freaking hole!!”

Sans tried to awkwardly look away but the flower still kept rambling.

“I had to restrain your ass down to the ground with my vines to prevent you from jumping!!” He complained.

Ah, so THAT’S why his ankles were sore.

Sans held his head in confusion, “h-how come I can’t recall any of this…?” Now that he thinks about it, he can’t even remember how or when he even got up there in the first place to begin with. The last thing he remembered is changing his clothes and going to bed, not taking a bath like he said he would.

“Hell if I know! Maybe see a doctor about that memory problem as well!! Although maybe I’m partly to blame for it…” he trailed off before getting riled up again.

“I tried talking to you, but you kept crying on and on about “Just give up, I did” “why even try?” “You’ll never see them again” y'know for a second I thought you were talking to me, but then I remembered that’s the same ass dialogue your lost soul says! So that’s when I really knew your mind wasn’t there at all. So I quickly notified Frisk to get your stupid ass down because at this point it was out of my control!” He said angrily.

There was a long awkward silence between them, before Sans spoke up, “And…no offense but, since when do you care—“

Flowey took very much offense to that, “What the—I..! Ugh—my word—!!” He said dramatically.

Sans rolled his eyes as Flowey spoke, “Don’t tell me you forgot our last conversation as well!!"

“Uhhhh…” he said embarrassed trying to recall what the flower meant.

“Ugh!! I should’ve known. Your suicidal ass gripping on those rose thrones to death! Should’ve reported you then…”

He awkwardly said “No yeah,remember that day actually.”

“Ah, good, so you must remember my shitty apology then!” He said.

“Yeah…” relied Sans rubbing the back of his head.

There was a few moments of silence before Flowey spoke softly, “Well…I won’t keep you waiting any longer, good luck, because you’re about to face the actions of your consequences right now~” he said snarkly.

“Wha—?”

“And don’t forget it next time, if you die, ILL KILL YOU!” He hissed before disappearing into the ground immediately.

Sans stood there awkwardly.

—

Unfortunately the flower was right, in the next few seconds, he’s about to find out what he meant by all that.

He wishes he received more good luck in that moment.

Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, it swung open.

“SANS?!”

“Woah—hey paps, uh and everyone else here too? What’s going on?” He chuckled, “are y'all having a party or som—“

“SANS!!” Yelled out papyrus and the rest, as he was aggressively embraced by his brother.

“Woah there! Easy pal…what—“ he froze when he saw his brother sobbing, and immediately locked in.

“Paps..? Bro? Hey bro, w-what’s?? Why are you crying?? Are you ok I—“

In sobs, Papyrus screamed out, “SANS!! PLEASE NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!”

“D-do what again…?” Sans had a feeling he knew what it was about, but he was too scared to assume that.

Papyrus sniffed as he relied, “T-THE NOTE SANS! YOU LEFT THAT NOTE IN YOUR BED AND—“

“What note…?” He asked concerningly.

Papyrus got a bit frustrated, “SERIOUSLY SANS?! YOU LEFT THAT NOTE IN YOUR BED AND—and…”

Papyrus paused when he saw the genuine look of confusion and worry on his brother’s face, he then gently began to ask,

“Sans…what…what’s the last thing you remember…?”

“I…” Sans knew, but he didn’t have the heart to tell Papyrus what he was about to do to himself 30 minutes ago. But then he heard the heartbroken sobs of his little brother.

“Sans, please…”

“I…I remember changing out of my clothes from last night after the dinner…I said I was gonna bathe but didn’t, then…I dunno bro, I just remembered what happened right now and—“

“Sans…” Papyrus said with major concern. “That dinner night was 2 weeks ago…”

…What…?

Sans tried to desperately play it off as a causal slip up, laughing very nervously, “haha…right of course, I uh—totally knew that—! You see I—“

“Sans! Papyrus said, kneeling down holding both of his shoulders, gently shaking him, "Where were you?! Where were you just now?!?!”

“I…I…” Sans panicked a bit.

“Please brother!! Please!! Please just tell me you weren’t going to— dust yourself off like that I—“ Papyrus paused when he felt his brother start to tremble. “Sans…?”

“I’m sorry…” he whispered, as he dug his face into his brother's chest. “I’m sorry dammit im so sorry…” he croaked.

“Sans…hey I-it’s ok brother I—“

“I don’t wanna die Pap…I don’t wanna die I never wanted to I just—I—“ he began to gently and quietly sob into his brother as papyrus slowly wrapped his arms around him.

Perhaps he wasn’t done crying for the day.

“Hey hey hey—shhhh…it’s ok sans, it’s ok now…you’re—“

He began to hiccup, “No paps, I-it’s not ok, I’m…”

He’s not ok. Not at all. But he can’t admit that out loud just yet. The best he can do is just not deny it anymore and accept it as a fact.

He felt the rest of his friends embrace him in a group hug. Great, now everyone knows…

 

After a few minutes, they all let go but Sans tried to stay as small and hidden as he could, staring daggers at the ground to avoid eye contact.

 

“Sans…” spoke papyrus,
“We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

Papyrus dislikes fighting sometimes. Don’t get him wrong, he loves fighting for what’s right, fighting playfully or for fun, training to get stronger, a small fighting hobby, and fighting for others. But on the other hand he dislikes how often fighting is used for violence.

He believes fighting doesn’t necessarily mean it’s automatically something violent and aggressive, he hates that kind of fighting. He finds it quite unnecessary. There’s always another way to figure things out, to make better choices.

No Papyrus isn’t a big fan of fighting, but he’s definitely a fighter, loud and proud. Especially for his loved ones.

Which is why it pains him that he cannot help Sans battle his own inner demons.

He has many reasons to believe what might exactly be wrong with Sans, but he cannot help his brother based on assumptions. Whenever he tries to bring up topics or ask him to talk about what’s wrong, he ALWAYS brushes it off. He says he’ll talk later or that he’s fine or that it’s not a big deal. He really and genuinely doesn’t know how Sans feels. Sans is ESPECIALLY avoidant when the topic of their old home comes up.

Unfortunately Papyrus could barely remember anything from their old world. They are as blurry as someone’s memories from when they were a baby.

Papyrus assumes that maybe Sans is fine and has moved on but he can assume the same thing that Sans is not ok at all with their situation. But he can’t tell. No matter how much he tries to make him talk about his feelings, Sans stays silent. Papyrus knew it was bad, but he would’ve never imagined how bad it was until the day he entered his room and read the note…

Sans rarely has episodes, but they definitely do happen. Papyrus tries his best to help him, but the situation is almost always out of control. So as usual, when Sans came home that night soaking wet from the rain, he knew he wouldn’t be able to help much.

He thought maybe it was an episode just like any other. That in a few days he’ll be back to normal in no time. But that didn’t happen. And that should’ve been the first red flag.

Looking back at it, there were many red flags. Many signs that Sans was not ok. The fact that he yelled and burst into anger for the first time ever should've been a red flag. But he ignored them. He ignored them all and now…

 

“Sans!! SANS!” He yelled from outside of the door.

It’s been 2 weeks since the night of the dinner incident with Toriel. Nobody has talked to him since, no one knows what’s wrong, he refuses to talk to anyone. He barley comes out of his room, he only comes out for so called “meals” “showers” or to sell things.

Sans claimed that his room was cluttered, and he had a lot of extra stuff that he didn’t need or use anymore. So he made a lot of yard sales and sold stuff online for 2 weeks.
When he asks Sans about his meals or showers, he claims that he already ate or showered. Perhaps he had too much faith and trust in his brother.

He was too faithful, believing that giving him space is what he needed, when in fact, it was the complete opposite.

“Sans!!” He called once more.
It’s been 2 days in a row since Sans had come out of his room at all. He thought it was enough now.

“I’m putting my foot down brother! You’re going to come out of this room and we are going to talk! Whether you want to or not!!” He yelled. “Open this door right now!!” He banged on the door.

But no answer.

Admittedly he started getting worried. He woke up that morning with a disturbing feeling in his stomach despite not having any. Even when Sans was like this, he’d at least groan in annoyance or tell him to go away, but there was nothing. Not a peep, not a crack nor a creek or a shuffle. Nothing. Nothing but dead silence—

“SANS!! Please I’m getting really worried…open the door please!!” He frantically banged more.

Silent. It was dead slien—

After a few seconds, Papyrus yelled, “T-that’s it! I’m coming in!!” He said. He hesitated, but then opened the door.

To say he was shocked would be an understatement.

The room was empty. Completely empty, almost as if no one ever existed in there to begin with. The walls were bare, there was not a desk or shelf nor a lamp. No clothes, not even some curtains. Nothing but a single bare mattress on the floor that didn’t even have the courtesy to have a bed frame. Not even a pillow or blanket. Nothing. Nothing but dust…regular dust of course. There was no sign of monster dust anywhere so that’s a good thing.

Right?

“S…Sans?!” He called out. Papyrus probably hasn’t been more confused in his life. What happened to his brother? What happened to his room? Where was he?? “SANS!!” He walked in to look around, except there was nothing to look at. Part of him was hoping maybe this was some sort of cruel prank. He went over to the closet, nothing but 2 outfits hanging in there.

“SANS?!” His anxiety grew more and more, then suddenly, he noticed a note on the mattress right next to an empty bottle of prescription pills..

Part of him wishes he’d prepare himself more before reading it. Or perhaps noticed the note sooner. Part of him even wishes he should’ve intervened a day sooner. Or a week sooner. He should’ve never let it get this bad…

He cautiously opened it.

 

—

 

dear Papyrus, and to whom ever else even cares,

 

if you’re reading this, it means i’m dead, aren’t i?

firstly, i just wanted to clarify real quick that it was nobody’s fault but mine.
i’m the one who killed myself, so really, don’t bother looking for any culprits or mourn over me, i am not worth the stress.

i’m the one who wasn’t strong enough. i wasn’t born a fighter like everyone else. i was too weak to fight back against all those dark shitty thoughts flooding my skull. i really tried by best to keep moving forward, being there for everyone because I genuinely care. but…i don’t know who i am, where or what or how or why. i’m just so tired, i can’t do this anymore, i give up. i gave up on myself long ago, but living for others was too much for me in the end as well.

so, im going to sleep, permanently. it’s what i do best anyways, isn’t it? too lazy to do anything. which leads to my second point, i owe you all an apology.

i’m sorry for being so selfish. for being a horrible brother, friend, neighbor. sorry i was so irresponsible and neglectful, you guys deserved so much better. i’m so sorry for being such a burden, for all the stressed i’ve ever caused, for every inconvenience i’ve made, for weighing everyone down. i’m sorry for being so lazy, a good for nothing useless fatass, sorry for being weak and pathetic.

i truly am sorry, i tired. i really did. i tried so hard not to, i really tired being useful and helpful, move forward in the future with everyone, but i can’t do that. i’m destined to be stuck in the past, i was supposed to die along ago.

uh sorry this is getting long, i’ll use the back side, sorry for taking too much of your precious time.

-

uh anyways.

don’t worry about making any ceremonial decisions, whether it’s to celebrate my death or cry over me. i doubt anyone cares that much to do either in any case.

i don’t belong here. i’m nothing but an invader, so go ahead and forget about me, i was never meant to exist so please pretend i never did. it’s best for everyone.

papyrus, i must thank you for helping me keep going for as long as i did. i would’ve done this years ago without you. i’m sorry you got stuck with the worlds most worst older brother, i love you more than anything in the universe little bro.

tell tori that im forever grateful and in her debt for her company as well, tell her im sorry for breaking my promise, and that i was too pathetic to ever have commitment into blossoming our relationship more.
tell alphys & asgore that i’m forever thankful for her patience, understanding, and service and tell undyne thanks for her presence and that im sorry.

sorry, that’s probably too much to ask of you. forget i said anything, just forget about me. i’ll be out of your way now. goodbye.

-sans the skeleton.
X/X/201X

 

—

 

Flowey isn’t a fan of fighting, but he’ll definitely put up a fight if he has to. He’ll fight to the very end. Does he tend to give up a lot? Yeah sure. Perhaps it’s all the Asriel in him. When he had to fight back against Chara’s control from killing humans in the village. When he tried until the end, when he gave up on determination, and dusted away…

Flowey perhaps made the world get stuck in a time loop reset for about a year. Time was meaningless to him at some point. 2 weeks turned into years. Of course he always thought he was the only one who knew, after all no one else showed signs of going insane from repeating the same 2 weeks over and over.

That was until he met Sans.

From the get go, he had a feeling that skeleton wasn’t who he seemed to be. He made it his mission for half of those resets to figure out who he is. To tick him, to fight him.

To kill him.

He has played around with just about everyone. He’s met them all, figured out their deep true selves, befriended them, fought them, killed them. All except for these two brothers.

There was definitely a thing or two they were hiding. While he has his fun with Papyrus, Flowey was still unsatisfied. ESPECIALLY because his brother Sans, always caught on, and ruined his plans. Forcing him to reset and start all over.

However, in one timeline. He finally got what he wished for, or at least he thinks he did.

Even when Sans would fight and kill him relentlessly, even after hurting Papyrus, he could never manage to tick Sans off, get a reaction out of him, make him feel ANYTHING.

And he knew very well that Sans knew that was the goal. Because if could get something out of Sans, it would tell Flowey a lot about him. And that was the point, sans didn’t want ANYONE to know anything about him. To remain a mystery.

However in one timeline, particularly the last one before Flowey Reset and let time pass on enough for Frisk to take over, Flowey did it.

He went the far extreme, and tried to brutally kill and torture Papyrus, especially infront of Sans restraining him.

What he wasn’t expecting was Papyrus putting up one hell of a fight. It was genuinely more terrifying than his brother. Seems like Papyrus was triggered at Flowey for causing sans so much distress. Well that’s one more thing to learn about the tall one.

As for the short one…

Well. All it took was Sans himself seeing Papyrus in distress, and dusting in his arms, to finally get a reaction out of the guy. But it was definitely one he was not expecting AT ALL.

Flowey braced himself. He was strong after killing half the underground but still, the Karma of that guy definitely was a pain in the stem.

But then…nothing happened. He didn’t fight back. Even after trying to get on his last nerves.

Instead. He watched the skeleton slowly and somberly walk back home. By the time he popped over to go see, Sans was just there. At least physically. But his mind was gone.

2 weeks gone by, watching. Nothing. No one.

Flowey debated on killing the monster at his lowest. He’s never been able to land a good hit on him. Well, he got what he wanted, in a sort of sense. He finally managed to get him dead. He watched as that skeleton finally dusted himself off.

“…”

That timeline told him everything he needed to know about Sans. Even when the dissatisfied numbness crept in, it still hit him heavily. He’s seen his fair share of suicides from these characters, but this one hit a little too close to home for some reason.

That sack of bones…is sad. Sad enough to easily be pushed towards the darkness of death. Whatever his backstory is, whatever his true feelings are, they make him miserable enough to be able to take his own life once you really make him lose everything he had left.

Flowey may have been unsatisfied that he could never find out what EXACTLY was the story behind those brothers, but he felt like he found out enough in that timeline.

Of course at first Flowey felt no remorse or guilt for everything he did. That was until Frisk came along, he sort of got a taste of his own medicine.

Unlike Sans, he can remember resets, but when it comes to True Resets, Flowey was as clueless as Sans, just aware things happened, but with no definitive proof, yet it was still as haunting to be aware as to have full memory.

And when Frisk finally gave them a permanent happy ending, when he became Asriel again, all those emotions hit him at once.

Hence why he insisted on staying in the underground, the pain and guilt was a lot, but Frisk convinced him eventually.

He thought everything would proceed as normal. But there was something off about Sans. It reminded him back of his old resets, and that very last timeline before Frisk.

He remembers how he followed him to the garden. It was odd, Sans kept spacing out and stuff. And next thing you know, that guy started aggressively gripping on some roses, getting stabbed with thorns.

It definitely caught him off guard, he’s never seen him angry before. When confronting him, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. He knew something was up, he’s seen it before.

But he did nothing to stop it. He’s simply a character now in the story, frisk was the new god.

But maybe he could do something.

He heard news about how Sans had isolated himself for nearly 2 weeks now. It brought a dreadful sense of deja vu. So as usual, he went over to watch the guy. And surly enough, same look. Same empty nothingness.

Flowey didn’t have a good feeling about this. Especially because he couldn’t figure out a reason WHY sans would feel like this now of all time.

He decided to tell no one however, and just kept watch. And surly enough, he saw how Sans left the house early in the morning, walking slowly.

The same somberly walk he did in that timeline.

Flowey panicked for a bit. At first he tried to wake up Papyrus, but seeing as how fast that short one was teleporting, he instead chased after him, not before throwing a quick rock at Papyrus’s window.

He tried confronting Sans, asking what the hell he was doing, where he was going. He just coldly kept responding,

“goin’ to Mt Ebott.”
“I don’t fit up here.”
“belong underground.”

Now, he personally could care less, if Sans felt the need to move back underground he could, I mean there’s a fair share of monsters that stayed underground or at least migrate there often. And he could’ve believed that Sans just couldn’t adapt to the surface like them, but seeing as how Sans walked all the way to the other side into the underground, it was clear that he was about to throw his life away…literally.

Flowey tried to talk him out of it, albeit a bit aggressive and unhelpful. But he kept getting the same responses over and over.

“j u s t g i v e u p . i d i d .” he whimpered.

“Ugh I won’t give up!! I’m not a quitter like you and you should know that by now. Dammit just stop this nonsense and let me—I don’t know??? Uh help you??”

“w h y e v e n t r y ?” He continued to weep

“Why?! WHY?! Augh are you serious!! If you dust yourself off like this you’re gonna ruin the happy ending for everyone!! Those idiots all care about your stupid dumbass. Do you have any idea how agonizing it would be making Frisk reset again to to make sure your ass stays alive? Is that really what you want??”

“Y o u ‘ l l n e v e r s e e t h e m a g a i n .” he croaked.

“Huh?? What are you—“ it then hit him. This was the exact same dialogue Sans would say when he was a lost soul. He recalls how absolutely shitty he felt feeling his emotions.

“j u s t g i v e u p . i d i d .” he whimpered.

It then hit him that Sans is not there at all. His mind was lost long ago.

“Ugh fantastic, have I been talking to a wall this whole fucking time?!”

“w h y e v e n t r y ?” He continued to weep

“AUGH!!!!” Flowey knew that at this point, this was out of his control. Even when he wrapped his vines around his ankles to prevent the guy from jumping, it wasn’t enough. He needed someone to get through to him mentally as well.

Flowey reached over to get his phone. He still has no idea how the hell he can store items but now’s not the time for that. He gives Frisk a quick call and informs them of Sans. Apparently Sans left a suicide note and everyone knows about his disappearance.

Well that’s fun. Sans won’t be able to hide his way out of this one after this. But that’s later. For now he waited for Frisk to sneak out of their friend’s house. With determination, Frisk got there fast. Perhaps monster magic influence as well but whatever. They finally got there.

“Well.” He said, "Sorry but I tried!! He’s your problem now” he said, letting go of Sans and disappearing, staying nearby in case of a worst case scenario. But when Sans finally snapped out of it and got away from the giant ass hole in the ground, he left.

As curious as he was to learn more about Sans, he learned his lesson long ago about getting too curious and obsessed over someone. Part of him felt responsible for all this but he just played the waiting game in the meantime.

When he went back to see if there was any mess, well there was indeed chaos. Papyrus panicking and crying all over the place as the others try to help. As predicted, these guys care about the dumb trash bag enough to put them all in stress.

A couple minutes later,

He watched as Sans and Frisk happily walked together back home, looks like everything worked out in the end. Sans dropped Frisk off to the friends house before he headed towards home.

The real sans would’ve not even dare go near home right now. So he really has no clue about anything. Flowey couldn’t help but find that hilarious, but he’s not a villain, he decided to give Sans a nice heads up. And to confirm a few things.

Before he got home, he popped up in his front yard.

 

“Well well well, looks like you’re in reallll trouble now” said the snarky flower.

Sans sighed in annoyance. “What do you need you little weed.”

He felt a bit offended. “Whattt…? Don’t give me that attitude! Not after that scare you gave us.” He said rolling his eyes.

“Wait, what…? You know too…? Who told y—“

The flower interrupted, “Of course I know you idiot!! Who do you think was the one that went to get Frisk?! Ugh I had a feeling you’d forget our entire conversation!”

“What conversation?” Sans said genuinely puzzled.

Flowey let out a heavy sigh, he was really frustrated that all his efforts were ignored. “I found your stupid ass heading for that mountain! I followed you there and next ya know, you’re about to dust yourself off like nothing!!”

He didn’t care how blunt he was or how uncomfortable he made Sans feel, unlike him, he loves expressing his thoughts to others. If he didn’t hear him then, then he will definitely hear what he has to say now.

“You kept mumbling on and on about belonging nowhere and how you only belong in the underground and now you can’t move on in the surface. Yeah well, I would’ve believed ya if you went through the other darn side of the cave, not down the freaking hole!!”

Sans tried to awkwardly look away but the flower still kept rambling.

“I had to restrain your ass down to the ground with my vines to prevent you from jumping!!” He complained.

Sans held his head in confusion, “h-how come I can’t recall any of this…?”

Looks like this guy’s memories and focus on reality was more fucked up than he originally thought.

“Hell if I know! Maybe see a doctor about that memory problem as well!! Although maybe I’m partly to blame for it…” he trailed off before getting riled up again.
“I tried talking to you, but you kept crying on and on about “Just give up, I did” “why even try?” “You’ll never see them again” wah wah wah y'know for a second I thought you were talking to me, but then I remembered that’s the same ass dialogue your lost soul says! So that’s when I really knew your mind wasn’t there at all. So I quickly notified Frisk to get your stupid ass down because at this point it was out of my control!” He said angrily.

There was a long awkward silence between them, before Sans spoke up, “And…no offense but, since when do you care—“

Flowey took very much offense to that, “What the—I..! Ugh—my word—!!” He said dramatically.

But he has a point, why does he care so much? Was it out of guilt? Empathy? Care for the others? He can’t pinpoint one exact reason.

Sans rolled his eyes as Flowey spoke, “Don’t tell me you forgot our last conversation as well!!"

“Uhhhh…” he said, embarrassed trying to recall what the flower meant.

This pissed him off, don’t tell him that even his meaningful first ever apology was disregarded as well.
“Ugh!! I should’ve known. Your suicidal ass gripping on those rose thrones to death! Should’ve reported you then…”

Sans awkwardly said “No yeah,remember that day actually.”

“Ah, good, so you must remember my shitty apology then!” He said.

“Yeah…” replied Sans rubbing the back of his head.

There was a few moments of silence before Flowey spoke softly, “Well…I won’t keep you waiting any longer, good luck, because you’re about to face the actions of your consequences right now~” he said snarkly.

“Wha—?”
“And don’t forget it next time, if you die, ILL KILL YOU!” He hissed before disappearing into the ground immediately.

It was weird, but it was his way of showing he cares perhaps. He’s not perfect like Papyrus or Toriel, but he tries at least now, unlike before.

Now he just waits for the show to go down.

 

Papyrus remembers how hard his soul dropped when he read that first sentence. He immediately started screaming for his brother running around the house. Looking in every nook and cranny.

He was hoping to at least find him alive but he was more worried that he’d never even find his dust if worse comes to worst.

He didn’t care how much of a mess he was making, absolutely nothing was more important than his brother. He kept reading the letter to look for any clues, but it just felt like getting stabbed with every sentence. He could barely even read it at all with tears in his eyes sobbing profusely.

He immediately called his friends one by one to ask if they had seen or heard of Sans at all, but they all gave the same response. They have not heard or seen him in the last 2 weeks.

Of course, he couldn’t lie, or hide his worry to them, much less the sobs. Everyone one by one immediately came over. The last thing he wanted was so much attention, but maybe it was for the best, they could all split up and search for sans.

Human Frisk wanted to help, but Toriel felt like it was too serious of a matter, so she dropped Frisk off at a friend’s house.

Papyrus felt guilty that everyone was wasting time comforting him but they had a point. If he wanted to help sans, he needed to help himself first. So he took the time to calm down and let himself get comforted, at least to be stable enough to think more clearly.

During that time, everyone tried to think back and remember where it all went wrong. What was the turning point that led Sans wanting to make an attempt on his own life? They definitely noticed something was wrong for the past 2 weeks, but before that…

No…

No, no, the signs were all there. The red flags, they were always there. It was there the whole time.

They were all just too ignorant to realize sooner.

It should’ve been obvious the day of the party. Shortly after everyone officially integrated on the surface, a huge party was thrown in celebration. Everyone was having fun,

Except for Sans.

This party happened just a few weeks before that dinner incident with Toriel, and a few months after breaking the barrier. By then Sans was forced to see a doctor by Papyrus to look into his sleeping problems. He was prescribed sleeping medication shortly after. But ever since then, Sans had been slowly slipping. Little by little.

And no one noticed. He lied and told them he was fine, and they believed it. They fell for it because they thought he truly was ok, because he was acting the same way he always did.

Turns out, he was never ok at all to begin with. And it should’ve been the most obvious during that party.

Sans claimed he simply was not much of a party person. So he spent almost the entire time alone. Distancing himself away from the crowd, off in corners or even outside.

Toriel recalls following him once, to talk to him, perhaps convince him to join, or at least figure out what the problem was. It almost seemed like Sans was going to confess his burdens, but backed out at the last minute.

 

“Do you ever wonder what the point in all this is? Like why does this all even matter?” He said somberly. Holding a cactus for some odd reason.

She remembers how Sans said he was hungry but lost his appetite thinking about the pricks of the cactus. Was he planning on eating it?

That would’ve killed him if he did…

“Pardon? I’m afraid I do not understand what you mean…” she replied confused.

‘I hold so many secrets, so many burdens, it’s drowning me. I feel like I’m going to explode any second.’ Sans looked over at Toriel. “Say Tori…if I confess something to you…

‘If I tell her the truth, if I tell her about absolutely everything, the timelines, the universes, the resets.’

“Would ya still see me the same…?”

‘would she still love me the same? Can I or can I not hide this?’

“Confess what…?” She spoke softly. Expecting something entirely different.

At the realization, Sans held back the urge to break down crying. He backed out at the last second and instead accidentally asked her out for dinner. He smiled. Despite how fake the smile was. Despite how lonely he felt in a room full of people.

He thought maybe he just needed to forget about it all, just move on. Weeks later the dinner happened but he didn’t feel any better at all. In fact he felt worse than ever. In that moment he realized he can never be happy ever again like he used to.

 

“He was going to reach out to me that night…but I did not listen…” Toriel confessed as the rest shared their guilt and perspective on the situation.

“Well…I say we’ve had enough moping around! Lets go out there and look for that bag of bones, even if it’s the last thing we do!!” Undyne exclaimed, getting up from her seat where she was holding Papyrus.

“W-well I doubt he…o-overdosed. If he did he wou-wo-would have convulsed immediately a-and well…y-you said h-his…dust—wasn’t anywhere to be f-found—P-papyrus…are there any c-clues that sa-s-sans possibly left in h-his note…?” Asked Alphys.

“Yeah dude! Let us see the note—“ said Undyne before being caught off guard from Papyrus’ outburst.

Papyrus, who felt like the note was too personal to be passed around like it’s some sort of elementary school note filled with gossip, suddenly stood up and ripped up the letter in tiny shreds.

“NO!!” He yelled while doing so. “NO, THERE’S NOTHING!! NO clues whatsoever!!! It’s just filled with nothing but h-horrible things he said a-a…about hi—!” He said breaking into tears not finishing his sentence. Burying his face in his hands as Undyne walked over to wrap her arms around him.

“Ok look I’m sorry, calm down ok? We’ll find him and we’ll help ok?” Reassured Undyne while Alphys was also Apologizing.

“She is correct. We cannot help a hurting person if we are also hurt.” Said Asgore.

“Ok…ok…” Papyrus said sniffing and wiping his tears away. “I’m ready!” He said determinedly.

“Then let us not waste any more time. We should get a move on” added on Toriel.

 

Just as everyone was getting ready to leave, Papyrus swung the door open, and there he was.

“SANS?!”

Papyrus couldn’t believe it at first. Did Sans really just pull a cruel joke on them? Was he here the whole time and just using his time and space powers to be avoided? Was this a fake sans? Or was he imagining him?

“Woah—hey paps, uh and everyone else here too? What’s going on?” He chuckled, “are y'all having a party or som—“

Well it was definitely him. But regardless, Papyrus launched himself forward to hug him just to make sure.

“SANS!!” Yelled out papyrus, as the rest yelled along with him in relief. Confirming it was him.

It was definitely him. All that Papyrus cared in that moment was the relief that his brother was alive.

“Woah there! Easy pal…what—“ sans froze when he saw his brother sobbing. “Paps..? Bro? Hey bro, w-what’s?? Why are you crying?? Are you ok I—“

Really?? Was he REALLY asking him why he was crying? Can’t he notice just how much he cares about Sans? Can’t Sans really see how much people love him?

In sobs, Papyrus screamed out, “SANS!! PLEASE NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!”

“D-do what again…?”

Papyrus’ relief was slowly washing away with anger. He cannot be serious right now. Is he really trying to pretend like nothing happened? He sniffed as he relied, “T-THE NOTE SANS! YOU LEFT THAT NOTE IN YOUR BED AND—“

“What…note…?” He asked concerningly.
Papyrus got more frustrated, “SERIOUSLY SANS?! YOU LEFT THAT NOTE IN YOUR BED AND—and…”

Papyrus paused when he saw the genuine look of confusion and fear on his brother’s face. As well as the depressingly tired bags under his eye socket. Dark with a tint of red like he’s been crying, and closer examination, he looks like he was based on the marks down his cheek bones.

Maybe for once his brother wasn’t lying.

He then recalled how Sans has been having weird memory problems the last couple of months. Papyrus assumed it was because Sans wasn’t resting properly, hence why he insisted Sans on seeing a doctor about it which got him prescribed medication to sleep. However sans always tried to play it off as a typical joke.

And he fell for it, because maybe this memory problem was more serious than he thought, especially after everyone told him how bad Sans had been spacing out lately. “Disassociating” claimed Alphys..

He calmed himself down and gently asked to confirm his suspicions, “Sans…what…what’s the last thing you remember…?”

 

“I…” Sans began before nervously looking away. He looked guilty almost.

“Sans, please…” he begged.

 

Sans sighed, as he began to explain. “I…I remember changing out of my clothes from last night after the dinner…I said I was gonna bathe but didn’t, then…I dunno bro, I just remembered what happened right now and—“

What…? The dinner…? But that…that was—

“Sans…” Papyrus said with major concern. “That dinner night was 2 weeks ago…”

Papyrus was more concerned now. He wants to believe his brother is once again lying, but why would he lie about that? Seems like a horrible excuse. And that genuine look of confusion on his face told him everything.

Did Sans really black out for 2 weeks straight? Or did he just forget everything he did? Oh Sans…

Papyrus looked behind him to see the concerned faces of everyone inside. He noticed that Papyrus was right between the doorway and Sans was outside still. He looks back to Sans when he hears a faint small “huh—?” From him.

Sans tried to desperately play it off as a causal slip up, laughing very nervously, “haha…right of course, I uh—totally knew that—! You see I—“

Nope. Not falling for it this time. He needed to get straight to the point. No more waiting or stalling or avoiding.

Papyrus remembers how Sans just said he remembered where he was just now before this. He needs to know where he was. He needs to know that he wasn’t about to…

“Sans!” Papyrus said, kneeling down holding both of his shoulders, gently shaking him, "Where were you?! Where were you just now?!?!”

“I…I…” Sans panicked a bit. But papyrus couldn’t help but insist. He tried giving Sans space before and look where that got him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and Undyne spoke.

“Dude, calm down—“

“Please brother!! Please!! Please just tell me you weren’t going to— dust yourself off like that I—“ Papyrus paused when he felt his brother start to tremble. “Sans…?”

He looked down to see his brother, who was indeed shaking and held his head down trying to hide.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered, as he dug his face into his brother's chest. “I’m sorry dammit im so sorry…” he croaked.

Papyrus felt like he gained clarity. Perhaps to focus on helping Sans. This was finally the opportunity to help. No more fake smiles or avoidant jokes. This was the real Sans.

He could tell how guilty he was, and wanted to reassure him that he shouldn’t feel bad about hurting Papyrus. “Sans…hey I-it’s ok brother I—“ he felt his bones grow cold when Sans spoke again.

“I don’t wanna die Pap…I don’t wanna die I never wanted to I just—I—“ he began to gently and quietly sob into his brother. Papyrus looks behind him with pure heartbreak in his eyes. He saw the sadness in their eyes.

As he turned his head back to Sans, he slowly wrapped his arms around him.

Perhaps this is what he needed.
Maybe he just needed a good cry. Maybe even many of them

 

He tried his best to comfort him, “Hey hey hey—shhhh…it’s ok sans, it’s ok now…you’re—“

Sans began to hiccup, “No paps, I-it’s not ok, I’m…”

He could tell that right then and there, sans finally wanted to admit that he wasn’t ok. That he wasn’t all fine. Because sans couldn’t even bother faking smiles anymore either.

He felt the rest of his friends embrace Sans in a group hug. It felt warm and comforting, and Papyrus could only hope Sans could feel that in his soul as well.

After a few minutes, they all let go but Sans tried to stay as small and hidden as he could, staring daggers at the ground to avoid eye contact.

It hurt him more than anything, and he couldn’t possibly imagine what he must be feeling at that moment. Sans probably felt ashamed in a sort of sense.

A man who spent years hiding his true feelings, being avoidant of themselves. It was obvious that Sans wanted to resort to that sort of behavior in this moment more than ever.

The old Papyrus would’ve thought that Sans needed space, and would’ve granted that to him, but now he knows more than ever that…that is the last thing he needs.

“Sans…” spoke papyrus,

“We need to talk.”

Sans, who was still facing downwards making himself small, slightly turned his head to the side and somberly spoke “paps we talk about this tomorr—“

He didn’t even let sans finish when he protested, “No Sans!!! No!! Last time you said that you shut yourself away for two weeks and look where that got you!!”

Well crap, he can’t argue there.

After a few moments of silence, Sans sighed and finally spoke, “Ok…fair. I’ll tell ya where I was then.”

Everyone stood there giving him all the attention. Papyrus said “Well…? Go on then, we’re listening!”

Sans rubbed the back of his head, eyes looking to the side as he chuckled, “Heheh, well this is gonna sound a little pathetic but, the kid kinda saved me…”

“Wait?? Do you mean my child?!” Exclaimed Toriel.

“Uh yeah…I dropped them off just now near their friends house where they were stayin, according to the kiddo.”

“Ah! Please excuse me, I shall make a quick phone call” she said, excusing herself deeper in the house, presumably to call Frisk or the friend’s parents.

After a while, Undyne asked, “Well, where the hell where you this morning??”

Sans nervously continued, “Well…uh yeah. Apparently I…well I was all the way up Mt. Ebott a—“

“WHAT?!” Yelled everyone in surprise as sans flinched from their reaction.

Alphys began to question, “B-but Sans…! That’s miles away from here!! How—“
“Dude how long were you out for?? And why didn’t you respond to any calls or messages we sent?!” Interrupted Undyne, as Papyrus held an arm out trying to calm everyone down and letting sans speak.

“Oh that? Uh…I may or may not have thrown my phone down the drain on my way home last night—or, at least I thought it was last night…” he said looking up at Papurus. “Were you being serious when you said that it was two weeks ago??”

“What?—yes, I was being serious sans!! Why would I ever joke about that??” Exclaimed Papyrus “D-did you seriously not have your phone on your for two weeks?! Is that why you kept borrowing my computer???”

“T-that explains why he never picked up or answered us for weeks…or why I couldn’t track his location down…” chimed Alphys in as Papyrus sighed.

“Ok ok but answer my other question, were you gone all night or something?? How the hell did you get there so fast and back??” demanded Undyne.

“Now now, let’s give him some room alright?” Reassured Asgore.

Sans began to explain, “I…I honestly don’t know. I assume I must have used my short cuts to get there because that’s how I got back down but…” he looks around anxiously seeing Papyrus give him a look that told him that it was a story hard to believe. “I-I really don’t remember at all getting there…I just remember going to bed from that night and then next thing I knew the kid was yelling for me sobbing in my arms because—“ he covered his mouth to stop.

One could only assume what he attempted to do up that mountain.

Papyrus exhaled, “So…you really don’t remember do you…?” Sans just shook his head in response.

Toriel sighed in relief, “Thank goodness you did not do anything harmful with the medication…”

“What meds? Oh you mean those. Uh, I finished those like weeks ago anyways. Probably a month considering how much time actually passed by.”

“What? And you didn’t refill them? Why??” Questioned Papyrus

“Because Paps, they didn’t help at all. I saw no point in them.”

“You should’ve gone to the doctor again to see if they could’ve changed the dosage or—or something!”

Sans just sighed, “yeah I know but…like I said, I just didn’t see why I should care about those things then…that is until Frisk helped me see again.”

“I see…” spoke Asgore. “Frisk truly is a determined caring hero through and through.”

Sans spoke up once more, “I-it wasn’t just the kid…” he said hesitantly. “Apparently the Flower was there too and—well all of you have also kinda…saved me…”

Alohys had a feeling she knew what he meant, “I-I-I…” but Undyne looked in confusion, “What do you mean by that?”

“Could you please elaborate my friend?” Questioned Asgore

Papyrus and Toriel exchanged glances at each other, the both of them knew, but it didn’t make them feel any better about it.

Sans just grabbed at his head and started on rambling rant, “I-I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I keep spacing out lately, I black out a lot, I keep forgetting things my-my mind just k-keeps getting lost and being invaded by these dark intrusive thoughts I don’t it like and everyday every hour feels like a blur time just feels so meaningless as weeks and months just all mix up together which makes me feel like absolute garbage that I can’t fucking pull myself together like normal anymore im so tried all the damn time a-and—“ he began to chuckle in despair, “and next thing I know I’m about to do the stupidest crap ever if it weren’t for yall pulling me out of them like A-Alphys at the cliff or Undyne when I first had those stupid pills which didn’t even work at all or help me or fix anything! heheh then there was that Flower snapping me out of patheticly gripping some rose thorns to death or Asgore when I was near the road or Tori at that shitty party with fucking cactuses and at the useless dinner when I held the—“

“SANS!!” Papyrus said, snapping him out of it. He was worried there, he had called his name twice and Sans kept going on and on. It wasn’t until he physically put a hand on his shoulder and yelled his name out to his face for a third time when he stopped.

As much as Papyrus liked that sans was finally opening up about his feelings, he knew that Sans being sent into a panic attack of some sorts would not be good either. And it even looked like Sans was ready to hurt himself based on how aggressively he started gripping in his skull. The others just looked worried.

“Calm down brother…” he said.

“D-dammit.” He said, covering his face.

“Shhh…it’s going to be alright brother. We’re going to help you ok?” He said soothing him.

“I don’t n—“
“Don’t you DARE say you don’t need help Sans. I know that even you can’t lie to yourself like this.”

Sans stayed silent. Before saying “I don’t wa—“
“And don't say you don’t want it either because obviously you do. All of this,” he said gesturing around Sans, “is clearly a cry for help. You just need to accept and see for yourself…”

Sans just sighed in defeat, as he thumped his head against Papyrus. He just patted his skull and rubbed his back in comfort.

After a brief moment, Papyrus spoke, “Well. Let’s get you inside, so we can keep talking about this—“

Sans immediately looked up to face him, “huh?? Talk about what? I thought we were done here?”

“Really sans? Listen, we may now know what you are feeling, but we still need to know *why*. WHY you are feeling this way, what the root cause of all this is. And sure maybe there are none but knowing you, I know there’s definitely at LEAST one. But I cannot assume anymore Sans. You’re going to have to tell us.”

“B-but. That’s not—can’t we do this tomorrow or something—“

“Sanss…”

“C-come on bro…we don’t have to do this…right guys?” He said looking over to the rest, but they all just looked away awkwardly saying nothing.

“Look brother, I understand this is a lot of you, and as much as I’d love love to give you some space, I believe I’ve given you space long enough, we cannot keep stalling or dismissing the issue any longer!”

Sans just sighed, maybe he understands why Frisk cares, or his brother, but why is everyone else so worried about him?
“Why do you guys insist in helping me anyways, why do you care—“

“Of course we care about you dude!!” Interrupted Undyne.

“You’re one of our beloved friends Sans, we worry deeply about you and your well being very much.” Added on Toriel.

“That is correct, you’ve been nothing but kind and helpful towards us all these years. Always understanding, helping you is the least we could do here.” Explained Asgore.

“I-I’m not sure w-what gave the impression that w-we didn’t…” chimes in Alphys.

Well, she’s not wrong. Now that he really thinks about it, there’s no real proof or evidence at all that they DIDN'T care about him. Maybe in those timelines he was just misunderstood, but really thinking about it, he knows deep down that their love was genuine. So for the life of him he can’t think of why such thought ever plagued his mind.

“I…” Sans looked away in shame. He then rubbed the back of his skull, “Heh, I guess I owe yall an apology…”

“Nonsense brother! You have nothing to apologize for!!”

“But…I made yall worried and—“

“And that’s because we love and care about you brother! You never have to apologize for that.”

Sans sighed, “heh, guess I can’t win today can I?”

Papyrus worriedly looked at him for a second, before giving him a reassuring smile, “well then, can we talk brother…?”

Sans hunched over and looked to the side. After a brief moment, he took a deep breath, and said, “fine, but…it just be me and you? In my room preferably, just for now. I need at least a break, this has been a lot for me in one day. But I’d rather get it over with everyone else today as well.”

“…Very well brother! I can do that.” He said in reassurance. Suddenly, Sans’ stomach growled, he blushed in embarrassment. “Ah! But first let me get you something, just wait right here brother!!” He said running off to the kitchen.

“Papyrus wait—“ but it was too late. He quickly stuffed his hands in his pocket and awkwardly looked around avoiding anyone in that room. He didn’t want to be left alone with them, the guilt, embarrassment and awkwardness was killing him. And they could tell now because his mask fell off long ago.

“Do you uh…er—would you like for us to leave orrrr…” asked Undyne nervously.

Sans sighed, “Ehhh…do what you want, I can’t think right now…”

Shortly after, Papyrus came back in, “Very well brother! Here!” He said, handing him a plate of food. “Now give me another second while I prepare the room!” He said going up stairs.

Sans exhaled looking down at the plate of food, “Um. You guys can stay if ya want, but if you have better things to do then you’re free to go, I don’t mind—“

“Dude, nothing's more important in this world than your well being!!!” Exclaimed Undyne.

“She is not wrong, if you would like for us to stay we can” add on Asgore more tranquilly.

“I-I mean you don’t have to—“

“But we want to. I do not mind and surely the others feel the same.” Kindly interrupted Toriel.

“This could take a while and—“

“W-we’ll wait here all that we have t-to wait then! W-we will try to be here for y-you from n-now on and help!” Said Alphys confidently.

Sans just sighs in defeat. “Okay…”

A few seconds later, Papyrus called over from upstairs, “You can come up now Sans!!”

Sans began making his way up, but before that, he looked up at Alphys and Asgore, “You…you can tell them the truth. I…” he said, turning around. “I don’t really care anymore.”

“W-wait…is…is that what’s been b-bother you…?” Questioned Alphys.

“Heh. Barley the tip of the iceberg Al.” He said walking away.

Chapter Text

As sans entered his room, he was both caught off guard yet not surprised. His room was completely empty. Except for some curtains, his bed, some blankets, pillows, and a trash can. However he noticed quickly that none of those things were his except for the bed. Everything was from Papyrus’s room.

“Go on, have a seat” said Papyrus who was sitting on the mattress, patting a spot right next to him.

Sans cautiously walked in and closed the door behind him. He then slowly walked over and carefully sat down, setting the plate of food on his lap.

After a few awkward moments of silence, sans finally asked, “so…uhh, what happened to my room…?”

“I don’t know brother, I should be asking you that question.” He answered.

Sans took a moment to think about it, as he looked away trying to remember. “Hmm…” he placed a hand on his mouth, as the memory came through to him again. “Ah, I see.”

“Did you remember now?” asked Papyrus.

“Heh, eh yeah. I was givin away everything I had.” replied Sans

“And why’s that?”

Sans was stumped, “I…I dunno bro…”

“Was it because you felt like you didn’t need these things? That is what you told me. Do you feel undeserving of basic essential needs for yourself brother?”

Sans looked away tiredly, he gave a big but very sad smile, “why’d you even ask if you know all the answers bro.”

“Because brother, this is about trying to get you to talk about your feelings so that I can accurately understand you more. I’m simply making assumptions here, trying to get the conversation going. Or at least started…I need to know what you really feel and I need to hear them from you, hear the full truth. Everything, all of it, at your own pace of course…”

His smile began to drop, “I don’t really see the point in all th-“

“You matter sans! You matter just as much as I or anyone else in the room that’s downstairs. And I’m so sorry that you’ve felt like you don’t for the longest of time, I the Great Papyrus shall help you see worth in you and life again, but I’m afraid I cannot help you if I don’t know where to help! It’s like you’re a hurting animal trying to hide all the wounds.”

Sans turned his head and scratched his neck, “heh, this is ironic, I’m not used to being judged like this, I’m usually the one doin all the judgin.”

“I am not trying to judge! Please do not feel ashamed of this, I’m sorry if I gave off that impression!” Papyrus reassured

“That’s not what I…eh, never mind. No need to apologize lil bro…”

There was a brief moment of silence before sans spoke up. “So…uh, where do we begin? Cause I sure ain’t got a clue.”

Suddenly his stomach growled, and Papyrus suggested, “how about you begin with that plate of food that’s right there in your hands!”

Sans nervously stared down at the plate, it was nothing but a sloppy dark scribbly mess. After a minute or so Papyrus asked, “what’s wrong brother? Do you not want spaghetti? Would you like me to fetch you something else?

Ah, so that’s what that was. Trying to picture a nice plate of spaghetti made it easier for him to try and pick up the fork to try and take a bite, but he hesitated putting it near his mouth.

He clacked the utensil down, “I’m sorry bro…it’s just that I…for some reason this isn’t easy for me right now…”

“Worry not dear brother! I understand!!” Papyrus said cheerfully.

“Ya do?”

“Why yes!” He reassured.

“But…why…? Do you—idk, find it a bit…pathetic that I can’t be normal and do average things anymore?”

“Not at all brother! You are absolutely not pathetic at all! Never say that about yourself ok!! It’s fine and normal to struggle on certain things, the important part is that you get the help and support you need!”

“Man…this is too much for me…”

“I know brother…you’re probably not used to having such understanding and support about all these hidden things. And you’ve probably had your fair share of talking and…other things for the day, but I’m afraid we cannot put this off for any longer! We kind of ran out of options now…”

“Yeah…I understand…”

After a few seconds, Papyrus slowly and cautiously mentioned, “is…is it because of our old home sans? Is that what’s been on your mind?”

Sans said nothing. Which maybe it was progress, because usually Sans always immediately tried to switch topics or stop the conversation at the mere mention of it, he would never even let Papyrus finish speaking. But no response meant he was at least trying to stop avoiding this conversation.

However, there was a good moment of silence, maybe almost 5 minutes, before Papyrus blurted out,

“Is…is it because of the resets sans?? Is that what’s been bothering you?? The—“

Sans turned his head so fast, locking all his focus in on Papyrus as he asked in a serious tone,

“w h a t…?”

Papyrus began to grow nervous! “I-I-I-If y-you don’t know what a reset is at all then that’s o-ok we c-can talk about it later I swear I just—“

“you what…what did you say…” sans slowly began to shift his body towards Papyrus, setting the plate aside, inching closer to grab his shoulders.

“Papyrus…how…” after a few seconds he sat back down and looked away, grabbing the side of his head.

“For how long…I…how much do you—“

“A-Admittedly I do not know much…I…” Papyrus hesitated before continuing, “When we were moving, I accidentally dropped one of your notebooks from the lab…”

Shit.

“A-and…the curiosity got the better of me…b-b-but I swear it’s only because I was worried about you brother! I took a peak and well…”

shitttt.

“Let’s just say…it explained a lot of weird feelings I’ve had since the human arrived…these...deja-vus. and these weird dreams I have sometimes…and I suppose little Flowey is involved as well but I cannot recall for sure…”

“Fuck.” He said burying his face in his hands.

“Sans I-“

Sans then immediately looked up to face Papyrus with a sour expression, “you weren’t supposed to find out! You were never supposed to know! Dammit I-“ he looks away, “I tried so damn hard to protect you all from such knowledge! To peacefully live in ignorance and in bliss! Because knowing about it just messes you up!” He chuckles in despair, “I mean just look at where I am now!”

“Brother I—!”

“And now you’re telling me all of my efforts were for nothing?? The secrets, the lies, the mask, bottling it up…That all that!? I…all that hard work…it was all for nothing…”

“No Sans I…” Papyrus looked away, “it’s ok…I’m sorry…”

“No no…don’t apologize…I can’t blame ya…” he sighed.

“It’s not your fault either, brother.”

He turned to look towards Papyrus, “huh…?”

“Don’t blame yourself either! You shouldn’t feel responsible for all this, don’t feel obligated to carry the burden of everything on your own.”

Sans gazed away for a few seconds, he unconsciously took a bite of his food, and with his mouth full he said, “let’s get back to this afterwards, for now let’s talk about something else.”

Papyrus, trying to hide his disgust from sans eating while talking, said with reassurance, “of course brother! Whatever you want, I’m listening. And I’ll wait for it too…” trying to not only hint at his patience, but also tell Sans that he should eat his food before talking.

Sans sighed finishing the food after a couple of minutes, as he put the plate down, he spoke up, “Papyrus…look, I…the truth is…”

“Yes…?”

Sans cracked a sad smile, “look bro, to be honest, I envy you.”

“Me…?” Spoke Papyrus in surprise, taken aback.

“Yeah…”

“Me? You’re envious of me? I mean I suppose I could see why but…”

The short skeleton just rested his head on his hand as he began to explain, “I mean like, just look at the way you thrive bro. Always energetic, enthusiastic, full of hope and optimism, hardworking. You were able to move on. Move FORWARD into the future. But not me. I couldn’t do that. No matter how much I tried or lied to myself, I never really got over it…I mean that’s probably because you don’t remember much of our old home either, do you?” He asked.

Papyrus looked away with a saddened expression, “I’m afraid I do not have much clear memories…everything is a blur now compared to then…I suppose I never thought to make sure to remember, like I’ve been forgetting…”

Sans remembered about his shitty drawing he made, ‘Don’t Forget.’

 

He wonders if maybe that’s where it all went wrong with him.

…

“Heh, yeah. See that’s the difference between you and I…”

Papyrus attempted to reach out for him, “B-but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it brother! I suppose it’s been my fault for always assuming you were ok with this new life, I should’ve known from the way you were always avoidant with the topic…”

“Nah, it’s my fault, I should’ve talked to you better about things…”

“But I could’ve also given you a little push to talk! Like I did today, I never did more…”

Sans spoke with a tired voice, “It’s not your fault bro. Just let me take responsibility for once.”

“I believe you’ve taken more responsibility than you ever should’ve by now.” Spoke Papyrus softly but serious.

Sans said nothing in response, after a few seconds, Papyrus spoke back up again, “Listen brother, we can sit here all day and blame ourselves for different things, but at the end of the day one thing stands clear.”

Sans turned to look over at him as he heard him say, “And it’s that you and I are brothers sans! We’ve only got each other, we have no other family, at least bone related. Even back then, it was always just me and you against the world for the longest time. And we should’ve stuck together that way, like two little peas in a pod. And sure we were always there for each other all these years but…perhaps not enough, maybe we weren’t doing things right…we depended on each other too much to love rather than just…helping one another…co exist for ourselves.”

Sans couldn’t help but crack a genuine smile despite how sad and tired his eyes looked, “heh, tibia honest, I’m surprised that skull of yours could get so wise, you really got my bones rattled over here.”

Papyrus rolled his eyes, “ugh, seriously sans!”

“Aye come on, I saw you smile!”

Papyrus smiled warmly, “Yes I know, and I hate it…”

Sans suddenly embraced his brother tightly in a hug, Papyrus, who was initially caught off guard, hugged him back.

“I love ya, bro.”

“I know Sans, I love you too dear brother…you mean alot to me.” He said pulling away from the hug to hold his shoulder and face him in the eye sockets, “I care about you deeply. You’re all I’ve ever had my whole life before gaining all these friends. I can’t ever imagine a world without you, which is why it pains me to see you hurting, and think such horrible things about yourself. It’s been made very clear to me now that I also mean the world to you, so I wish nothing but to help you because I also care just as much as you’ve always cared for me.”

Sans looked away to rub the back of his head, “ah jeez…just what the hell did I write in that letter bro…? May I see it?”

“Absolutely not brother! I believe you do not need to be reminded of those things you said, and even so you probably know the feeling anyways, I doubt they went away so easily.” Protested a papyrus kindly.

“Aw come on bro.”

“Nope! And even if I could, I can’t. I mayyyy or may not have ripped the letter up in shreds when I was upset, making sure no one else took a peak…” admitted Papyrus.

“Aw man, I’m sorry bro.” Spoke sans in regret.

Papyrus pat Sans on the head, “alright alright, enough with the apologies today! You only owed me one, not 50!”

“Heh, sor- er I mean…yeah…”

 

Papyrus exhaled, as he watched his brother yawn deeply.

 

Sans rubbed his eyes, as he tiredly said, “hey bro…?”

“Yes brother?”

“Would it be too much to ask if I could get a nap right now? Can’t really think like this…I can’t remember the last time I’ve slept properly…or at all for that matter…”

“Ah right, your sleeping problem…” he replied with sympathy.

“Heh…yeah…truth is, the reason why I have a messed up sleeping schedule is because I haven’t had normal dreams since we got here…” he explained, still shuffling around in tiredness.

“Come again?”

“At first, it would just be nightmares of…yknow…the cracks, us falling, how we ended up in this world in the first place…”

Papyrus went silent, “Ah…right…”

“Yknow it wasn’t that bad at first, like trauma never hurt nobody. It wasn’t until that flower started messing around with the timelines that really screwed me over…”

Papyrus said nothing as Sans continued to explain, “All my dreams, it was all fuzzy fragmented memories of the resets. At first it wasn’t too bad, but then well…all those “unpleasant” bad nightmares were…definitely from unpleasant past experiences to say the least…definitely didn’t get better once the kid came rolling along too.”

 

Papyrus took a deep breath, he started to feel deep regret looking back. Always scolding Sans for sleeping in too much, believing he’d slept all night, when really he’s been battling with insomnia or being awoken from “nightmares”. Always yelling at him when he took naps everywhere all the time.

‘He was just tired, trying to replenish the sleep he’d lost…’ he thought to himself.

A tired person probably has a hard time thinking things straight, not thinking certain things through. Making wise choices. Perhaps his brother was tired enough to not think about what he was going to do to himself. Too tired to think and process his emotions. In that moment he acknowledged the strength it took for Sans to even say anything to him today.

“Sans, of course you can rest, you don’t have to ask me that ever. And I’m so sorry for all the times I never let you sleep. Sure you could have told me but, maybe I should've taken it more easy on you, seen the signs sooner…”

“Bro I…”

His brother is tired, he’s been through a lot, and he deserves a well earned break. Perhaps one that’s been long overdue by now. Papyrus got up and said, “Alright brother! Go ahead and take some rest, you more than deserve it, we can talk about the rest later!! I’ll be here by your side to keep watch!”

“Oh…” he said disappointedly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah it’s nothing, it’s just that…” after a brief pause, he said “it’s just that, for some reason, I don’t do well when I’m around others, for some reason part of me refuses to fall asleep when someone else is present. It’s nothing personal but idk, maybe it’s just me wanting to be on guard, either for myself or others…”

“Ah, I see.” Said Papyrus, stroking his chin. “I suppose sleeping downstairs with the rest is a big no as well?”

“Yeah hell no.” Replied Sans seriously.

“Well, I’d love to leave you alone brother, but truth be told I’m a little anxious…”

“…You’re not saying that you think I’m gonna go o-“

“No no no of course not brother! I don’t think you’re…an active risk on yourself or anything…it’s just, well I can’t help but worry. Can you really blame me? I went through so many panic attacks this morning thinking I’d lost you! With all those short cuts of yours, I’m scared to lose track of you again…I know it’s not your fault but what if you black out again and leave?”

Sans stayed silent, eye lights gone. After a minute, he said “Well…not sure what the solution could be for now…”

The both of them stayed silent, until Papyrus got a lightbulb idea, “Stay right here brother! I got an idea!” He left the room as sans sat there for a good minute before he heard some jiggling up the stairs.

Papyrus walked in with a bell necklace, old Christmas decoration.
“Tada! You can wear this while you sleep! That way, you start moving, I’d come check up on you!”

He walks over to put it in him, “I know it’s not the best solution, but I believe it’s a nice temporary thing for now!”

“Heh, thanks bro.” He said with a soft smile.

Papyrus tucked Sans in bed, taking the empty plate, and walked out the door, “I hope you sleep well brother!”

As the door clicked shut, Sans dropped his smile. He stared at the ceiling and sighed. He was tired, but for once maybe he could fall asleep, even after everything.

Although it wasn’t easy. He probably stared in dissociation for a good 15 minutes before snapping out of it. A wave of disappointment and anger grew in him as he turned to his side in bed.

Sans felt disgusted. He probably hasn’t showered in a hot minute.
His body felt so heavy, like gravity was pushing him down to pin him on the bed. He couldn’t move or even lift a finger. Not like it was because he didn’t want to, he felt like he couldn’t.
He didn’t feel very comfortable despite the soft blanket, the pillow cushioning against his skull, and the mattress below.
Everything was dark. It was so depressing that it was numbing him.
He could physically feel the eye bags under his sockets just getting darker and deeper, his eyelids felt so heavy.
He felt so alone. So isolated, the loneliness made him feel just worse.
And time around him felt agonizing, he felt like both time was frozen in place yet also continuing on without him, as we were being left behind.

He was just so tired.

He felt like shit.

“Why do I wanna die so badly…?” He murmured to himself.

He doesn’t really want to kill himself, he knows how much of an inconvenience it would be to die. I mean, think of the unnecessary stress it would put others in, all the waste of money and time put towards a dead person.

Like if he threw himself into traffic that one day, it would’ve inconvenienced a lot of people. The other drivers, the police, paramedics, insurance companies.

Killing himself is just meaningless and a waste of time, it would do no good to anyone.

…

Well. Good news is he’s definitely not going to be attempting anything anytime soon,
unfortunately that doesn’t make the suicidal ideation go away.

Living for others and not killing himself for the sake of others is definitely a start, but he realizes that he needs to find purpose within himself. He can’t rely on the happiness of others, I mean look where that got him.

Sans couldn’t tell if he was half asleep or just mentally not there again, but he vaguely remembered hearing the door open for a second before closing again, presumably his brother checking up on him, he must've made some noise with the bell necklace when he turned over.

He probably lasted about another 15 minutes before finally falling asleep.

Part of him was half prepared to wake up back in Snowden soon…

 

.
.
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~ 30 minutes Earlier ~
.
.
.

 

A few seconds later, Papyrus called over from upstairs, “You can come up now Sans!!”

Sans began making his way up, but before that, he looked up at Alphys and Asgore, “You…you can tell them the truth. I…” he said, turning around. “I don’t really care anymore.”

“W-wait…is…is that what’s been b-bother you…?” Questioned Alphys.

“Heh. Barley the tip of the iceberg Al.” He said walking away.

“I…” Alphys felt her shoulders drop as she watched him walk away and head up stairs. She then looked away in sadness and did not move until she heard the door close.

“So, I’m assuming you’re gonna tell us what he’s talking about?” Questioned Undyne.

“I…I-I suppose we’ve been granted permission to say…” answered Alphys nervously.

“Is there something the both of you know about dear Sans that we do not?” Asked Toriel

“Ah, well…I suppose that is the case if he’s never informed you…” replied Asgore, who only exchanged looks between Alphys.

“I see…we might want to take a seat for this then.” Calmly said Toriel as she proceeded to sit down on one of the cushions of the couch.

As the rest soon followed, Asgore suggested, “How about we have some tea while we talk?”

Toriel just sighed, as she stood to get up. “Very well, you all wait here while I get some ready then.” She said leaving the room into the brother’s kitchen.

Asgore looked back in disappointment as he took a seat.

Just a few minutes later, Toriel came back with cups of tea for everyone and a tea pot, along with some snacks.

Toriel and Undyne sat by each other on one side while Alphys and Asgore sat together on the other side of the coffee table, facing each other.

As everyone served themselves the tea and took bites of the biscuits or cookies, Undyne spoke up again, “Well? Spill the beans already. What’s up with the guy? What’s got him acting all suicidal like that??”

“U-Undyne!” Alphys said, jumping in her seat and almost spilling the tea and crumbs, “L-let’s not be t-too blunt about these sorts of things, o-ok…?”

Undyne exhaled, "Alright, I’m sorry. It’s just that…I’m worried for the guy is all.”

“We understand your concerns, Undyne. We are all worried for him, but as he said so himself, “the truth” is not even “the tip of the iceberg”. So I believe he hides much more than he lets on.” Camly explained Toriel.

“Y-yes, that’s right. H-he did say that…w-which is h-honestly concerning considering the fact that whatever we DO know I-is already a huge deal in it of i-itself…” expressed Alphys while sipping her tea.

“Hmm, yes…you are not wrong there my friend.” Added on Asgore who also sipped on some tea.

Undyne set her cup down on the table and began to gesture around, “Ok well tell us! Because clearly whatever it is Sans isn’t going to tell us himself! Yet somehow he still wants us to know about it, so yeah.”

Toriel nodded in agreement.

Alphys looked around nervously, “O-oh boy…where do I even begin? I-I…”

“It appears that Sans, and Papyrus by that extent as well, are not from this realm, am I correct Alphys?” Calmly explained Asgore as he turned to look at Alphys.

“Huh? What do you mean by that??” Questioned Undyne.

“Are you implying that Sans and Papyrus are not from here? How would that work? Where else could they have originated from?” Toriel asked.

“A-another universe. Alternative universes, one parallel to ours. Sans and Papyrus come from a different dimension from ours.” Further explained Alphys, more seriously this time.

“Universe??” Undyne was just more puzzled.

Alphys sighed. She proceeded to explain the concept of alternative universes, she kept going off on scientific tangents so Asgore helped to provide understanding from a non-scientific outside perspective to this for Toriel and Undyne.

Once everyone was on the same page, Alphys and Asgore proceeded to tell them anything they knew so far. How something bad was ending the old home of Sans and Papyrus, which caused them to “fall through the cracks of the earth” falling through reality. Sent across time and space throwing them into the current world they are right now, in the underground.

They both then proceed to explain their sides of the story, how the both of them met the brothers, things they shared between each other. How Alphys tried hard to do studies and research to fix a machine in the hopes of sending them back home along with Sans, how Asgore provided support and funding, especially in helping the brothers with jobs.

“I-I dont r-really know what happened to be honest…the project was just…abandoned one day. A lot of times when he worked on it together, we just ended up goofing off and watching anime at the end hehehe…but then with a-all the Mettaton stuff going on I was j-just so busy with o-other projects that I had to leave sans alone in it. He still k-kept me updated and I tried to h-help when I could, but t-then the whole…Amalgamates thing h-happened and…I don't know…” replied Alphys, staring at her empty cup in sadness.

She continued, “I-Ijust remember how h-he was the only one during those times h-helping me, providing me support and comfort, bringing dog food and comforting the Amalgamates too…I always tried to tell him that he didn’t have t-to. But he always came in a-anyways, getting slimed by them…whenever I tried to bring up the project, he’d claim that he gave up on it…How he’s moved on, and is trying to settle into a new life. That he’s even forgotten about it, how Papyrus forgot about their old home.” She proceeded to chuckle a bit, “Y-yknow…part of me believed him for a while, that maybe he was ready to move on, always telling me about his brother, and how much he’s thrived, b-but I always had a feeling that maybe he was just lying to himself…and to me…seems like I was right all along.”

“Oh my…” Toriel said in shock, and Undyne stayed silent.

“Heh, you know, I can’t help but feel so g-guilty now…he was always there for me in my darkest moments, without him there I probably would’ve…” she paused for a moment, “well, let’s just say I know how he feels…but man. I couldn’t return the favor…” she began to tear up and choke, “We almost lost him today and I-I couldn’t do anything!” She said taking her glasses off to wipe her tears away, feeling Asgore’s giant paw rub her back in comfort.

Undyne looked at her with sympathy, “shit man, hey babe, don’t blame yourself ok? I mean none of us could’ve ever imagined that. Heck, I would’ve never in a million years guessed all this about those two boneheads!”

“I must agree. It seems like those brothers are too good at hiding things. While I still fail to understand how Sans is the way he is, I do have a better understanding of certain behaviors now. But I’m afraid that is not the end of the story for him, is it? There is still much mystery behind him…” Added on Toriel.

“And he said that’s barely the tip of the iceberg!? Like god damn what else could they be hiding!?!?” Exclaimed Undyne.

“Perhaps it has to do with what happened to their original home, they were always vague and avoidant over the subject matter, especially Sans.” Replied Asgore.

“Tch, of course…” sighed Undyne.

Alphys sniffed as she spoke, “M-maybe we’ll find out today…? B-but I don’t think it has a-anything to do with their old world.”

“How so?” Toriel asked.

Alphys replied, “I mean, there is this one other thing, b-but I’m not sure if this applies to him or us…”

“Well what is it?” Questioned Undyne.

Alphys began to seriously think, “S-something about our timeline. The power of de–determination, n-not only can it c-cheat death…b-but iit can possibly manipulate time as well…”

“A reset, am I correct Doctor?” Added on Asgore.

“Y-yes, a reset…” confirmed Alphys.

“A reset. What’s that—??” Said Undyne before being interrupted by a “NYEH heh hehe” door opening, as Papyrus cheerfully trended down the stairs.

“Papyrus?” Questioned Undyne.

“Oh hello everyone!! I see you are all still here! Splendid! Just give me one second I must look for something in the shed!” He said going outside from the back door.

After a minute or so they heard the jingles of bells, and watched in confusion as Papyrus took it with him back to Sans’s room, “I won’t be long everyone!”

After shaking off the confusion, everyone tried to resume the conversation.

“Man, those skeletons are definitely something…” commented Undyne.

“What is this “reset” you speak of?” Questioned Toriel in a serious manner.

“O-oh man…how do I even explain this one? I-I don’t know much myself either…like something or someone was trying to prevent me from finding out…” she explains.

Undyne leans back on the couch and crosses her legs, “Well I suppose we got time to kill since we all called off of work today.” She explained.

“And from the sound of it, Papyrus and perhaps even Sans will be joining us soon, they could explain further.” Pointed out Toriel.

“Y-yeah…” said Alphys. “B-but um f-for now, let me do my best here…uh…”

“From what I can remember, this human trait…determination. It’s strong enough to persist death, perhaps even to the extent of the manipulation of time.” Began Asgore

“R-right…s-something about determination being a strong enough of a power to even avoid death itself, y-yknow I didn’t really understand it then. I-I thought maybe human determination c-could help save the fallen. B-but as it t-turns out…it didn’t work like that.” Alphys sighed as she hunched over to put her head on her knees. “S-Sans tried warning me, he t-tried to warn me and I never listened! H-he had said that it d-didn’t work like that! T-that not only was h-human determination too strong for the monster body in our universe, b-but that i-it worked completely different f-from what I a-assumed…”

“So sans knows more about this determination thing from the knowledge of his world then?” Asked Undyne.

Alphys sat back up straight again but was not keeping eye contact, “Y-yes…a-along with t-the fact that the monster body back then wasn’t able t-to handle such amounts of determination a-all at once, I also b-believe that being able t-to “cheat d-d-death” was t-talking about a c-completely different a-ability…like A-Asgore said…the ability to m-manipulate time…”

“Hold on, I am afraid I do not fully follow. While it is true that our bodies have changed lately, gaining more physicality due to the humans influence…perhaps because of this determination essence you speak of. What I do not understand is how this ability can also affect ‘time’?” Questioned Toriel.

“Yeah what she said!” Added on Undyne.

“Let me give an example of this. A human child, Frisk, let us say that in a hypothetical scenario, they were killed.” Said Asgore somberly while Toriel began to give him a suspicious look, “If the child is DETERMINED enough, if they do not give up, nor give in to death itself, they have the power to revive themselves. Not just by a simple revival of course, but by going backwards in time, to a moment before they had died. With knowledge of now knowing what will happen next, perhaps in the hopes to avoid death the second time around.”

“I see…” said Toriel while nodding, “So…do you have suspicions or hold the belief that my child could possibly hold such power?” she added on.

“Yeah, are you implying the punk can do this?!” Claimed Undyne

“W-well, if we really think about it…I-I don’t know about you guys, but wasn’t it weird t-that Frisk always acted so quick and swiftly, a-a-almost as if they knew what was going to happen next, like as if they’ve d-done it before…?” Began to inform Alphys.

Everyone stood silently as they began to think about it. Then Undyne spoke out.
“I…I guess—I guess you’re not wrong there…”

Toriel added on, “That feeling of…somewhat nostalgia when I first met Frisk, as if I’ve met them before. I had always assumed it was because of the coincidence that they had bare resemblance of…well someone I once knew. However, now that I think about it, it was just an odd sensation.”

“Y-yeah! L-like deja vu or something!!” Added on Alphys.

“I see, I was not the only one then.” Spoke Asgore.

Undyne began to speak up, “Wait hold on, quick question. Did anyone else also get weird dreams the day before Frisk arrived? It felt like they were almost memories or something, but…those things never happened. And…”

“A few of them were quite…unpleasant.” Toriel continued.

“Did you as well dream that you had been killed…?” Questioned Asgore.

“Y…yeah…” answered Undyne softly as Toriel nodded slowly. Then Undyne started talking once again, “Wait, wait—what does any of this have to do with Sans then??”

“W-well I-“ Alphys began to explain, but was interrupted once again from the bone trousers of Papyrus.

“NYEH HEH HEH! Greetings everyone! What are we talking about?!” Exclaimed Papyrus with a bright smile.

“Ah Papyrus, dear friend. How is Sans feeling? Will he be joining us?” Asked Toriel, brightening up from Papyrus’ presence.

“My brother isss…doing the best he can! I managed to get a decent conversation out of him after all these years, however he is taking a well deserved nap right now!” He answered.

“A-are you sure we should leave him alone right now…? You know…in case he…” Alphys said trailing off.

“Hm yes, I would’ve liked to stay with him, but he explained to me that he has trouble falling asleep in the presence of others!”

“What? But the dude naps in public all the time??” Questioned Undyne.

“Yes, that is true! But falling asleep outside might not be the same as falling asleep while someone’s watching in a room with you.” He explained

“I see.” Said Asgore.

“But regardless of that, I came up with a simple temporary solution! I put a bell necklace around him, in case he…blacks out again and tries to run away again...” Cheerfully explained Papyrus.

“A-are you sure that’s safe…?” Questioned Alphys. Worried that it might be a choking hazard, both accidentally and intentionally.

“Yeah, how can you be so sure to trust him?” Asked Undyne.

“Well, if we want to help and support my brother, we must place our trust in him, in order for Sans to trust us back!” He clarified.

“Well, guess you’re not wrong then…” replied Undyne, relaxing back on the couch.

“Well, why don’t you join us for now then. We do have a few questions for you.” Said Asgore.

“Sure!!” He said, sitting down next to Alphys. “Well I’m ready!”

“Alright well, we can come back to this Reset conversation later.” Began Undyne, before pausing as she noticed that Papyrus made a nervous expression. “…Papyrus. You know something about it don’t you.” She said with a stern expression.

“Nyeh! W-well I—ok I promise I’ll tell you b-but let’s get back to it later like you said! I barely got to talk to my brother about it…” he said trailing off.

“So Sans DOES have something to do with it then…” expressed Toriel.

Undyne sighed, “Fine, whatever. We can circle back to that after. For now, Papyrus. Alph and Asgore here were explaining to us how you and your brother come from a different world or something. Care to add on to that?”

“W-wait what?! Y-you…” he said jumping in surprise as he looked over to Asgore and Alphys

“I-I’m sorry!! Sans granted us permission to tell, but I guess we s-should’ve asked for your permission too…” apologized Alphys

Asgore added, “Yes. We apologize for not asking you as well.”

“Ah no! No need for apologies! I do not mind at all, In-fact it was my brother who was always avoidant over the topic. I was just caught off guard is all!” He said sweating but trying to cheerfully reassure them. “Well, I suppose the best I can do is explain my side of the story, and perhaps tell you how Sans feels about it overall. That’s as far as I know…”

“Very well then. We are listening, my friend.” Kindly spoke Toriel.

Papyrus felt awkward, Alphys laid a hand on him and also tried to offer some tea, “N-no thanks! But thank you anyway. U-um well…to tell you the truth. I don’t really remember much.”

“That’s what Sans had told me as well, but I guess he was lying…” suggested Alphys

“W-well yes, my brother turned out to be a compulsive liar, but I swear on my life I tell the truth!” He said putting a hand over his chest and raising the other.

“Don’t worry Paps, we believe ya, just go on.” Reassured Undyne.

Papyrus began to explain, “R-right…so. Like I said, everything is a blur. I’ve been able to get memories back recently with us being back on the surface, but it’s all still very vague…”

“Wait, BACK to the surface??” Questioned Undyne.

“Yeah…you see, in our old home, me and Sans lived in a universe where time was different. Monsters weren’t ancient, and a war never happened.” He clarified.

“I see…that is quite the difference.” Toriel commented.

All of a sudden, they heard a faint jingle from Sans’s room. They stopped to look at each other, before Papyrus stood up to say, “L-let’s me just give him a quick check! I’ll be back momentarily!!” As he went up stairs.

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Papyrus opened the door to peek half of his body inside, when he saw sans was in bed, he heard him murmuring, but couldn’t quite catch exactly what he said. So he simply whispered, “Sans…? Are you alright? …are you asleep?”

He heard no response, just watched the blanket slowly expand and rise down as Sans breathed.

If Sans wasn’t on his side facing his back towards the door, Papyrus probably would’ve seen that Sans was wide awake, just not really there mentally. But instead he assumed he was fast asleep, just talking in his sleep. He closed the door and left to go back towards downstairs.

“Is he alright?” Asked Toriel.

“I believe so! I think he was talking in his sleep? But from the looks of it he’s sound asleep.”

“D-does he usually talk in his sleep?” Asked Alphys

“I don’t think so, this is the first time I've seen him do this. He usually wakes up scared after having a nightmare.” He said casually

Asgore commented, “You speak of this so casually, but I believe having frequent nightmares is not a normal occurrence at all.”

Toriel nodded her head, “I must agree with him on that. Clearly something is troubling him severely if his subconscious frequently disturbs his slumber more often than average.”

“R-right…yeah. I…I know that…” he said disappointingly.

“Well, we can worry about that when he wakes up. For now, Papyrus, continue with your side of the story here.” Spoke Undyne. Papyrus then proceeded to take a seat once more where he originally was.

“Nyeh…yeah. A-ah well in any case.” He said, stroking his chin, “From what I can recall, I lost my parents at a very young age, Sans handled the grief better than I did, he was 19 or 20 at the time I believe. I was a mere child. So my whole life it’s always just been him and I…”

“I’m sorry for you loss” sympathized Asgore.

“T-thank you…it’s alright now! B-but in any case, I assume I didn’t handle it well because all I can recall is being indoors all the time, always being sad and closed off, not doing much, and having a really bad time at school…no friends…always quiet…”

“Sounds like the complete opposite from the person you are today.” Spoke Undyne.

“Y-you were a young child Paps, I-I don’t blame you.” Added on Alphys.

“Really guys, I’m fine now! Thank you.” He spoke in gratitude. “As I was saying! The last thing I remember is how my brother moved us far away from our hometown after I graduated. I remember how he picked a spot to open up a business.”

“A business? Him?” Asked Undyne, trying not to laugh.

“Yes! He ran a mini-mart all by himself!! He was his own manager, always did the cleaning and cashier, restocked his own supplies. He was a smart business man too!!” He explained excitedly. “He would talk to customers and neighbors all the time! He always socializing and trying to get me to socialize as well, …well he used to be a very hardworking person. He…Sans was always the one trying to handle all the responsibilities…” he said somberly.

The only question the rest had was, ‘What happened to him?’

“After a few weeks, my brother started getting worried, saying something was wrong, something suspicious going on in that town. O-one day, I remember how everything went dark. Like it was the end of the world. I’m not sure what Sans was out there trying to do, but I was scared, then suddenly, cracks spread everywhere, big enough to eat up our house! I recall Sans trying to go after me, but we both ended up falling through…” he began to explain seriously as the rest sat by silently to listen.
“I remember the feeling of my body shattering, a lot of colors and incoherent noises. Then everything went dark, and well, next thing you know, me and Sans are waking up on the cold snow on the outskirts of Snowdin!”

Papyrus finished off with, “It was rough at first but we managed to settle in. Figure out what happened. I always tried to get Sans to tell me more of what happened but…he always refused or avoided answering all together. I remember how he seeked Doctor Alphys for help on fixing a machine to get us back home! And how Asgore eventually found out as well and helped out. But…I don’t know what happened. He just stopped one day…he told me that it was best to move on, think of it like how we lost our parents. Start over again, a brand new start like how we tried to do it when we first moved into that town.”

Papyrus tried not to cry, as he felt a hand around his shoulder when he hunched over. “I-I had always assumed Sans was able to move on, I mean I never gave too much thought about it. I was completely fine with our new life, and assumed Sans did as well! B-but somewhere deep inside, I had a feeling my brother was always lying to me. The way he kept avoiding the topic and conversation were signs but I never paid attention. And turns out I was right…H-he told me so himself just now h-how he envy’s me! That I moved on happily but he didn’t…this whole time, he was never able to move forward with us…and I left him behind.”

Everyone got up to give a group hug to Papyrus.

“Sweetie, do not blame yourself, you were only doing what you thought was best.” Comforted Toriel

“Yeah dude! And the important part is we are here for you two from now on! Don’t get stuck on the past like that stubbornness of your brother” reassured Undyne.

Alphys added on, “Y-yeah! W-we can’t change the past, but he can still be here in the present and fix the f-future!”

“Correct. You two are not alone in this anymore.” States Asgore.

Papyrus wiped his tears. “Nyeh!! Thank you everyone! You’re too kind…”

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.

 

After a while, everyone tried to calm down and have some lunch. A good couple of hours has passed by. Everyone was having a lovely conversation about ways to help cheer up Sans when he wakes up.

“You said his room was empty right? How about we give him a bunch of things to redecorate? We can go shopping right now!!” Suggested Undyne.

“R-right! I-I can give him some old merch I have stored away!” Exclaimed Alphys as she took a bite of her meal.

“He definitely needs some essential basic needs.” Spoke Toriel as she was finishing her food.

Papyrus nervously spoke up, “W-while everyone has a point, I’m afraid Sans won’t be a fan of it!”

“How come, friend?” Questioned Asgore.

“Y-you see, my brother probably has some self esteem problems, he’s developed this belief that he doesn’t deserve nice things! Or anything for that matter…” he said side eyeing. “Even back then, Sans was never a fan of gifts. I remember even when I was a kid, how Sans refused some of my gifts. Even now. He never had toys growing up because he refused them!”

“Oh my…” spoke Toriel.

“N-now that I remember…whenever I tried to offer him things, h-he’d always refused them, saying that I shouldn’t bother o-or get something for Papyrus instead…h-he’s only ever accepted any food or s-snacks I had then.”

“Yes, I recall how he would never accept any free charity either, claiming he would rather work for the extra money instead. He’s only ever accepted my offers to have tea with me” Added on Asgore

“W-what? But Sans hates tea…” Alphys said while Papyrus nodded.

“Oh…! I see…I wonder…Did he never bother telling me, only to spare my feelings? I must say, he is a little too good at hiding it as well.” Claimed Asgore

Papyrus continued, “W-well anyways! Whenever I tried asking him what I could get him for special occasions, he always told me that my or someone else’s happiness was a gift enough…but you know what, now that I think about it, there’s probably one thing he’s always liked.”

“Oh? And what would that be?” Toriel asked.

“If my memory serves me correctly, sans once told me that spending time with others, making friends, having good food and bag laughs, creating MEMORIES with them, is the best gift he could ever ask for…”

The others stayed quiet, so Papyrus added on, “It was always really hard trying to get him things otherwise. The only thing I know about Sans is that he’s always had a niche interest in science, especially in nature! Oh right, my brother used to love all of those things and such!” Papyrus proceeded to ramble about his brother, “Wowie it’s like it’s all slowly coming back to me!! He’d love going outside all the time, taking naps under the trees, oh and when we used to watch for clouds on the grass, pretty sure he’d go bird watching occasionally as well!”

Someone wanted to say something but Papyrus kept going on.

“Papyrus.”

“Oh-Oh—!! And the Stars!! Sans always loved outer spacey stuff!! All the science Fiction and oh I remember how his old room used to be decorated in posters and had those glow in the dark stars! I think he used to own a telescope too!” He said excitedly.

“Papyrus…”

“Oh and he learned how to play the trombone in school! He used to play beautiful songs before, especially in the rain…Right…who can forget about the rain!! Sans especially loved the rain alot! Mom and dad would tell me how Sans always went out in the rain when he was little, despite when they bought him rain gear, he never wore em! He’d go out there and get soaked Nyeh heh hehe!! Something something about washing all his worries away or…or…something…” Papyrus’s excitement died down as he began to trail off.

“Papyrus…!” Someone called out, as he jumped in his seat.

Papyrus began to apologize, “S-sorry…it’s just that…I’ve always looked up to him a lot…he used to be someone, have his own interests and hobbies…but now…”

“This doesn’t sound like the sans we know at all.” Said Undyne seriously. “Always taking naps, joking around, not doing anything…”

“A-always staying indoors…closed off…” added Alphys.

There was a good moment of awkward sad silence, before someone spoke up again.

“I had always known that monsters being trapped in the underground would make anyone lose HoPe, being ripped away from the sunlight, or any of Mother Nature’s beauty, but was the grief of his old home really that…bad?” Questioned Toriel with sadness.

“I believe there is evidence to suggest that there is one more thing that could be troubling him.” Replied Asgore.

 

Undyne thought it was appropriate to circle back to an old conversation again.

“Right, so…” she said, finishing her food. “Can we circle back to this whole reset thing? The whole parallel universe thing isn’t the whole story is it? Why has Sans given up so easily? Because from the sounds of it he at least TRIED and worked hard to fight for something. What happened that changed him THAT much??”

Papyrus nervously looked around, avoiding eye contact while making a “nyeeehhhh” worried sound.

“Papyrus…” Undyne spoke out.

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.

Suddenly, while zooming out of the scenery, Flowey could be spotted outside by the window. Apparently he was there the ENTIRE time, watching and listening in.

“Tch, god dammit.” He said, looking away. He then shrunk back down to the ground and disappeared beneath it.

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“What’s wrong Frisk? Don’t you wanna play with us?” Said M.K

Frisk tried to gesture that they are ok, just worried about their friend, Sans.

“Ah yeah, I heard he tried doing something dangerous this morning right? That’s why your mom dropped you off here, and you escaped from us!” Said Suzy

“Yeah, but then that’s because you saved him right!! So cool!!” Spoke M.K excitedly.

Suddenly, a Flower popped up in between them, and the two reptilian monster children got up and ran away screaming in fear, but quickly laughed as they started playing a game of tag with each other.

Frisk, who was originally moping around, straightened up and put their focus on Flowey.

“Hey friend! I’m afraid we got a problem.” Flowey began.

Frisk’s face dropped in worry, before Flowey clarified himself, “Don’t worry, that smiley trash bag is sleeping right now, he’s not at it again. I’m talking about the rest!”

Frisk relaxed and listened in on the flower.

“Look, I’m afraid we’ve been caught red handed, looks like we couldn’t get away with it…” he began as Frisk turned their head to the side in confusion, “They’re onto you buddy, turns out everyone knew more than they let on, just kept it to themselves. They said how they all have deja vu around you, they noticed how you can predict stuff back in the underground, and spilled their knowledge that determination can give you the power to “go back in time”.

Frisk looked confused but greatly worried.

“Ugh!! Everyone knows about the reset now you dummy!! And you’ve narrowed it down to you!! All because we fucked up that smiley trashbag’s head, now they are all worried and trying to figure out what’s wrong with him because of his attempt this morning!”

Frisk looked away for a moment, they started thinking really hard about something. Their eyes went dark when they reached for their phone.

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Papyrus nervously looked around, avoiding eye contact while making a “nyeeehhhh” worried sound.

“Papyrus…” Undyne spoke out. “Come on pal, you can’t avoid things here, your brother already does that enough for everyone.”

“I-I just need a break is all…” he said.

Undyne responded with, “Dude it's been like 3 hours since we paused the conversation of resets! We had a meal break for more than an hour. How much longer do you need to stall???”

“Undyne. I understand you might want answers right away, but let us have some patience with them, surely these topics are no walks in the park for them. As such as why we all might be in this predicament in the first place after all…” Advised Asgore.

“Ugh…sorry Paps, I didn’t mean to pressure ya. Just worried for you two bone heads, no offense but you two act like you need parental supervision sometimes.” She said, scratching her head.

“Nyeh…I know. It’s just that…I probably know just as much as the rest of you, whatever I learned today was because of Sans confirming a few things, but I do not feel comfortable speaking about him behind his back unlike the other topic…it’s really not my story to tell unfortunately. And even then, I’m lacking a lot of context from his side of the story.” Papyrus explained.

Undyne just sighed, “Alright, I understand…” she said in disappointment.

Alphys began to add on, “I-I guess we just have to wait for Sans to wake up, and tell us h-his side of the story…or at l-least hope he does. B-but for now, I think we sh-should—”

Suddenly, everyone heard a buzzing notification from the table, everyone left their phones there.

“Ah, I believe that was mine, please excuse me for a moment.” Spoke Toriel reaching over for her phone.

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“Frisk?! W-what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Yelled out Flowey.
Frisk did not respond, a determined look on their face as they texted Toriel.

“You–You…You don’t have to do this you know!! J-just reset or something! Don’t make it all worse!! This is NOT what I came to ask you to do!!”

Frisk looked Flowey in the eyes, as they said, “I won’t reset, I made a pinkie promise to Sans. I’m going to face the c-co-consequences-s of m-my actions like a re-responsible person!”

Flowey tried hard to persuade them, “Come on…!! You don’t need to do that! Because if you do it, then I’ll have no choice but to do so as well, and I don’t wanna do that!!!!” He exclaimed.

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“You were saying Doctor?" Said Asgore.

“W-well, as I was saying…L-lets just recap on everything we know so far today. S-so we can figure out what else we need to know, and fill in on Sans w-with some context a-as well…”

Toriel made a serious expression on her face, which prompted Papyrus to ask, “Is everything alright Ms. Toriel?”

“It’s Frisk…” she replied.

Undyne asked, “Huh?? The punk?? What’s wrong with em?!”

“They are alright. They just said that they need to tell us something, to ALL of us. Confess to us a truth…” she answered.

“Y-you don’t think this has something to d-do with…the resets, do you?” questioned Alphys.

“Perhaps, or perhaps not. It might be wise to just find out what they have to say to us either way.” Commented Asgore.

“Listen, I get that the punk is a kid and all, but if they are involved with some deeper shit going on, then I think it’s time to involve them into the conversation as well. Not to mention that sans claimed that it was the punk that saved him this morning too. And don’t worry I’ll watch my language…” explained Undyne.

Toriel sighed, “Very well…I shall go pick them up. Everyone please wait here, I won’t be long.” She said standing up, grabbing her keys and purse. Heading out the door.

“Worry not Ms. Toriel!! In the meantime, I shall clean up our meal and tea here!” Spoke Papyrus as he stood up and began to pick up some dishes.

“Hey let me help too!” Exclaimed Undyne.

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“Frisk!!”

Frisk signs out to Flowey that it is too late, Mom is on her way to pick them up.

“G-god dammit!! I’m not ready for this…” Sighed Flowey loudly in defeat.

Frisk signs out that It’s ok, they aren’t ready either, but are determined to push through the hardships.

“Ugh…of course you are…” He said hunching over, “Just, promise me you’ll have my back, unlike you I have less remorse for it. I regret it and feel guilty, sure but I don’t feel sorry, I probably did worse things than you, so if you really care about being a “Pacifist” and having everyone get their happy ending, you need to be there for me too! I…I promise I’ll try to back you up as well…” He said, looking away.

Frisk reached over for a hug, Flowey tried to push away but gave up, “Augh!!! ….I’ll take that as a deal then…”

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5 minutes later, Toriel pulled up. Frisk waved goodbye to their friends and hopped in the car.

“Well Frisk…I’ll see ya there.” Said Flowey, winking and sticking his tongue out before popping underneath the ground.

As Frisk hopped in the car, Toriel spoke out, “All buckled up my child?”

They nodded and gave a thumbs up.

“That’s good to hear my child.”

Before arriving at the skeleton estate, Toriel looked over to the mirror and asked, “My child…what is it that you wish to talk to us about…?”

Frisk just signed out in confidence that ‘They will explain everything once they are reunited with the rest all together.’

“Very well then.” Reassured Toriel.

Frisk looked out the window in their car seat. They knew that their journey wasn’t over. And what was heading for them would be difficult, but knowing that they are doing this for the sake of all their friends, for Sans, and redemption for themselves and Flowey…

It filled them with Determination.

Chapter Text

…

Sans remembers waking up, despite being very tired still, he could not fall back asleep. He rested his eyes but his mind was fully awake now. He felt very confused.

He grumbled in bed shuffling around, he heard some jiggles of some bells when he flipped to be on his back, and looked over to see what it was. He was wearing a bell necklace…? Why? Wait. These aren't his blankets, or pillows. He lifted his head to examine further. His room was empty…what happened?

As he tried to recall, a feeling of dread waved over him.

It was almost too shocking. He held a hand on his chest tightly. He remembers everything.

Dissacosiating, the suicide attempt, crying, confessing his burdening secrets to Frisk, conversing with Paps. And everything else that has happened in this timeline so far. It all comes rushing back to him.

“Shit…no way” he said, breathing heavily. “Did I really just try to dust myself off this morning…?”

He covers his eye sockets with his hands, “fuucckkk…”

Sans just sighed in defeat. He rolled over again to his side once more, this time more cautiously to not trigger the bells from ringing.

He was tired. So tired. But sleep wouldn't come. He wishes to sleep forever, escape all these problems, he has no motivation to face them. But for now, all he can do is just close his eyes, and rot away.

He felt awful. Just disgusted. He physically couldn’t stand himself anymore. His body felt so heavy and burdening. Everything felt dark and frozen. He was probably in and out of sleep for the next hour or two. Constantly shifting back and forth in different positions every so often.

He doesn't know how long he was like this, but because he was awake, he eventually heard the noises from downstairs get louder.

Right…everyone was downstairs right now. They are all probably talking about him. Greatttt…Just wonderful.

He curled himself up in bed, trying to make himself as tiny as possible. Hide away from the world. Hoping to block off all the sound. It just made him even more exhausted

Except, the sounds were getting louder now…were they arguing…? Just what is going on down there? It didn’t sound pleasant at all.

It was whatever, as long as no one came barging into his room he didn’t care. They’re all responsible grown adults, surely they can handle the situation and calm down.

He just proceeded to hug one of the pillows and dig his face in it while being curled in a fetal position. His eyes did not open at all, except for a few moments, he felt worse. Staring at absolutely nothing. There was nothing to look at.

He wishes he had some music right now, something depressing or melancholy to fit his shitty feelings, but he just remembered how he got rid of his phone weeks ago. He can’t even doom scroll in bed or anything.

He wants to get outta bed, he really does. But something was just gluing him onto the mattress, making him numb, unable to move.

Aside from the argument downstairs, it was quiet. Depressingly quiet in his room. Enclosed in a depressing space. Alone. That is, until he suddenly heard someone in his room speak.

“My goodness!! Thankfully I escaped in time...” Spoke the Flower.

Sans turned over in bed to see what it was.

“Oh, you’re awake. Well if I were you I’d just go back to bed, wouldn’t wanna be dealing with whatever’s goin on down there!” Comment on the Flower.

“Hm…?” He questioned tiredly. As he began to stretch around a bit.

“Yknow, it’s not my fault! Well yes it was but what I meant was that I tried to warn Frisk not to tell them!! I knew it would only end up badly. But everyone found out eventually and they just made it all worse with the confession!” Added on Flowey

“Huh? Wait, what…?” He asked in a raspy voice. “What are you talking about?” he asked, narrowing his eyes in a bit more focus and lifting his body up slightly.

“Frisk ended up choosing to confess to everyone the truth. Everything about resets, what they did, what I did too as well. And clearly no one took it well, that fish tried to kill me!!!” He complained.

Sans immediately jumped up from bed and sat himself up upon hearing that. “Wait, what?! You gotta be fucking kidding me right now.” He said standing up, although he stumbled a bit trying to balance himself, causing some of the bells to jingle aggressively.

“H-hey! I told you to go back to sleep!! Man can you really not sleep with someone watching you??” Yelled the Flower as he watched Sans reach for the door after putting his slippers on. “Oh no you don’t!” He said using his vines to block the door.

“What the—hey!! Let me go, you bastard!” He said grabbing the door knob and pulling around in an attempt to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. Even when using his whole body which once again caused the necklace to jingle.

“Dude it’s a mess down there! I’m just trying to spare you the stress!” Claimed the Flower.

Sans growled and grunted as he struggled. “Tch! Since when do you care about my well being?!” He then teleported out of the room.

“Shit!! …I forgot he could do that…dammit. Well don’t say I didn’t warn ya!!” He yelled out

.
.
~moments before~
.
.

“So…let me get this straight.” Spoke Undyne coldly. “This power, determination, was injected into that da—darn flower! Not only giving it life, but also making it gain this “reset” power. To “save and load” at certain times. Basically a time traveler. And he thought it would be ok to not only manipulate time, but manipulate all of us as well!!! Kill us for fun?! MORE THAN ONCE?!” Be began to yell out.

Flowey just recoiled back in the pot Frisk was holding. Embracing himself for the screams.

Undyne stood up, as she continued. “Then—Then…!!! This brat here falls into the underground, their determination stronger overriding his powers, basically taking them!” She throws her arms around, “And instead of being a better person, you go and freaking do that same?!”

Asgore began to speak, “Undyne…please calm do—“

“NO!! I am NOT going to calm down! How are you all ok with this?! They MURDERED US!” She complained.

“No one said we were ok with this fact. We simply just do not wish to agitate the situation more. This is…a lot to take in.” Said Toriel who disappointedly looked away trying not to cry.

Undyne tried to calm down but she was visibly angry.

“W-well, the human Frisk and little Flowey here feel regret! They’ve changed for the better!! Surely we can forgive them right? I know I do!!” Tried to reassure Papyrus.

“You guys are so gullible! What if we were lying to you the whole time? Or kept some things out?” Claimed the Flower, as Frisk gently shook the pot shaking their head.

“W-well, we already discussed how there’s—t-too much evidence to suggest it’s all true. Our memories, dreams, S-Sans note book, and not to mention he a-also knows a-about it b-based on w-what Papyrus told us…” informed Alphys.

“Papyrus, we NEED your brother in here now. Go get him!” Undyne exclaimed while holding her head.

“I’m afraid not Undyne! I’m sorry but Sans is very tired! A tired person cannot think clearly, and no offense but we don’t need two angry people right now…” replied Papyrus

“Pft—! Sans being angry? Please…but no matter, how come you guys aren’t furious???? Does this not upset you at all?!” Yelled Undyne out once more.

“I am deeply disappointed and upset, yes. But yelling won’t do us any good unfortunately.” Spoke Toriel trying not to choke. Frisk just looked away in pain.

Undyne tried taking deep breaths and walk around a bit.

Flowey looked around, part of him knew it was best to shut up, but he couldn’t help it, old habits die hard.

“Man, yknow I’m not surprised at all! You’ve always been the hot-tempered one of the bunch Undyne…” he began to smirkly speak. Frisk looked at him with worry.

“what…” she spoke coldly.

“I mean! Even when people tried to tell you in other timelines you’d always jump the gun! It’s just who you are I suppose~” he went on.

“F-Flowey…! Let’s not agitate her more!!” Advised Papyrus in concern.

“After so many resets, after messing around enough, I can read all of you like a book! Nothing but code and numbers…” he continued to speak.

“F-F-Flowey please!! You’re getting on her nerves on purpose…!” Alphys shirked out standing up trying to hold Undyne back.

“Please resist Undyne, you can ignore it.” Concerned Asgore.

“Flowey! That is quite enough now!” Lectures Toriel.

“Whatttt? I’m just telling the TRUTH. That’s what you people wanted to hear right? You just HAD to stick you nose in someone else’s business. Well here ya go, it’s the truth! How about…” he then spoke in his terrifying threatening voice and face, “I explain to you all in detail about all the MANY ways you’ve DIED—!”

Suddenly Undyne screamed as she summoned a spear. Guess he pushed her buttons too much. Toriel tried to shield Frisk just as they dropped the pot in fear. This caused Flowey to get lose. He popped around the living room trying to avoid the spears.

“UWA!!! WAIT WAIT WAIT PLEASE DONT KILL ME!!” He yelled out like a coward.

Everything was a mess: yelling and distress everywhere.

“Your ass ain’t even sorry!!!” She yelled out.

Papyrus stood in front of Flowey to shield him. “Undyne!! Please don’t!”

“Step ASIDE Papyrus. I don’t wanna hurt you.” She claimed.

“You don’t have to do this!!” He exclaimed.

“Papyrus he’s a MURDERER with NO remorse!”

“But I know he can change! I believe in him! The fact that he hasn’t killed us should be proof of that!” He argued.

“Are you kidding me???”

“Wew, thank goodness. Thank you Papyrus. I know I can always rely on my best frienddd. Welp, uhhhh I’ll go hide in Sans’ room, keep an eye on him!” He said winking. “See ya!” He said before popping down escaping.

“NYRAAAAGH! Papyrus you let him get away!!”

“Undyne, just let it go for now please!!”

“Papyrus, he’s going into your brother's room! He could easily murder him in his sleep right now!! How can you trust him???”

“We must have trust in him if we want to see the change!” Papyrus claimed.

“Unbelievable!!” She said throwing her hands up and turning around. “And YOU.” She said looking at Frisk. “Don’t think we aren’t done here with you either!”

Toriel stared at Undyne, ready to defend.

“U-Undyne. P-please c-calm down!! I-I know it’s not y-your fault h-he got on your n-nerves but p-please don’t m-make this any w-worse than it sh-should be…!” Cried out Alphys.

Undyne sighed. “Darn it, I’m sorry babe. I didn’t mean to scare anyone…”

“We do not blame you for being upset. But perhaps we should take a moment to process all this information and regulate our emotions more thoroughly.” Advised Asgore.

“Heh, yeah…I—“ suddenly, they all heard aggressive jingles upstairs.

“Sans…” Papyrus spoke out softly.

Undyne immediately went on guard again. “Dang it Papyrus! I told you I—“ they heard the door knob aggressively shake.

“Shit man—move!” She said pushing Papyrus aside to go up stairs, but Papyrus pulled her back. “J-just wait a second Undyne!! Please I—“

Suddenly, they all saw Sans teleport outside the door. And rush down stairs.

“Sans!!” Yelled out Papyrus.

Sans reached the living room, catching his breath. “Kid…” he spoke coldly, as he took off the necklace and threw it down to the floor. “What the HELL did you do!?” He spoke angrily.

Everyone was taken aback. Then Toriel spoke up, “Sans! I understand you are upset, but please, do not use such foul language around my child…”

Sans just chuckled, “tch!” He pinched the bridge of his temporal bone. He then mumbled to himself “Oh please, the kid’s done worse…”

“Sans!!” Yelled out Papyrus, walking over to hold his shoulders. “Are you alright brother?? Did you sleep well? I believe it’s been 5 hours since you’ve slept! I’m so sorry if we woke you up!!” He claimed.

“Nah, I’m fine…” he said, looking away and gently pushing Papyrus’s hands off. “I’ve actually been awake for hours now, couldn’t go back to sleep, but I was too tired to get outta bed…”

“Oh dear, we apologize for making you get out of bed with our argument…” spoke Asgore apologetically.

“Nah, it’s cool. I probably needed to get outta bed anyways. It does me no good rotting in there all day.” He spoke tiredly.

The room went silent for a brief moment, before Undyne asked. “Did that darn flower try to hurt you???”

He looked genuinely confused at her “What?? No?”

“He just came in and started running his mouth like he always does. I tried to ignore it but then he mentioned something about the kid CONFESSING something. He tried to force me back in bed but I’m not gonna sit around idly in this situation…” he explained.

“I-I see.” Alphys commented.

Suddenly, Flowey popped in from behind Sans with a gasp. “Augh!! Why does no one EVER listen to me! It’s you people WANT to face the misery” he began to ramble.

“You…” Undyne said coldly and she began to march towards the Flower. Flowey recoiled back, but then Sans held an arm up and stared tiredly at Undyne.

“Wha—are you kidding me!? Oh come on! Don’t tell me you’re all buddies with him as well! Do you know about all the things he’s done??” Began to complain Undyne.

Sans began to explain, “Oh no, I know EXACTLY what he’s done. Look, he’s not my friend, ok?”

For some odd reason, when Flowey heard that, he got weirdly disappointed.

“Me and him aren’t exactly on good terms. But if there’s anything you should know about that Flower, it’s that it would be foolish to fall for his ‘rage’ bait.”

He heard Flowey and Alphys sigh but continued on with his explanation, “You’re only giving him what he wants. However, something he’s failed to ever consider is the fact that someone can easily go bite him back in the…his little leafy behind.” He said giving Flowey a side eye while Flowey tried to avoid eye contact.

He closed his eyes and sighed, “Asides, he did hold me back from jumping this mornin’ and went to go get the kid. Of course, that doesn't fix anything or erases any of his other deeds, but I gotta give him credit where credit is due I suppose.”

“Wait, really?!” Papyrus said, turning his head towards Flowey, eyes sparkling, “You saved my brother?!”

“I-I Well, I GUESS you can say that I—Wha—?! H-Hey!!” Flowey began to speak as he was being smothered with a hug from Papyrus, who proceeded to shower him with tears and Thanks Yous.

“Alright alright alright that's enough I get it!!” He complained.

Undyne sighed in defeat, “Very well.” She said taking a seat.

Sans took a deep breath, as he felt Papyrus lay a hand on his shoulder. “Sans! Would you like anything?!”

“Wha?”

“Any food or drinks? A snack? Would you like to try going back to bed perhaps? Maybe a bath!”

“Nah…I’m good. Let’s just get this over with. I have a feeling that there’s a lot that needs to be discussed…” he said gently sliding Papyrus’s hand off.

“A-are you sure brother…?” Questioned Papyrus.

“He is right, you know. Please do not feel like you need to join in on us right away. We apologize if things may have gotten out of hand, but I can assure you that we can handle it.” Spoke Toriel softly.

“Y-yeah! If you’re hungry o-or something…you said you were tired r-right?” Alphys added on.

“M’fine guys, really. Like I said, I can’t fall back asleep even if I wanted to. And right now the ONLY thing I want is to get this whole thing over and done with already.”

Sans took a second to examine the room around him. Everyone was visibly upset. Flowey went to position himself nearby where frisk was, while Papyrus went to take a seat.

Next to Papyrus was an empty seat on the edge, and on his other side was sitting Alphys then Asgore. Meanwhile on the other side of the coffee table, Undyne Toriel, and Frisk were sitting along with an empty spot, then Flowey nearby the floor.

He ultimately decided to sit next to Frisk.

“Alright, I got a few questions, but firstly.” He turned to face Frisk. “Buddo, why’d you do it…? Why’d you have to go and tell em? We could’ve kept this between us and easily moved on with no problem. What was your motive here?”

Frisk made a serious face as they proceeded to point at sans. This caused him to sit up straight from the surprise. “Me? You told em cause of me? …was it cause of this mornin? I thought we already talked about this, look I’m sorry for stressin’ you out.”

“Tch, you still don’t get it do you.” Commented Undyne

“Huh?”

“Sans…” Papyrus began to speak. “We know that you’re not ok. You can’t keep denying it any longer. Or lie or try to pretend that you’re fine. Because you’re not. We talked about it a bit earlier, do you recall?”

“Yeah…yeah I remember. I just…well these things aren’t exactly pleasant for me.” He responded

“We understand. This isn’t particularly pleasant for any of us either. But we hope you understand that we are only concerned for your well-being, because we deeply care about you.” Spoke Toriel.

Sans felt awkward facing her right now, he just turned away from the rest.

“A-and we have reason to believe that it’s not only the parallel world thing t-that’s bothering you, b-but also t-the resets…” explained

Sans almost wanted to ask them what they think was specifically wrong with him, but he didn’t feel like being called out at the moment. He just sighed and began to ask another question.

“Alright…fill me in. What do you guys know about everything? Because quite frankly, the less I have to talk about this, the better. I don’t wanna explain anything you may already know.” He rested his elbows into his knees and paid attention to the first person to speak.

“I suppose we could recap once more on everything that has been informed today…” spoke Asgore.

“A-Alright.” Said Alphys, as she began to explain the first set details they know regarding Sans and Papyrus coming from an alternate universe.

 

Sans narrowed it down to that they know pretty much everything except his side of the story. But explained that he isn’t up to telling them today. He’s willing to confide that information to Papyrus, but for the rest, he pretty much told them what he told Frisk. Clearly leaving some stuff out like what exactly caused the “world to end”, who the hero’s were or other details, but everyone decided to respect his decision for now. Despite how invasive Flowey was with his curiosity, they managed to ignore it.

The whole conversation was difficult for Sans, but he managed to push through it without letting his mask slip. Everything felt like a blur to him. It was definitely new and uncomfortable but his mind seemed to have made him forget about the feeling or conversation they just had. There was only one thing that stuck with him.

 

“S-sans, can I ask you something…?” Asked Alphys

“Yea, shoot.” Replied Sans

“W-would it be ok for us to t-t-try and work on the machine once again…?”

“What…?”

“Yeah! Maybe this time we can all help!!” Exclaimed Undyne.

Papyrus tried to intervene, “I-I- don’t thi—“ but Sans interrupted.

“Are you guys tryna get rid of me or something?” He asked blankly

“W-what?! N-no…! T-that’s not wh-what we meant I…”

“Sans, we simply suggested it in the means to find a way to help you feel better. Whatever you wish to do, we will help and support you.” Corrected Toriel

“Y-yeah!” Agreed Alphys

“Ah, Yeah I kinda guess so, I was only messin’ with you heheh” he said winking with a smile

Alphys groaned in annoyance.

“But no, yeah, it’s fine you guys. You don’t gotta worry about any of that. I’ve kinda already accepted the fact that I can never go back for a few years now. But since I can’t go back, I’m just…kinda stuck at the moving forward stage. Sometimes it feels like I have but others well, I feel like I’m stuck in a limbo”

“I see, then what you need is for us to help you move along.” Spoke Asgore.

Sans wanted to say how he doesn’t need, or at least want…any help. But he knew he’d only receive arguments telling him otherwise. So he decided to keep shut.

“S-something is preventing you f-from being able to m-move forward, isn’t it?” Commented Alphys.

“Right, the resets.” Answered Papyrus.

As happy and chill Sans was, he couldn’t keep things up for long once the topic of resets started circulating back again. And they could all tell that sans was especially uncomfortable and avoidant over the topic.

“Sans, I know you and my child had always had some sort of special connection, I had always believed it was because of my promise, but now I see it’s because of something other than that…” began Toriel.

“Look…Tori, guys…can we please talk about this some other day. Preferably never for that matter.”

“Sans, you can’t be serious. If you want a break that’s fine, but you avoid this forever.” Spoke Papyrus.

“Your brother is right, you know?” Agreed Toriel

Sans just sighed in defeat. “Fine…fine.”

“Ok so, me and Ms.Toriel all just found out today the truth about these ‘resets’. Apparently Papyrus found out a while ago when we were moving to the surface, he accidentally found your notebook.” Explained Undyne.

Sans sighed at the mention of his note book. A journal he’s kept throughout the years studying the world ending anomaly and power of determination, along with other notes of past memories.

Undyne continued, “Alphys and Asgore have had somewhat of an awareness about it for a while now but just today found out more as well. The Flower the Punk has all of the memory and knowledge about this, so where do you stand in all this Sans?”

“…”

When she got no response, she asked once more, “Dang it Sans! How long have you been knowing about this?! For how long did you keep the secret of resets from us?!”

For some reason that question triggered something in him. His mind, in an attempt to recall, went too far back. His smile dropped and his eyes went dark.

“Are you even listening?!”

He started remembering how Undyne has said this before in previous timelines. Along with a few other things.

“Sans…?”

In the very few rare timelines, mainly ones where it was first Flowey starting out his killing sprees, Sans actually used to attempt to reach out to people, tell them about the actual situation.

“Helloooo…?? Sans??”

But whenever he would tell someone about them, they would always have the same reaction. He always felt like Undyne was the worst.

“O-oh dear…I think i-it happened again…”

Of course he couldn’t blame her. She has all the rights to be upset over the situation. Gaining such knowledge on the whim and having no choice but to immediately act on it in order to resolve the issue.

“Hello?? Sans?? Earth to Sans!” Spoke someone snapping their fingers in front of him.

Perhaps it was his fault for never giving her time to process the information and properly regulate her emotions. Or telling her sooner to do so. Be prepared. She just happened to be a little hot-headed person. She can’t blame her for being who she was.

Sans began to slowly move his hands upward, inching closer towards his neck.

And y'know what. Maybe she was right…maybe he deserved to get yelled at…maybe he deserves to—

“SANS!” Yelled out Undyne as she grabbed his shoulder with a single shake. Upon snapping out of it, he jumped in his seat, and felt like everything was hazy.

“Come one dude stay with us!” She added on gently tapping his cheek bone as he blinked around for clarity.

“Brother?? Is everything ok?? What happened??”

“I don’t…I…” he grabbed his head in confusion and breathed deeply.

Alphys began questioning him, “D-did you just disassociate again sans…? W-was it intentional or against your will? W-w-w-we’re you just about to…s-strangle y—?!“

“I…! I don’t know I—!”

“That is quite enough now, I believe we should give him some space.” Spoke Toriel, extending her arm out.

Sans grunts and hunches over to cover his face on his knees and hands.

“Are you alright friend?” Asgore asked.

“Jus…a moment…please.” He murmured in response.

A minute probably passed before Sans took a deep breath and threw himself backwards on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. “Gnh…I don’t know why this keeps happening to me…” he said, dragging his hands down his face.

“Precisely why we are having this discussion Sans! We just want to help…!” Explained Papyrus

Everyone looked at each other with concern.

“…D-did you sort of willingly do it, or w-was it completely o-out of your control…?” Asked Alphys.

“Happens outta nowhere…I can’t really control it. It’s like, someone says something or does a certain thing that triggers a lost memory of a previous timeline. So all of a sudden my mind makes me remember and is stuck playing a movie of memories…”

He pauses for a brief second at a realization, “Yknow…kinda like my dreams when I sleep but…huh, guess I’ve been doin’ more day dreaming lately…”

He goes back to a more focused tone, “I guess day dreaming makes more sense, since I’m still physically awake, but subconsciously any and all focus on what’s in front of me is gone while these memories play…Man. That’s new for sure...” He responded, sitting up straight again.

“Look Sans, I’m terribly sorry. I owe you an apology, yknow what probably more than one actually…” Spoke Undyne

“Apologize? For what?” Questioned Sans

“For jumping the gun over here. I probably said something wrong that caused that right now. And yknow, I have a feeling I wasn’t exactly the most patient person in…other timelines is what you call it—? As well. I’m just upset cause I care a lot, just have trouble showing it properly I suppose.”

Sans leaned on his hand and used his other one to wave it around, “Nah, you don’t need to apologize for that. It’s not your fault, I get it how this can be a lot of information to process in one day. Precisely why I never wanted anyone to ever find out about this.”

“But Sans…” spoke up Papyrus

Asgore asked, “Do you truly believe that you should be the only one to carry such burdening knowledge all on your own, Sans?”

Sans didn’t really want to directly answer. Instead he replied in his head ‘Never really thought of it as a burden but I suppose he isn’t wrong…’ “…”

“…Well, I suggest we try and get the conversation going again.” Spoke Toriel, as she turned her head to face sans, “Sans, you and your brother had explained how you get fragments of memories of previous timelines through your dreams. Now after much discussion we have discovered that we all do as well, but it appears that in your case it seems more prominent. Perhaps even disturbing your slumber frequently. Could you perhaps share with us in more detail…? How much you can recall, when this began, or perhaps even why?”

Frisk turned to look at Sans, they felt very guilty about it. Sans took a couple of seconds to respond as he sighed deeply.

He might as well get it over with.

“Ever since we arrived to this world, my dreams have been odd. I always chucked it up to be perhaps scrambled memories of my past life along with maybe some trauma of the event, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. It never bothered me before, just occasionally get “nightmares.” It wasn’t serious. But then…the Flower appeared and started making resets one day…” he said, turning his head to not face the others, which just so happened to make him have direct eye contact with Flowey, who he looked away and started getting nervous.

“At the time, I was providing help and support for Al over the amalgamates, my little machine project was put on hold when prior to that I was working on it solo after Al stopped working on it to help the fallen monsters.” He explained, as he gave Alphys a sympathetic look as if he wanted to say ‘it’s not your fault…’

He then continued, “Just soon after, things started getting…weird around me. Like getting deja vu that I’ve done or said things before. And my dreams started getting even weirder, a lot of Golden Flowers appearing in em.” He said once again side eyeing Flowey.

“At first I thought it had something to do with Asgore perhaps, maybe the universe was trying to tell me something, so I paid a couple of visits to him. Long story short I was basically going back and forth between him and Al about it. I knew it had something to do with the determination we were messing around with. I remember how I created a notebook with Al that was infused with determination, as we had a theory at the time that someone or something was resetting time. So, with that notebook, the knowledge of our research could persist the resets.”

“W-wait…but…I don’t remember ever doing that…” she spoke. Sans just gave her a look, as she said. “O-oh my…did it…happen in a r-resetted timeline..?!”

Sans sighed, “yeah, pretty much.”

“B-but why did you tell me??” She asked

“I did Al. I tried. Many times. In each reset I would re-discover the notebook, study what was inside, everytime. Then I’d go to you so we could work on it, and add in new information we had learned in that timeline. But…one day. I found out something no one should’ve ever found out…” he spoke somberly

He fell silent, and Undyne spoke out, “well?? What is it?! Don’t try and hide from this anymore because we don’t allow it!”

Someone held their hand up, giving sans some space.

Sans took a deep breath and gestured that it was ok, he pulled out his notebook seemingly from thin air and flipped to a page, and just started reciting what was on it. “Approximate Timeline #113:”

He was briefly interrupted by Asgore commenting, oh my…113? That is quite the amount of these ‘resets’…”

“Heh, that’s barley like a third of them. And we haven’t even taken into account the kid, I stopped counting by then tho so I guess I wouldn’t know” he said with a smile and a joking demeanor as he pointed his thumb to Frisk that was next to him.

Sans looked back down and continued, “Anyways. I have just discovered something that no living being should EVER find out. Other me, if you’re reading this, firstly I’d advise you to stop reading, but secondly, absolutely never ever ever EVER tell someone about it. Trust me, it’s probably for the best.”

The others leaned forward to pay close attention.

“Today I was on Al’s computer, using the knowledge of previous timelines within the contents of this notebook. We were close to cracking the code in figuring out how to read the timeline. This notebook is already evidence enough to suggest that there is indeed an anomaly resetting time. I have my suspicions on this golden flower, however it seems as if it’s caught on that I’m onto it, because it has stopped interacting with me specifically after Approx. timeline #13. It definitely hasn’t stopped messing with my brother however. When I catch this thing, it won’t ever hear the end of it.”

Flowey interrupted to comment, “Tell me about it!”

Undyne gave her a cold stare, as Flowey hunched back and stayed silent. Sans proceeded to continue reading the entry.

“In any case, what I discovered today was probably more *earth shattering* than whatever the hel—er…heck— happened to my old home.”

Toriel gave him a stern look, but ultimately softened her look again.

“Augh! Even in your notes, you take the time to tell your god awful puns!” Interrupted Papyrus, “Sorry brother, please continue.”

“Heh. Well anyways. I have finally discovered how to read the timeline. With the help of Al on the super computer we found the right code to do so. I probably shouldn’t write this down if I don’t want this to be discovered again, but it could come in handy so here it is anyways”

“And uh…it’s just a bunch of code so I’m gonna skip over that” he said flipping a page.

“What we discovered on the timeline reader was…catastrophic. Timelines were jumping left and right, stopping and starting. Then it showed signs of a SECOND anomaly coming through doing the same thing, except this time…it was the end of all time.”

“Wait, w-what?!” Exclaimed Alphys.

Sans chose to respond by continuing to read the entry, “All of time had come to a complete stop all together. There was nothing left, it no longer continued. Something or someone was about to end our timeline for good. Al didn’t take the news very well, she was sent into a couple of panic attacks.”

Alphys held her arms together when he said that. “Heh…y-yeah sounds about right…”

“When we told Asgore about it…well. Let’s just say I got upset with the conversation enough that I won't even write it down to remember and remain respectful of my peers.”

Asgore shuffled around in uncomfortableness.

“Dear Other me, if you’ve read this far, don’t say I didn’t warn ya…” sans closed the notebook shut tight and teleported it away.

“Now, that wasn’t the end of me writing in it. There are plenty of entries of me having a new goal in trying to stop these anomalies. But at that point I stopped showing Al the notebook, and kept it to myself. Apparently I had made many attempts in trying to tell different people different things. But none of them ever worked out. It wasn’t just the notebook giving me the knowledge, ever since I made that discovery about the timeline, my dreams have never been the same since. Do you guys get it now?”

“If you’re asking about why you’d keep this to yourself, no not really.” Undyne spoke firmly.

Sans grew a bit angry but tried not to show it. “Whenever a reset happens, I get memories of previous timelines in blurry fragments in my dreams when I wake up the next morning. Or wake up in the previous morning again technically speaking. And let’s just say, those “nightmares” meant that timeline was not very pleasant of an experience…” he said staring down at Flowey.

“Ok, so that’s where your sleeping problem developed, but that’s still not explaining much. Why did this discovery make YOU only remember more than the rest of us?? What exactly happened that gave you such a mentality to change?” Undyne commented

Sans clenched his fists. Before he could respond l, which he didn’t even want to, Flowey made a comment.

“Wait yeah! What the hell changed?!” Flowey spoke before Toriel said “Ahem…! Language…”

Flowey ignored it and continued, “It’s like one second you and I are at it killing each other—!”

The atmosphere in the room dropped at the mere mention of Flowey and Sans trying to take each other’s lives.

“—And then the next second you’re a completely different person!! It’s like a switch was flipped inside of you or something!!”

Sans’s eyes went dark and he hunched over to directly face Flowey,
“Y o u s w i t c h e d t h e f l i p , b u d d y . . .”

“Ok but—! H—! I di—! L-look it wasn’t my intention!!”

“How funny…” replied sans sarcastically sitting back up.

“Augh!! Do you have any idea how much of a pain you are?! I managed to crack every person, figure out who they are. Kill them! But you? Nothing! Nothing but annoying cheeky bastard!! Up until now I’ve NEVER been able to know ANYTHING about you. I mean I just knew you knew more things than you let on, but I could never figure it out without letting you figure out anything about me!! With each reset it’s like you remembered more and more about me! And I couldn’t just let that happen! If I had known about this notebook stuff I would’ve at least let it go!!”

“That’s quiet enough now!” Spoke Toriel.

“Would you really? Or would you have tried to destroy it and try something else? See that’s the problem with you, you got so obsessed over your own morbid curiosity that you dug your own grave multiple times and dragged others along with you over wanting to solve the last mystery left. It caused you to lose sight of anything else and created a long loop.” Sans judged.

“Yknow, all those resets of mine, half of them were all wasted on you!!” He complained.

“Only cause you wanted to. Could’ve easily quit any time.”

“G-guys…” Alphys said trying to intervene

“Augh, I couldn’t!! I couldn’t let it go and let you win! I had to get AT LEAST ONE WIN and ACTUAL one. Not some shitty tie!”

“Again, not my problem you got so obsessed. If I killed ya, it’s cause you had it comin. I wouldn’t act on it otherwise.”

Asgore’s interruption managed to get their attention for a brief moment. “I am quite concerned for what these resets have done to the concept of morality for you.” He spoke on concern.

Flowey ignored him but sans responded with “Huh? Wait what?”

“You two speak of taking each other's lives so casually, seems as if the conceptualization of death no longer seems to have the same seriousness and severity as it should.” He commented.

Sans stayed silent, but Flowey decided to continue where he left off ranting. Completely ignoring Asgore
“If I had gotten my hands on those human souls, I could’ve killed you in a heart beat! But you were always in my way!!!!”

“Duh.” He said winking and smirking.

“That too!! Always getting on my nerves!!”

Sans replied, “You always try to get on others' nerves, I’m just returning the favor.”

“Uh guys…” said Undyne who was ultimately ignored.

“You smiley trash bag, you think you’re soooo smart and everything.” He spoke in a scary face.

“F-Flowey, please stop…” pleaded Papyrus.

The both continued to ignore the others as Sans added on his previous statement with, “And I know better than to fall for it as well.”

Flowey continued to rant, “You’d kill me over and over, even when I killed most of the underground!—“

“See? Just proving my point. You had it comin’ bud. You dusted off like half of the underground. I wasn't just gonna stand by and let ya.”

“—And whenever I actually got a hit on you to dust you off for good, you’d immediately kill me! Forcing me to load my save files again and again!!”

“Well if I’m goin down I gotta take you down with me. Can’t let the bad guy win here.” Sans shrugged, “And again, ya could’ve quit. And don’t say you did. You’d just reset and always try a different way.”

“I only quit once you finally lost. ONCE. Just ONCE. I wanted nothing more than to see you LOSE by that point. I was sick of the ties and letting you take the win! But honestly I didn’t even feel like I WON when you lost.”

Sans’s expression dropped a little bit, “You’re not talking about that one timeline are ya…”

“Yes I am!! Does it bring any memories back?? That’s where it all changed! I knew I could never go after you directly, so I went after your BROTHER just to get ya!”

Sans clenched his fist and spoke as if he was gritting through his teeth, despite the fact that his mouth is always closed. “Shut up…”

Papyrus kept pleading, “F-Flowey please don’t!!”

“It wasn’t like it was the first time! I’ve done it before, you’d always come kick my ass angrier in revenge! But that time something was different.”

His eyes went dark, “stop. talking.”

Toriel attempted to comfort Sans, “Please do not mind him Sans, you said so yourself…”

Asgore added on, “Do not let him push you over the edge.”

“DARN IT THIS FLOWER REALLY CAN'T EVER SHUT UP CAN IT?!”

Sans cannot focus exactly on what anyone just said, his only focus was all on Flowey as Flowey only continued, “Instead of fighting back like usual, you just gave up!! You locked yourself away for 2 weeks, nothing! Then you went off to d—!”

Sans interrupted, “I DARE you to finish your sentence…Do it and you’re DEAD.”

“Sans…” spoke someone, although he can no longer focus on who.

“I just never understood!! I didn’t understand why, when or how you gave up just like that! By the next reset, you were stuck like that! It’s not like you have vivid memories of each timeline like I did! Unless of course you lied to us again. What the hell happened?! I don’t understand!!”

Sans smiled creepily and chuckled darkly in despair. “You don’t get it…? You seriously don’t understand??”

His expression dropped. It looked so serious you could see the hint of anger in it. “Even after all this damn time?!”

Someone else yelled out “Please Sans…! Calm down!!”

 

He has finally snapped.

Memories started flooding back to him like a tsunami wave.

Finding more answers about himself that he did not wish to remember. But maybe revealing it would finally make them understand so they can all just leave him alone once and for all.

 

He suddenly stood up from his seat and proceeded to angrily point fingers at Flowey.

“We were at it senselessly killing each other like some child’s play over and over! While I was trying to stop your destructive tendencies and control over the timeline, control over our lives, you were doing it all just for your little sick entertainment!!! It was alllll just a game for you wasn’t it?”

“S-Sans calm down…don’t do this!!!” Yelled out someone, but he didn’t pay attention.

“We were nothing more than just npc characters or pawns for you to toy around! Doing it all with the motive of morbid curiosity. I know your type of people. You just keep digging for more and more and more because you have the need to know more. The sick urge to keep invading and finding out more against others will. Inconsiderate of their feelings! Because you have the power to do so, to find out all of the mysteries in the universe!”

“Sans please!!”

He then began to wave his hands around in sarcastic anger, “And just because you CAN, makes you think that you HAVE to.”

He continued to gesture around with his hands, “Well have you ever thought about how sometimes it’s better to not know anything at all?! That just sometimes, just maybe, it’s better to be in the dark of some shit?? Because let me tell you, I’d trade my own life just to be able to live in ignorance and bliss just like everyone else!”

Sans felt like someone attempted to reach for him. But he didn’t allow it. “Sans—!! Hgk?!”

“Because once you find out more than you should, nothing's the same ever again! All life, all purpose, all meaning, changed forever! You’re never the same person again! The damage is irreversible even with all the damn resets!! Our whole little feud was meaningless! You could always just reset like nothing ever happened.”

“What the—is this blue magic?!”

He began to inch closer and closer to Flowey. “Our lives were meaningless, our deaths were pointless!! There was absolutely no point to any of it, we could’ve easily continued killing each other for the rest of our lives, for all of eternity! But it didn’t. It was stopped, you wanna know why? Because I stopped it. You weren’t ever gonna give up, it took me long enough to figure that out. You didn’t give up until I did!”

He heard voices pleading and yelling for his name but he could not hear them.

“Notice how you gave up once I did? Yeah. That’s what fucking happened! I gave up! I surrendered! I died! I was the one who lost!! I was the one who stopped playing that stupid game of yours!! But I wasn’t gonna let you win with my defeat. Because I knew that’s what YOU wanted! I was the very last fucking trophy left to put on your little shelf of defeat! You were so fixated over me that by that point I knew you didn’t care about ANYTHING ELSE than to watch me lose and crumble, well guess what? Congrats!!! It worked!!”

Flowey shivered in fear as he tried to shrink himself.

“I knew I had to lose in order to stop this, but I wasn’t gonna give you the satisfaction of winning and getting what you wanted out of me, that’s why I took my own life instead! By that point I had lost any self ambitions I had left. I was only ever sticking around for the others! But there was no point in the end of that timeline, I mean Papyrus was dead and everyone else was killed, who the fuck did I have to stick around for?!”

He chuckled in anger as he continued.

“For once in my life I had finally realized that everything up to this point was all for nothing, so I stopped trying! I could’ve probably killed myself as many times as I wanted and it wouldn’t matter because you could just reset back with no one having any memories of it in the end! Nothing mattered! I could've easily gave in to those intrusive unwanted dark thoughts of slitting my own wrists
but that I knew wouldn’t help anyone, there’s no point to anything! Killing you was meaningless, my suicide was meaningless, all those murders we’re meaningless! And you never realized any of that until I dusted myself off because that’s how you see things!! Death is nothing, you and your little twisted head developed some sort of god complex believing you had the rights to play around with lives. You, or me, or anyone’s death don’t have meaning for that matter!! But what you have failed to realize, unlike me, is that just as death has no meaning, living a life has no value either!!”

He began to swing his arms around, “And I didn’t tell ANYYYYYBODY because there would literally be no point in doing so! Everyone would either just forget in the next reset or react horribly and I’d ruin their lives. Just take a look at how I fucking turned out you seriously want like 9 other versions of me running around?? The less you know the better. Wanna know why? Because I gained some fucked up spiritual awakening that having goals for yourself, trying to move forward to the future, make achievements or have accomplishments, it all has no meaning!! It’s pointless because you or any other shitty freak of nature could easily take it all away, erase it with no memory of it ever happening! We HAD no futures! We were stuck in a god damn fucking loop!!”

He then once again pulled out the notebook just to slam it on the ground with full force next to Flowey, he flinched and jumped and by that point was silenced and recoiling back when sans kept inching closer and closer to him. Staring at him in fear.

“And I know I doomed myself by reading this god damn notebook even when I warned myself not to. Sure yeah It may have helped me from stopping you. But wanna know what happened after? You never resetted again once I had gained the knowledge, and you let time pass just long enough for the kid to drop in. So now I’m stuck with it!”

He began to point and tap at his skull and smiled, “All that unnecessary knowledge and information, the truth that life has no meaning and death is pointless, it’s now permanently alllll stuck up in here, in this god damn little skull of mine! Even when I forget any other memories with the resets, all this time that feeling had been subconsciously haunting me worse than a damn ghost! Not even the mysterious WingDing scientist Gaster haunts me like that!! And they’d come back to me in dreams and even fucking now! That’s why I didn’t even bother doing anything by the time the kid came!!”

By this point, Sans was directly hovering over Flowey, banging his hands against the wall Flowey had himself pinned to.

“Unlike you, I let that kid do whatever the fuck they wanted! Because I learned once already how useless it would be for me to ever TRY and change anything! Asides, I forced myself into a promise just to use it as a shitty excuse to not do my job! But of course even then I never gave the effort to keep it, the kid could just come back after dying! I already knew by then that everything was meaningless!! They can leave us underground, kill any of us, free us, it doesn't matter! Because at the end of the day it would all just reset us back into the underground with absolutely no memory of it!”

He got lost in his tangent and started swinging his arms around again while backing away from the wall. Yelling out in sarcasm.

“Oh oh, but what about the time I dunked the kid in the hallway?! Well guess what dip face, it was because I had nothing left to lose! Remember the dreadful second anomaly on its way to end all time for good? Yeah it fucking hit me that it was them!! Whatever the hell was possessing that child didn’t have the same twisted motives or mentality like that damn flower, it wanted nothing but pure power and destruction till the very end. It was gonna destroy all time as we knew it!! What does that mean? That meant that there would be no reset, that there would be no next timeline. It was over, the actual end, again!! Again, the world around me was gonna fucking end again!!”

He laughed, even though none of this was funny at all.

“So I got my little useless ass up and actually did something for once! I tried to stop them, because as much as I hated watching everyone die, I wasn’t gonna stand by and let the world go by! But god it wasn’t easy at all, not even when I was pissed off that my little brother was killed coldly with no mercy! I had to painfully break that promise I made to the women I fell in love with through that door, fight every cell in my bones to tell myself that killing them was justifiable! Even tho I had betrayed her anyway by never fulfilling keeping up with the promise in the first place in any timeline! But surely she’d let me kill a psychopathic genocidal freak taking control over the body of a mere child!!”

He started pacing around a little bit, for some reason to dodge around something.

“Was it dangerous fighting that thing? Yes! I knew it was fatal, I knew I had zero chance of survival, that little shit could just come back each time I killed it with more skill and memories of all my attack patterns I could throw at it, and me?? Yeah sure give me all the fuck ass memories of what’s happened in other timelines, but not be able to remember what attacks I did and didn’t repeat!! How fucking convenient is that!!? Ha! Even Alphys told me it would be suicide fighting that thing, and I knew that! I knew more than she thought she could ever know, was it a suicide mission? Well yes I had nothing else to fucking lose asides from the timeline itself!! Only I could stop it, it was only up to ME to be the last thing standing in its way!! Absolutely NO ONE ELSE could. It was my responsibility and job! I was ALL ALONE IN THIS FOR YEARS. Lonely little old me oh woe is me!! Remembering the feeling of being struck across my chest!” He said sliding a finger down across his body.

“Bleeding out and being left to die all alone as my body split into a million pieces. Y'know, for a second there I really thought that was the end. That it was alllll over. But nope! I somehow won? Well the timeline wasn’t destroyed because I woke up in bed in Snowdin town right after that sweet release of death!! And, we are all still here so there’s more proof!”

He began to laugh in despair.

“Do you wanna know the best part about all this??? The funniest joke of all!!! What’s hilarious is that I never asked for any of this!! I mean who the fuck would after all?? I completely fucked over my very own life the second I moved into that damn town!”

People tried calling out for him a final time, but Sans kept rambling on in his little bubble,
“I was at the WRONG place at the WRONG time and ended up in the WRONG world which then I get wrapped up in the messed up shenanigans. And because of all of your WRONG actions, I had completely lost sight of my original goals! But let’s face it there’s no way to ever go back! I gave up on allll as well. I’m never gonna see them ever again! I don’t even know if that world even still exists or not! Maybe me and Papyrus were the only sole survivors by pure chance! Or maybe everything is fine and they are all happily living on without us while I’m stuck in here! Literally anything is possible at this point! I took my life for granted! I was so stupid and selfish and so self absorbed that I never once thought that I should’ve appreciated what I had back then, cause boy I had it fucking wonderful comapred to now!! I might never know what happened and it’s better to not think about it because honestly there is NO point in dwelling on the past. I tried so hard to move on, to go forward with the rest! Make a new start, but YOU and the kid thought it would be sooooo funny to do whatever the hell you wanted with our lives and the universe must’ve thought it was hilarious to keep fucking me over! Making me remember, ONLY me, and it continues to do so.”

He starts grabbing at his face and head, smiling while there’s deep despair in his tired eye sockets. “I’m stuck!! Trapped! Clearly and obviously done for! I’m the one who’s wrong now, EVERYTHING is absolutely WRONG with me! I don’t belong here, I no longer belong back at home. I don’t have meaning or belonging anywhere!! All alone in the dark expansion of the multiverse! There’s absolutely no hope left in me. I tried in this timeline and heheheheh clearly it didn’t work out, It was never gonna work out! All I wish is to forget but both everyone and this universe keeps forcing me to remember over and over and over and over and again and again and again and again all these shitty feelings that I don’t wanna feel, that I never asked to feel.”

He held back the urge to cry as his voice cracked.

“I can’t—this is a skele-ton of shit! I can’t BEAR the pain anymore! I just wanna be happy! Be at peace! Not feel so alone even in a room full of people! Live a life, a normal one like I used to have! I used to own a business, work hard, always talk to folks, go outside and enjoy shit! Now I'm just a useless lazy prick rotting in bed all day and KNIGHT, suffocating in isolating Boneliness, and having no motivation to even pick up a damn sock!! It’s comedic isn’t it?! The only thing keeping me sane is laughing through jokes, because that’s what my life is, a pathetic huge fucking joke!! That’s ALL I am! I’m a skeleton, a NO-BODY”

He began to laugh at his own jokes, because that’s all he was, just some comedian. “YEAH, PUNNY RIGHT? Pun intended!! It really fucking SOCKS doesn’t it?? Being BONLEY all the freaking time! But maybe I wasn’t meant to be happy or have nice things! Maybe I’m just getting the punishment I deserve. Do you get it now???? Do you finally understand??? Did I get it through that fuck ass head of yours??? I hope you do understand because I fail to understand why everyone just keeps insisting on asking for more! On and on and on with the questions and need to know more about EVERYYYY little thing in the universe! Can’t you see how hopelessly messed up I am?? You seriously want the same?? Because that won’t make me feel any less alone than I already am!”

He was on the verge of tears as his voice was breaking.

“And for the life of me I can never understand why anyone would ever insist on seeing that hope in me! Even if I don’t take my own life I’m barely hanging on by a thread! I’m at 1HP! No healthy normal being can live long like that! I can fall down at any given second! I used to have like 10 or 20 I don’t fucking know it’s been so long since I’ve had no hope! Sadness is enough to kill a monster. Why else did you think people kept falling down in the underground?! Why did you think I tried hard to help them? Help break the barrier! I gave up on myself, I so tried doing it for them! But in the end I was a useless hopeless fat fuck! I’m such a waste of space and time, wasting everyone’s energy! I tried so hard to be likeable, but I’m just—!”

 

Suddenly, sans felt an embrace behind him. He completely froze, smile and face all dropping.

 

“Sans!!” Is all he heard Papyrus say. Sans felt tears running down his brother’s eye sockets and drip into his shoulder.

 

Sans spoke softly “p-paps…”

 

He remembered how he immediately felt tired, surrendering in his brother’s arms and letting his body go limp. Struggling to keep his eyes open.

 

He must’ve blacked out for a hot minute, because suddenly he was sitting back where he was, with a bottle of water on his hand, while Toriel was softly rubbing his spine next to him.

 

He and Frisk must have switched places because now the kid was sitting on the other side of him. Meanwhile Flowey was inside a pot being held by Frisk.

 

Sans propped himself up in confusion.
“Wha…huh?”

“Sans? Are you with us now?” Asked Toriel

Sans looked around in confusion, “what…?”

“S-sans, are you ok?? Y-you kinda just…blanked out on us for a good while…” asked Alphys.

He blinked around furrowing his non-existent eyebrows “I…”

Papyrus then asked, “Brother! What’s the last thing that you remember??”

He holds his head to recall. It took him a solid second before he remembered, his face dropped in absolute horror. He froze in terror.

“It is alright Sans, no need to stress about what had just occurred. Do not worry." Tried to reassure Asgore.

“Breathe, just breathe nice and steady alright?” Comforted Toriel, who was still doing soft gentle circles on his back.

Sans didn’t notice right away why Toriel said that until he noticed that he had grasped his shirt tightly as he tried not to hyperventilate.

Alphys attempted to help “J-just take slow deep breathes o-ok? Breathe in 1..2..3—”

But Sans, under the pressure, just shut his eyes closed tightly and held his hand up, which caused him to accidentally drop the water bottle from his hand. “J-just stop—! D-don’t, p-please I…I’m sorry I just…need a moment…” he said catching his breath.

Sans tried to put his head down as far as he could, resetting one elbow on his knee and using his hand to cover half of his face while the other hand was still grabbing onto his chest, breathing more steadier this time little by little.

He could barely tolerate Toriel comforting him, as much as it pained him, he needed it in order to not spiral again.

He felt like utter shit, the most he’s ever felt. His head was absolutely killing him. It felt so loud and heavy, the pain was agonizing. All physically, emotionally, and mentally. He felt like his dark deep eye bags were drooping down his face.

He’s really done it this time. He can’t think of a bigger mess up in his life than this. Now he REALLY wanted to disappear more than ever. Run away from all these problems.

He’s scared, he’s horrified, of what they all think, of what might happen next. He doesn't want to move forward at all, not like this. He wishes he could go back.

He wishes he was never born at all, or simply ceased to exist.

He cracks a sad smile, “I…heh. I can’t beanlieve! I think…I spilled too many beans today, didn’t I? You—You’ve gotten be kitten me, welp, I guess the cats outta the bag now.” He spoke nervously.

“Not your fault dude.” Spoke Undyne sympathically.

Sans exhaled deeply, hunching down the rest of his body mainly to avoid eye contact. He thought to himself ‘Great. Now they all know…How is it NOT my fault…?’

Toriel, who still had her hand on his back, began to speak, “My friend, I know it may have been a lot, but rest assured we will help.”

“Yeah we have your back!” Exclaimed Undyne.

“Y-you’ve always been there for me Sans, s-so I will return the favor and do the same as well!!” spoke Alphys

Sans wasn’t comfortable at all, he said, “Sorry for the outburst, I didn’t mean it. I’m just…tired.”

Asgore began to speak, “While it did come as a shock, we now have a better understanding as for why. It is no surprise that you are tired. We do not blame you for such. It was bound to happen, Sans. You’ve kept all this knowledge, these secrets, and burdening information, for so long. All by yourself, bottling up your feelings. Trying to lie and pretend in order to proceed forward. Hiding them away…this could only spell eventual disaster."

“Of course you’re tired Sans!! You’ve mentally, emotionally, and physically reached your limit!! Did you seriously expect you could keep it up for very long??” Added on Papyrus.

Alphys also added on with, “T-this is a lot to handle for a single person alone already as it is! I-I mean I c-could barely handle the responsibility and burdens of the amalgamates with your help, people aren't mentally built to handle such stressful events on their own!”

Undyne also commented with, “You dork, you were bound to burn and crash out. Any sane person would. Heck, I'm surprised it didn’t happen any sooner! I know you may not feel like it, but you’re pretty freakin tough for being able to handle it all on your own for as long as you did! But no more, you got us from now on! Whether you like it or not!”

Alphys came to add on some more, “L-look I get it, you just want to find h-happiness again in life. B-but the problem w-was that you were always trying to find it in s-something or someone e-else…”

Papyrus popped in to add some thoughts of his own, “You were always so focused on trying to find happiness outside of yourself brother, always focused on me or all our friends! But that’s only one mistake you’ve ever done, true joy comes from within yourself…”

“I must agree with everybody. Sans, we understand that you’ve been in a battle for a long time. Facing a war against time and space as a lonesome warrior with no back up. You do not feel success in fighting this, and your inner demons. You feel ashamed of your mental scars and try to hide them. But you were bound to slip up eventually. It was inevitable. I need you to know that we do not think any less of you for all of this. Do not worry, we shall help you find that missing spark that was lost within yourself, Sans…” Finally finished off Toriel

Sans didn’t like this, all the support felt like they were dog piling him. He held back the urge to break down as he was shivering.

He was so used to being alone. Lonely in all his struggles, all the pain. Now all of a sudden the whole world was handing him all love and supportive care they possibly could? It was too much for him. He didn’t even get the courtesy to have a gradual transition from being alone to gaining company one by one. He could have, if this was all kept between him, the kid and the flower, then tell Papyrus or the others later on down the line. But this? It was all just thrown at him at once. It’s almost unbelievable.

The only thing he could say out loud in a cracked voice was, “Man. I know you guys care about me, I really do, but some dumb part inside me keeps telling me that none of that love is true at all…Heh, this is ironic. The Royal Judge is being judged. Oh, did I tell you guys about that by the way? That I’m the judge? Yeah.”

Secrets out so he might as well spill anything that’s left.

“Yes, I had told them earlier, when Frisk and Flowey had to explain the strongest opponent they faced when they had emptied the underground…” Spoke Asgore

“Yeah dude, besides, we kinda got to see it for ourselves…” Said Undyne pointing at the now destroyed coffee table.

Sans jumped his head around to his surprise, the coffee table was broken, there were charred marks on the wall where Flowey was, and the ceiling had a few bones sticking out of it.
“Woah, wait…what happened…?”

“YOU happened dude.” Undyne responded. “You went all crazy with your magic almost killing the weed over there.”

Papyrus tried to reassure Sans, “Ah but, it was alright!! We managed to deescalate the situation, nobody was hurt. Nyeh heh heh!”

“Ah crud…” Sans said in regret.

“Sans. I deeply apologize if the job was a burden to you.” Apologized Asgore.

Sans, who still kept no eye contact with everyone, replied with, “Nah, it wasn't. I probably would've fought them the same way in the end anyways Judge or no Judge. Be the last one standing. Just standing by and waiting until the last second to act.”

When Flowey Spoke, Sans actually finally looked up to see. “Look smiley tra—er…Sans…I’m sorry.”

“...For…?” he asked

Flowey responded with, “Uh…try everything??”

“Look, bud, you probably owe me and the entire underground a lifetime of apologies. That’s not really gonna fix all this. You have to SHOW me that you’re really sorry. I’m willin’ to give ya that chance, I’ve seen it twice so far, like this mornin’. So yeah, you get a fair shot to prove yourself, like how I gave the kiddo a chance.”

“Right, I’ll definitely keep that in mind…”

Alphys spoke up, “S-so Sans, H-how are you feeling n-now…?”

“I’m fine Al, really. You guys don't need to worry about me.” he responded.

Everyone just gave him deafening silence and blank faces.

Sans laughed nervously and decided to correct himself feeling even more embarrassed than before,
“Er…hehehe…I-I—What I meant to say was…ehhh…alright listen, I know I’m not…ok. I know I have some issues…b-but quite honestly, I’m used to being like this. This is nothing new to me really, so it’s alright...”

Undyne huffed, “Seriously Sans…? After all that just happened, and you STILL have the audacity to say you’re “fine”? Dude, no offense, but you look like sh—er. Listen you look horrible man, you ain’t exactly lookin’ fresh. So I ain’t buying you bs right now.”

“Gee thanks.” He responded sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“I mean it dude, a-and I know that sounds mean but I point it out cause I’m worried about you! I know I don’t show it properly but I really do care deeply right now…” she spoke softer.

“Sans.” Began Alphys. “L-look. I get it. I know how this must feel right now, y-you’re scared of getting support, you have a hard time believing in y-yourself, or others. But you know you need it, you W-WANT help Sans. I-I mean all this!” She said, gesturing at him.
“It’s clearly a cry for help. Even if you have trouble telling us directly, all the little signs, the jokes, the isolation, they were all just little subconscious cries for help. But they were all ignored…so t-they’ve all built up into one huge pile of reaching for s-some aid. Your body is begging for it.”

“And we are ready to give you a helping hand brother!!” Exclaimed Papyrus.

Sans simply replied with “I mean…What happened today…It’s just one big episode that happened as a result of everything building up. You are all right, I was doomed from the start to explode the way I did because I had no proper support. But as for the rest, well, I’ve dealt with this for years by now, it’s kinda the new norm for me…just need a break, it’s been a bad day, maybe a rough week, we all have those y'know it’s normal…I’ll be better soon enough…” he said trailing off the last few words.

“Well sounds like you’ve had one too many bad weeks for a while there buddy.” Commented Undyne

“I am afraid it is not as simple as you’d wish it’d be. However, we shall help create a better new normal for you Sans, one that you deserve.” Spoke Asgore

“N-No one ever has the choice or c-control on what life…or err, the universe, throws at us. H-However, we can choose what attitude to t-take after the t-things that happen to us.” Added on Alphys.

Sans started comparing himself to Papyrus, how he took the optimistic approach in life while we succumbed to the pessimistic attitude. While looking Papyrus in the eyes, the both of them could tell what they were thinking, no words needed to be spoken.

“…”
“……”

“Sans…” Began Toriel breaking the silence, “If I may ask, and of course you do not have to answer if you do not wish to but…how much time has passed since you and your brother first got here…?”

Sans straightened up a bit and casually answered, “I don’t mind. Uhh let’s see…well, if we forget about how long it's been in this timeline since the barrier broke, and if we ignore the fact of all the resets and other timelines that happened, I’d say it’s been aboutttt…9 years or so.”

“Huh, I suppose that adds up!” Spoke Papyrus

“Oh my…9 years is a long time to be hurting…” Toriel replied.

Sans fell silent, it felt like someone smacked him right now upon that realization.

“I understand what it feels like to be hurting for many years. However, I have also had many years to grieve and try to heal from my pain. You Sans, you’re still grieving. The loss of your old life, your old home. All of your previous neighbors and companions. The loss of all your hopes and dreams, and your goals…you have not once even begun trying to heal from the pain to move on toward yet. Even now you’re still hurting.” Spoke Asgore with wisdom.

It felt like he got another smack in the face with that one.

Grief. He was in grief. He’s been grieving all these years, and hasn't been able to begin to move on and heal from it. So that’s what that was…

Sans meant to say it in his head, but he accidentally said it outloud, “I grieve all of you, as well. For all the times you died, stood by and watched you die. When I couldn't save anyone and just saw everyone passed on…You’re still all alive and well, but I’m still grieving…”

The room fell dead silent. Sans felt like he was going to suffocate and die. Someone needs to sew his mouth shut.

Toriel broke the tension to speak with sympathy, “Oh Sans…along with the 9 years, you’ve been trying so hard for the past 7 months haven’t you…?”

Sans looked at her in genuine confusion, “7 months…? What do you mean by that…?”

“It’s been 7 months since we’ve gotten to the surface brother…” Papyrus responded with concern

“How long did you think it’s been??” Questioned Undyne

Sans tried to shrink himself in embarrassment, as he very quietly squeaked, “idk I thought it's been like a month ot twoo…”

“Y-you thought it's only been a couple of m-months?!” blurted out Alphys.

“I told ya! You need to see a doctor about that, and hey since it’s my fault I’ll help with the co-pay!” Cheekily spoke Flowey.

“Dude, so you know it’s been 9 years but lost track for the past 7 months?! That’s nearly a decade by now!” Exclaimed Undyne. Breaking the tension.

“M-Man…that’s not even counting how much time it’s been w-with all these re-resets.” added Alphys.

“How long has it been if we do add up all the resets?” Questioned Papyrus. Which provided a nice distraction for Sans.

Sans replied with “Errr, I wouldn’t know for sure. We might need to do a lil bit of math here…”

Flowey came in to say, “Well, according to my last save file, I “played” for around 9999 hours with 99 minutes.”

 

Alphys began to do the math, but Sans immediately got the answer, “417 days. Could also be known as 13.7 months, 60 weeks, or 1 year and two months. Noted.” he spoke casually.

“A YEAR?!” Exclaimed Undyne.

“I see, so time was being repeated for more than a year…” concerned Asgore.

“Wait, so was it like, the same day being repeated for the year or the same week orrr…?” Questioned Papyrus.

“Hmm…Hey Al?”

“Y-yeah?”

“So, Flowey over here came to be shortly after the amalgamate incident. Between then and the kid falling into the underground, how much time was that?”

“Y-you don’t know…?” she asked with concern.

Sans stayed silent. With no response, Alphys just decided to answer his question. “I-It was around 3 weeks…”

“Cool. Same 3 weeks being repeated for the year. Any other questions.” he spoke casually.

Everyone was in shock and concern, but Undyne blurted out, “Are you—?? Ok but what about the Punk??? How long was it for them?!”

“I dunno, ask them, not me.”

Frisk just stood still and silent. After a few moments, they slowly put Flowey on the ground, and held their hand forward. Checking their last save file. Everyone saw a faint light and stared in amazement.

Shortly after it disappeared, they went up to whisper in Sans’s non-existent ear.

“Well??” Demanded Undyne

Sans hesitated, but then responded with, “er….10…”

“Ten what?!”

“...10 years—”

Undyne jumped from her seat. Sans tried to jump in defense immediately, “Ok ok technically like 9 years and 3 months but that’s not—!!”

“S-s-sans…!!! A-adding that a-all up th-thats like, 20 y-years of hurting for you I—!”

Suddenly. Undyne prepared to strike attacks at Frisk. Sans caught on and used his short cuts to move and transport the both of them across the room, along with Flowey. Avoiding the attacks, which instead shredded through the couch instead.

Everyone tried to yell out for Undyne, but she spoke what was on her mind anyways.

“9 years…?! NINE FREAKIN YEARS. Sans! Look I get it, you have a complex relationship with them, but could you possibly EVER defend that murderous thing!!!!!”

“My child!!!” Cried out Toriel while the rest were attempting to calm Undyne down.

Sans held his arm up and had Frisk behind him, who was on the verge of tears. Flowey shrinking down, and shutting his mouth for his own good.

“It wasn’t the kid’s fault!” He defended.

“Oh yeah???? Who the hell else caused all those different loops and KILLED US for power?!??!” She screamed.

“The player???” He exasperated.

“The WHO???” She questioned angrily

“The—!!” He then paused and turned his head around, “Kid…you—you DID tell them about the ‘player’, right…?”

Frisk only shook their head no in response.

Sans dropped his arm and turned his whole body around to face Frisk, “What?! Kid why??” He desperately questioned.

“Great!!! More damn secrets!! Just what the hell else are you three hiding?!” Undyne screamed out.

Alphys blurted out in panic, “T-t-t-t-the player…!! Sans, earlier you said something about Frisk being possessed…! Are you saying Frisk wasn’t in control this whole time?? Was that the second anomaly???”

“Ok, ok. Pause. Everyone time out.” He said as everything blinked around them. He used his time manipulation powers to freeze all time around them. Multiple spotlights shined down on everyone while they looked around in confusion.

“What the—?” Undyne began to step backwards.

“I’d stay still if I were you, if you step out you’re gonna be frozen in time for a bit, I did it like this so you can be in conversation.” Camly explained Sans.

Undyne just grunted in anger and murmured “You and your secret powers…”

Papyrus broke the tension with unintentional comedy effect, “Sans!! You better not be pranking us across time and space, right now is not the time for that!”

“Nah bro. Just stay there.” He said, turning his attention back to Frisk.

“Buddo…why didn’t you tell em? Unless you were lyin’ to me the whole time but that can’t be, your characteristics were all different, unless you somehow became a good actor…” he questioned.

“Because they’re an idiot!!” Answered Flowey. “Frisk felt sooooo guilty for the whole thing that they wanted to take complete responsibility! And whenever we tried to talk about it or bring it up, we’d get interrupted!!”

Sans turned over back to Frisk, “Kid…but, wasn’t the whole point of this to tell them all the truth? Why would you ever leave that out? Y’know that technically counts as lying to them, and trust me, I know all about that.” He said with a comedic smile.

He then continued, “Frisk…listen buddo, most of it wasn’t your fault, I know you were still responsible for some timelines, but most of em wasn’t your fault, you weren’t in control. I could never blame or judge you for something you didn’t do, that wouldn't be very fair.”

After a few seconds of silence, Frisk broke into tears. Sans went to slowly and softly embrace the crying child, as he let go of the spotlights on everyone else.

“Hah?!” Questioned Flowey.

Sans began to speak, “Sorry…got tired…and this should be more private for one. Kid look, I’m sorry if I’m the reason you felt so guilty that you had the need to take all of the responsibility. I swear most of it wasn’t on you, if anything it was little Bud over here.” He said smirking while pointing his thumb at Flowey.

 

“H-hey! Wait…was “bud” a pun for the bud of a plant this whole time?!”

Sans just chuckled while Flowey yelled in annoyance. He then slowly patted Frisk's back, “Anyways kid, come on, give yourself some credit. You’ve helped me a ton, a skeleton…” He said grinning. “Thanks to the sacrifice from your little spookie ghostly friend, the anomaly is gone for good, you gave us the happy ending we all deserved, and tried to make it permanent this time. Look…I’m sorry if it didn’t work out. But you’ve given me a lot of hope and light, I just need…well I just need to find it myself again, not rely on others no more.”

Frisk just tightly hugged Sans back. After a few minutes they let go. Frisk wiped their tears roughly but Sans went in with his hand to softly wipe them away, he even offered his own shirt for Frisk to blow their nose in but they denied the offer. He just patted them on the head gently.

But before they started time again, Sans took out his note book. “Woah looked ruffled up.”

“What are you gonna do with that?” Questioned Flowey.

“Just gonna write a few things down about this timeline. I feel like alot of important t things were learned today…” he then sighed, “Look kid, I feel better when this is just kept between us, having everyone know everything right away was too much for me, especially all in one day, and considering what happened this morning…”

Frisk dropped their shoulders and looked away in disappointment.

Sans continued to write in the journal, but kept on speaking, “Buutttt, I can’t blame ya. First of all you’re still a child, even if it’s been a decade, we were stuck in a timeloop, and you weren't in control for most of the time. So really it’s not your fault ok? I get it, you were worried about lil ol’ me. Well, we made that promise, even if it’s hard, I’ll try to keep it in mind. But honestly, if you reset just one last time because of today, well, I won’t blame ya at all. In fact I kinda encourage you to do so.”

Frisk looked up at him with a stern confused look, even though Sans was still focused on the writing he could tell the confusion on both the kid and Flower.

He added on, “Listen, I kinda caused things to get messed up, sure it’s because of other things but at the end of the day there is no one sole person to blame. Let’s just all take responsibility for our own little actions. I think it’d be too much to take on each other’s consequences.”

“Are you serious?! You’re really asking Frisk to reset the last 7 months!!”

Sans sighed, “Look, I’m just saying, if things end up getting worse, well we have a plan B, ok?”

Before anyone could act or speak, everything blinked as Sans started up time again. He finished writing in his notebook and put it away.

“Alright, guess the kid didn’t tell ya the full truth.” He said calmly.

“Frisk!!” Cried out Toriel as she reached her arms out and Frisk ran to embrace her.

“Yeah, you either.” Huffed Undyne.

“D-did we miss something…?” Asked Alphys

“Yeah sorry, I was too exhausted to keep my magic up for long for all of you.” Explained Sans

“No need to worry about that friend.” Spoke Asgore.

“So! What is this Playee this all about?” Papyrus asked.

Sans took a deep breath, as he proceeded to explain.

“Not much is known. All I know is that this outside god-like force that transcends beyond our universe gained control over the kid at some point. It was seen as nothing more than some game, seeking for all the mysteries and sought for destruction. Now I wasn’t involved with it, but if I remember correctly from what the kid told me in one timeline, a ghost of one is the humans sacrificed their last spiritual power left to permanently cut the connection between the anomaly and Frisk. I believe that was just barely the previous timeline. As they reset and now we are here.”

“Which human soul could’ve possibly done us the great sacrifice for us…?” Questioned Toriel meleconly

Sans tried his best to answer sympathetically “Er, like I said, that’s all I know, really, I’m sorry—“

“It was Chara.” Answered the Flower numbly.

Toriel and Asgore gasped while a couple of them looked apologetic or confused.

“T-the first human child…” added on Alphys.

Toriel covered her mouth as she tried not to cry, Asgore in a shaky voice, asked “H-how is that possible…”

“When Frisk fell, their determination awoken Chara from death. I’m assuming because they both share the determined soul. Frisk says that Chara followed them around their journey till the end.” Flowey began to explain as Sans looked away.

“Of course, when Frisk started gaining LV, that power corrupted Chara. Wanting to erase the timeline.” As Frisk nodded their head. They then tried their best to speak.

“It-it—it wasn’t their fault! Chara w-was j-just mad and-and—tried to p-punish me! B-but m-many t-t—resets later—I w-wasn’t I-in control. S-so we w-worked together to s-stop it…but they…are gone now…” they spoke in tears.

“Oh Frisk!!” Cried out Toriel hugging them once more.

“I…I see…” somberly spoke Asgore.

Undyne took a breath and held her head. “Great. Ok well…what now?”

“W-well…I think w-we all need a m-moment…” nervously spoke Alphys

Sans examined the room, everyone was either upset or crying. Great. All because he had to go run and try to dust himself off.

“Sans. When are you going to consider seeking a doctor?” Questioned Undyne.

Sans was taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“S-sans you aren’t seriously going to d-deny that you n-need help are you…?” Questioned Alphys, before adding on, “I-I can’t diagnose your chronic depression d-due to biases. Y-you’ll have to seek an outside intervention f-for that…”

“Me??” He had the audacity to question.

“Probably all of us to be honest…” murmured Undyne.

But Sans overheard. “Huh…?”

“Look, you desperately need help Sans. This is out of our…expertise to say the least. As for the rest of us well I’m not sure…”

“What…?” He spoke coldly

“You heard me. All this information is life changing, nothing's gonna be the same again. We can’t just have this conversation and leave like nothing ever happened.” She added on

Something within sans started ticking.

“U-Undyne! I-I don’t think that was the right choice of words or perhaps an appropriate time to say that…” Papyrus spoke out on concern

“What? Why?” Undyne questions

“D-did you n-not remember w-what sans said e-earlier??” Questioned Alphys

Shit. That’s right.
Sans never wanted to ever tell anyone anything precisely because he blames himself for it.

“Yes, we must be careful with our wording and actions from now on around Sans.” Spoke Asgore.

Something deep down was boiling inside Sans.

“Sans, it is alright. How are you feeling?” Asked Toriel kindly.

He felt like he was about to blow up all over again, but even more nastier than last time.

“Shoot! Ah Sans—“ began Undyne. “Hey forget what I said ok I—“

He twitched in anger. He was unbelievably upset.
“See…this is exactly why I wanted NONE of you to EVER find out ANYTHING. Heh…heh I’m leaving.” Grunted Sans angrily

“Oh no the hell you don’t, not with at least one of us with you!” Complained Undyne

“Language!” Lectured Toriel.

“H-hey c-come on you guys p-please!” Pleaded Alphys

Sans angrily questioned, “You seriously can’t trust me being alone for a damn minute??”

“O-of course we trust you sans!!” Nervously replied Papyrus.

Undyne answered in her own response, “How can we trust you?? All these secrets are never ending, it seems! This player shit, the Gaster stuff, this whole Knight crap! You still haven’t told us everything!”

“That’s quite enough everyone!” Toriel spoke out firmly.

“Let us not start again please…” added on Asgore

Sans angrily responded with, “And why should I trust you either??? Everything is literally none of your business!! Why should I dump everything into you, what am I a book??? You have no right to dissect me! God why can’t you just leave me alone?! You’re just like that stupid flower!!”

“If you’re not going to trust us then why should we trust you?? Especially with you being an active risk on yourself?! ”

“U-Undyne please stop!! This isn’t the support Sans needs right now!” Cried out Papyrus

Sans complained out loud, “I swear to—I’ve had enough of you guys treating me like I need to be on constant suicide watch or an active risk on myself!”

“Because you are!!” Yelled Undyne back.

“G-guys please stop…!” Pleaded Alphys

“Why the hell are you so upset we’re just trying to help you! Is having support really nah difficult for you??” Continued Undyne

Sans continued, “You’re all walking eggshells around me now!! You all claim that you don’t see me any differently but you do! You don’t see me as a the pun-loving lazy skeleton anymore, all you see is some depressed suicidal freak! So what if I tried to kill myself and done it before?! Who gives a flying feather about it, it's not a big deal?!”

“Of course it’s a huge deal Sans!! How could you still think like that after everything we’ve been through today?!” Yelped out Papyrus

“Your own life has more value than you can ever imagine! No one should have to go through that, we simply want to help.” Yelled out Toriel in an attempt to soften things out and comfort Sans. But it didn’t work.

“Yknow, if you’re gonna judge me for everything that’s wrong in my head, at least don’t be fucking hypocrites about it!! Because at least when I try to judge someone, I’m self aware of my own shit!” He said bursting out.

“Sans!!”

Sans grabbed his head and started pointing fingers and gesturing his hands at everyone, “If you’re gonna stand here and yell to get help at me for being suicidal, then at the very least you should ALL seek help as well!”

Alphys attempted to stop him “S-sans…!! Do—“

“Cause I’m not the only DAMN person in the room right now that has killed themselves before or at least tried to!” He blurted out

The room fell silent, and the atmosphere got so heavy and tense you could cut right through it like jelly.

“The King and Dr.Alphys over here have dusted themselves off more times than I ever have in other timelines before, I even lost count! Not that I even wanted to count that shit in the first place!!”

Papyrus cried out, “D-don’t do this Sa—!”

But he continued, “The one time I wasn’t there for you guys you go off and leave me in the dust, literally!!!” his voice began to crack.

Papyrus tried pleading with him, “S-Sans—please st—!”

He choked out, “Tori would’ve probably ended her life if it wasn’t for me being there for her!! I know that damn Flower has attempted before as well!” Sans grabbed his head with one hand and grunted in pain, swinging around trying to focus.

“Sa—!!” Papyrus attempted to reach out for him but Sans just pushed him away. He then aggressively turned to face Undyne.

He grunted out, “And YOU. You claim that I’m such a ‘stRoNg FiGhTeR” and see yourself as a noble hot-tempered warrior, but have you ever considered how WRONG you might be about us?? I mean you seriously DARE accuse ME of being a constant risk?! Do you have ANY idea how many times you put Papyrus and I in constant stress trying to talk YOU out of suicide or even getting off our damn couch when the anomaly killed half the underground when you let the kid go, when Mettaton was killed Alphys killed herself because of it and you lost your home!”

Undyne’s face dropped and she was too stunned to speak or barely move.

‘Shit shit stop remembering, stay focused!’ He pleaded with himself on his thoughts, but he just continued,
“Not to mention all the times you’ve insulted me, yelled at me, lectured me and treated me like a child just like you are doing it now! And you think I AM the biggest victim here after what EVERYONE has been through?!”

Sans thought to himself ‘Dammit stop it! Don’t do it again please—!’ “I’ll have you know that I—!” Sans yelped in pain as he knelt over to the ground, holding his head in one hand and his chest with the other.

He thought to himself ‘Shit—fuck, breathe—breathe just breathe…stay focused, don’t let it happen again not again, focus on the present forget the timelines please please dammit…!’

His head felt like it wanted to explode, his rib-cage felt like it wanted to implode in on itself and his sternum felt like it wanted to shatter. He was barely gasping for air trying to catch his breath deeply like he was running a marathon.

Papyrus ran over to him and attempted to hold him up, “Sans!!! H-here it’s a-alright brother, let me help yo—!” But sans only broke away from the embrace standing up.

Still catching his breath, he choked out, “I don’t want your damn help!

“What?! Sans I—!”

“You never helped Papyrus!! You just keep making things worse for me! I sacrificed my entire LIFE, all of my HAPPINESS, all just for YOU, and this is what I get in return?! Just insults and lectures with you! You never leave me the hell alone!! You’ve never once been useful! You ungrateful little—Augh! Always co-dependent on each other. While also neglecting each other’s actual needs!” He cried out.

Papyrus, who grew angry, sarcastically responded with, “Oh well EXCUSE ME, MY MISTAKE for EVER trying to help YOU and your stubborn little boney behind!! You’re nothing but stress Sans, always burdening me! Maybe I should’ve stopped caring about you then!”

The both of them dropped their arms and shoulders and froze as they went silent. Only loud sharp breaths from both of them could be heard as they tried to calm down.

They knew they were angry. The both of them knew that they said things they didn’t mean, but the both of them took it all to heart anyways. Shattering each other’s souls. Papyrus was the first one to break the silence and immediately regretted what he said.

In a broken apologetic voice, he pleaded out. “Sans I—Listen I’m so so—!!”

Sans abruptly interrupted. As he tiredly spoke, “Hey Papyrus…do ya remember this one time, me and you were in the kitchen. I was tryna make coffee, but I messed it up?”

“Sans I—!!”

“Then you and I got into the exact same silly argument…”

“Please brother I—”

“We told each other the exact same thing…but I guess the meaning had different weight…”

“Stop it San—!”

He slowly pulled his hoodie up, in the hopes to hide away his face, “Heh, some big bro I am…that was probably in another timeline, wasn’t it…? …I’m so sorry little brother…” he spoke out with a cracked voice.

Papyrus attempted to reach out to him one more time “...Sa—!”

But he just turned away and headed towards the door.

Sans coldly spoke out, “I’m goin’ to Grillby’s and will wait there for the next reset…”

Toriel cried out, “Sans! You cannot—!”

Sans then snapped, his hands were shaking, his face twitching from holding back tears building up in his eye-sockets, as he gasped out sharply, “Dammit Frisk just reset the timeline already! Can’t you see how much I’ve messed everything up?! At least now you’ll know what to do to prevent me from doing this again! I got it in the stupid notebook as well!! Or better yet, just do us ALLLL a favor and let me die next time!” He choked out painfully and loudly.

He swung open the door.
Papyrus cried out for him, pleaded for him to stop, tried to apologize as he ran to stop him, but Sans pushed him away with his soul magic, however this time, he countered it with his own blue soul magic to deactivate it, but by the time he did, Sans had slammed shut the front door.

Papyrus stumbled to open it immediately a second later, but by the time he looked around to see outside…

 

He was already gone.

Chapter Text

Papyrus knew disaster would easily ensue if everyone wasn’t careful with the conversation. It was already a mess once when Flowey tried getting on Undyne’s nerves. Afterwards, Sans had joined the rest of them, and his anxiety only grew more.

He knew that his brother was at his lowest, most vulnerable state. Easily susceptible to being pushed to the edge as well. Everything was going smoothly however.

They sat through the conversation about their old. Sans left a few things out of course, but Papyrus was relieved enough that Sans was willing to share anything as it was. And thankful everyone remained respectful of what he decided to share and not share…that is of course except the curious Flowey, but thankfully it was easy to ignore his pestering questions.

However, when the topic of resets circled back, Sans was especially avoidant of the topic.
Papyrus understood that maybe his brother needed a break, or not tell them everything, talk some other day. But Sans spoke how he’d preferably wish to never speak of the subject ever again. This upset Papyrus a bit.

“Look…Tori, guys…can we please talk about this some other day. Preferably never for that matter.”

“Sans, you can’t be serious. If you want a break that’s fine, but you avoid this forever.” Spoke Papyrus.

“Your brother is right, you know?” Agreed Toriel

Sans just sighed in defeat. “Fine…fine.”

Papyrus knew this wasn’t easy for Sans, but he was willing to give him all the patience and accepting support he could give, and he only wished the other would as well.

 

Unfortunately, Undyne started being a little impatient asking Sans questions.

“Ok so, me and Ms.Toriel all just found out today the truth about these ‘resets’. Apparently Papyrus found out a while ago when we were moving to the surface, he accidentally found your notebook.” Explained Undyne.

Sans sighed at the mention of his note book.
Papyrus looked away in guilt, he felt bad mentioning it to everyone without Sans’ permission or knowledge, but it was the only way to explain his side of the story in all this.

Undyne continued, “Alphys and Asgore have had somewhat of an awareness about it for a while now but just today found out more as well. The Flower the Punk has all of the memory and knowledge about this, so where do you stand in all this Sans?”

Sans however gave no response, he simply looked away.

“Brother…I know this must be difficult for you, just share whatever you think is necessary to tell…”

“…”

When there was no response, she asked once more, “Dang it Sans! How long have you been knowing about this?! For how long did you keep the secret of resets from us?!”

Papyrus watched as Sans slightly flinched from his seat, smile dropping and eyes went dark.

“Sans, are you ok??” He called out for his brother

“Are you even listening?!”

“U-Undyne, l-lets not yell at him ok…?” Pleaded Alphys.

“Yes, let us give him some space.” Advised Toriel.

“Yes Undyne, let's have some patience with my brother, surely this is very difficult for him! Sans…?” Called out Papyrus.

But there was no response, Sans just sat there frozen like a statue.

“Helloooo…?? Sans??” Called out Papyrus once more.

Everyone turned to look at him in concern.

“O-oh dear…I think i-it happened again…” nervously pointed out Alphys.

“He is ‘dissociating’ again as you called it, correct?” Spoke Asgore.

“Brother?? C-can you hear us?!” Worried Papyrus

When Sans did not move nor respond, Undyne stood up to go in front of him.

“Ah shoot…Hello?? Sans?? Earth to Sans!” She spoke while snapping their fingers in front of him. “Come on man…!” she said trying to wave her hands in front his face

But no reaction.

“W-what can we do?!” cried out Papyrus.

Suddenly, Sans began to slowly move his arms,

“Sans, are you here with us now…?” Questioned Toriel

 

No answer. But his hands were inching closer towards his neck.

 

Papyrus began to panic, “Sans?! Stop it! Please!!”

“Dang it, what do we do?!” Pleaded Undyne.

Alphys suddenly got a lightbulb and she yelled out, “P-physical contact!! Sans s-snaps out of it when he gets an outside i-interference!!”

Undyne turned back around towards Sans and did not hesitate, with a determined look, she knelt down to him and yelled out, “SANS!” as she grabbed his shoulder with a single shake.

Sans jumped in his seat as his eye sockets widened and his eyelights came back on.

“Come one dude stay with us!” She added on gently tapping his cheek bone as he blinked around for clarity.

“Brother?? Is everything ok?? What happened??”

“I don’t…I…” he grabbed his head in confusion and breathed deeply.

Alphys began questioning him, “D-did you just disassociate again sans…? W-was it intentional or against your will? W-w-w-we’re you just about to…s-strangle y—?!“

“I…! I don’t know I—!”

“That is quite enough now, I believe we should give him a moment.” Spoke Toriel, extending her arm out.

Sans grunts and hunches over to cover his face on his knees and hands.

“Are you alright friend?” Asgore asked.

“Jus…a moment…please.” He murmured in response.

It really hurt seeing his brother like this, not only was it heartbreaking, but also majorly concerning.

A minute probably passed before Sans took a deep breath and threw himself backwards on the couch, looking up at the ceiling.

He then confessed what had just occurred and what’s been happening to him as of late. In that moment concern just arose, seems like this blacking out issue is much more serious than he originally thought, and it was already concerning as it was.

If Papyrus knew how serious the resets were, he would’ve talked to his brother much sooner before things got to this bad point.

Undyne Apologized to Sans, but he didn’t exactly want to accept it.

Sans leaned on his hand and used his other one to wave it around, “Nah, you don’t need to apologize for that. It’s not your fault, I get it how this can be a lot of information to process in one day. Precisely why I never wanted anyone to ever find out about this.”

“But Sans…” spoke up Papyrus

Asgore asked, “Do you truly believe that you should be the only one to carry such burdening knowledge all on your own, Sans?”

Needless to say, Asgore read his mind. For the life of him Papyrus cannot comprehend why his older brother keeps such negative thoughts to himself. He’s supposed to be the smart one of the two, can’t he realize that this is unhealthy? Or perhaps, intelligence is measured in different ways.

Emotionally wise, Sans is mostly self aware of his issues, yet chooses to suffer in silence. Meanwhile Papyrus may be too kind for his own good, but he knows what’s best for his wellbeing and sometimes for others. If he were more emotionally intelligent however, he would’ve acted sooner and realized the self destructive tendencies his brother had.

 

The subject of resets was circled back once more, and this time, his brother actually decided to talk about it. He knew it wasn’t particularly easy for him, which is why he could see why Sans decided to pull out his notebook and just read off an entry in the journal instead rather than just say what’s in his mind.

Regardless of that, it was definitely progress in Sans deciding to stop hiding. However, he admittedly had a hard time understanding why Sans became the person he was today.

Sure they lost their old home and experienced the cosmic horrors of time and space, but what exactly caused his brother to completely switch? What exactly did he discover that made him change so much? That he couldn’t understand fully and it seems as though he wasn’t the only one.

However, Flowey wasn’t particularly being very patient about it. Infact quite rude.

Papyrus is very forgiving, but he’s willing to admit that someone's an annoying asshole, he’s just also willing to be patient with such types of people because he knows that they can be better than that.

Everyone tried to de-escalate the situation, Flowey was once again trying to get on someone’s nerves, perhaps unintentionally this time since Flowey was just questioning away. But Sans was tired. He knew his brother was too exhausted to have the patience for this.

Unfortunately things only kept getting more and more heated. He kept pleading in worry. Trying to tell Sans to ignore it just like he advised himself.

This wasn’t going to end well.

And boy.

He had no idea what was coming…

 

Everyone yelling at Flowey didn’t really help, but Undyne shouted anyways “DARN IT THIS FLOWER REALLY CAN'T EVER SHUT UP CAN IT?!”

Papyrus could tell Sans was going to “black out” again, he was behaving the same way he just did minutes before. But Flowey only continued, “Instead of fighting back like usual, you just gave up!! You locked yourself away for 2 weeks, nothing! Then you went off to d—!”

Sans interrupted, “I DARE you to finish your sentence…Do it and you’re DEAD.”

“Sans…” he tried calling out for his brother. But no response. His anxiety grew.

“I just never understood!! I didn’t understand why, when or how you gave up just like that! By the next reset, you were stuck like that! It’s not like you have vivid memories of each timeline like I did! Unless of course you lied to us again. What the hell happened?! I don’t understand!!”

Sans smiled creepily and chuckled darkly in despair. “You don’t get it…? You seriously don’t understand??”

His expression dropped. It looked so serious you could see the hint of anger in it. “Even after all this damn time?!”

Oh no. Not again. This won’t be pretty…

Papyrus tried to yell out for him. “Please Sans…! Calm down!!”

 

Papyrus isn’t a good character reader like his brother, however, he’s known Sans his whole life.

He can tell perfectly the second Sans’s mind snapped.

 

Papyrus watched as Sans suddenly stood up from his seat and proceeded to angrily point fingers at Flowey.

“We were at it senselessly killing each other like some child’s play over and over! While I was trying to stop your destructive tendencies and control over the timeline, control over our lives, you were doing it all just for your little sick entertainment!!! It was alllll just a game for you wasn’t it?”

“S-Sans calm down…don’t do this!!!” Yelled out Alphys, but it was hopeless reaching to him now.

 

If Sans does or says something in that state, he’s going to severely regret it, and only then would things worsen, making it harder to help Sans, when it was already difficult enough as it is.

 

Sans was blindly spilling out the truth now. Like some sort of word vomit. Papyrus knew this wasn’t the healthy way of finding out.

“Sans please!!” Pleaded Toriel.

But Sans just began to wave his hands around in sarcastic anger, rambling on as continued to gesture around with his hands well some more.

When Papyrus heard how he’d trade his own life to forget his pain and awareness. It broke his heart. He knew it, Sans was going to start saying things he’d regret later. They had to stop it before it got worse.

 

Undyne immediately stood up attempted to reach for him. Papyrus as well stood up. But he didn’t allow it. “Sans—!! Hgk?!”

Everyone’s souls turned blue.

Papyrus forgets how much more skillful Sans was at blue magic soul. Papyrus may be the strongest of the two and have exceptional abilities in controlling his magic, but as far as blue magic goes, Papyrus can only control how light or heavy your soul gets in gravity. Sans can straight up change the direction of gravity, while Papyrus can float or sink, Sans straight up has telekinetic power.

Sans kept spilling out his mind. Papyrus was going to tear up, his brother wasn’t going to like the after math of this. And hearing him what was exactly on his mind just stabbed a bone through his soul.

“What the—is this blue magic?!” Called out Undyne.

All of a sudden, everyone was on the ceiling.

“What the hell?!” Reacted Undyne.

Everyone started to panic and question the situation. Papyrus tried his best to quickly explain the exceptional skills his brother has in blue magic despite the pressure Papyrus was in.

Frisk was trying their best to jump off from the ceiling to reach for sans, seems like they have the experience for it…

But unfortunately, their feet stay planted above.

“H-how can we get down to him?!” Cried Toriel.

“We must stop him before things take it too far!” Panicked Asgore.

Sans began to inch closer and closer to Flowey. Who was cowering against the wall in regret and calling for help, attempting to stop Sans.

“Y-you idiot you’re saying too much!!! S-stop it!! Uwaaaa help me!!!!”

Undyne was too mad at flower and responded with “Oh help yourself!!”

“U-Undyne, now’s n-not t-t-the time…!!” Yelped Alphys

Despite all the yelling and arguing, Sans kept going on and on. Papyrus was breaking into tears already.

No more, he wants to hear no more. For once he wishes his brother could keep quiet about his feelings. This isn’t the right way to find out at all.

Everyone started yelling out for him, pleading at him. But nothing. He kept yelling.

Suddenly small bone attacks were popping out of the ceiling attempting to attack them, especially at Frisk who was attempting to still reach for Sans.

“Frisk!!! Which out!!” Cried out Toriel.

The warning helped Frisk dodge them.

The others either dodged or took some damage. But with his stats of one ATK, it was barely a scratch.

Sans just kept screaming as Flowey shivered in fear as he tried to shrink himself.

“Sans!!! Stop it! Snap out of it I’m begging you brother!!” Cried out Papyrus.

“What can we do dammit?!?!” Undyne grew worried and desperate.

“O-o-oh man…I think I’m gonna get s-sick…” commented Alphys who held her mouth and stomach.

Nothing was working. Sans just yelled out some more. Only saying worse and worse things.

“I knew I had to lose in order to stop this, but I wasn’t gonna give you the satisfaction of winning and getting what you wanted out of me, that’s why I took my own life instead! By that point I had lost any self ambitions I had left. I was only ever sticking around for the others! But there was no point in the end of that timeline, I mean Papyrus was dead and everyone else was killed, who the fuck did I have to stick around for?!”

Papyrus doesn’t know what the others particularly felt in that moment, but they all fell silent.

As for him, Papyrus felt like his soul fell right out his chest, he wished it was just the blue magic, but it wasn’t. The feeling of dread, horror and guilt washed over him. Papyrus broke into tears. He choked out, “Brother!!! Sans please…!”

But Sans chuckled in anger as he continued.

Papyrus was terrified.

“Forgive me brother! I’m sorry for never noticing sooner!!” He sobbed out.

Sans was now rambling on and on about death. How much he valued his own life.

“No more Sans!! Snap out of it p-please!!!”

Not like this. He never wanted to find out like this. This wasn’t the calm conversation that they needed. If Sans remembered any of this, it would haunt him.

“Stop it Sans, stop it!!” He cried some more.

“Sans, you do not have to do this, I beg of you to come back to us!” Pleaded Asgore.

“Shit man what the hell can we do?!?!” Panicked Undyne.

Toriel gasped out, “Please Sans, this isn’t you!! We know you can snap out of it!”

“Sans!!! I’m so sorry brother!! Please I’m sorry!!” He painfully croaked out.

But nothing.

Sans began to swing his arms around, as he began to ramble about resets now. How much he’s affected him and changed him. He didn’t need to say all this however, they get the point now. But regardless Sans kept going on.

He then once again pulled out the notebook just to slam it on the ground with full force next to Flowey, he flinched and jumped and by that point was silenced and recoiling back when sans kept inching closer and closer to him. Staring at him in fear.

Sans started rambling on about his notebook and just kept revealing more truths.

“Sans!! Please, I’m sorry, forgive me!” The guilt only grew as Sans kept going off while everyone panicked or cried.

But he paid no mind to them. He wasn’t there right now. It’s like Sans said, his mind starts playing memories in his head like a movie. And it won’t end until someone interferes.

Wait a minute…

 

“But wanna know what happened after? You never resetted again once I had gained the knowledge, and you let time pass just long enough for the kid to drop in. So now I’m stuck with it!”

Frisk began to sob in guilt. Toriel attempted to comfort them.

Even with all his loved ones in pain or panic, Sans was still lost. He aggressively pointed and tapped at his skull and smiled, “All that unnecessary knowledge and information, the truth that life has no meaning and death is pointless, it’s now permanently alllll stuck up in here, in this god damn little skull of mine!” He said, hitting his head a few times.

Papyrus panicked, “Sans, please stop it, you're hurting yourself!!” He began to cry again, “Please brother I can’t stand seeing you like this!!” He covered his eyes with his hands tightly, “It makes me feel so useless not being able to do anything!!”

But to no avail.

“W-we need to find a way to make some physical intervention with Sans so he can snap out of it…!!” Yelled out Papyrus as he tried to wipe his tears.

Undyne blinked in realization, “Ok…but how?! We can’t reach him from here because of this soul magic! And I don’t know how to send harmless attacks without damage, I don’t wanna hurt the guy!”

Wait, that's it.

“But I can!” Exclaimed Toriel.

“Me-me too!” Added on Papyrus.

While everyone was planning, Sans was still stuck in his own mind.
“Even when I forget any other memories with the resets, all this time that feeling had been subconsciously haunting me worse than a damn ghost! Not even the mysterious WingDing scientist Gaster haunts me like that!!”

“Wait what…?!” Undyne was caught off guard, along with the rest.

“That name…why does it sound so familiar…” Asgore questioned.

Alphys looked like she’d seen a ghost. Papyrus couldn’t tell if she was pale from the nausea of standing upside down, or if her soul dropped from the mere mention of W.D Gaster.

Papyrus himself looked awkwardly nervous, he doesn’t know much about him, but he knows that Gaster is involved a lot with the time and space disasters they’ve been pulled into.

By this point, Sans was directly hovering over Flowey, banging his hands against the wall Flowey had himself pinned to. Which prompted Flowey to flinch as he was frozen in fear, and had Papyrus snap out of it.

“Sans! Please I can’t stand seeing you hurt yourself!!”

He got lost in his tangent and started swinging his arms around again while backing away from the wall. Yelling out in sarcasm. Talking about Frisk, what the resets had done to him, his warped view of death.

“Wait, who the hell is W.D Gaster?!” Yelled out Undyne.

“Now’s not the time for that!” Exclaimed Toriel

Sans continued to talk about the resets with Frisk now, and further soul crushing statements of death and his life. He laughed, even though none of this was funny at all.

His brother’s mind was breaking upon his own very eyes.

“We must focus! Let us attempt using the harmless attacks to gain his attention!” Spoke Toriel to Papyrus as she fired up her magic.

But anxiety crept in Papyrus, “W-wait…!! Ms.Toriel! Make sure the attacks are harmless!! They have to cause zero damage we cannot do a single damage on him right now!!” He advised

Toriel looked at him perplexed, she did not quite understand or knew about Sans’ low HP, but she obeyed the request without question. She nodded, “Right…” she then closed her eyes to take deep breaths. Calm herself, block out all the noise and stress, and the painful statements that screamed Sans.

Suddenly, Sans spoke about his true feelings over Toriel, she gasped as was caught completely off guard by it. This caused to unleash her fire attacks earlier then intended, indicating that they at least held one damage in them.

He yelled out, “No…!!”

Papyrus was horrified “SANS?!”

Suddenly dodged all of the attacks. This caused him to pace around the living room now.

“Wait, he can dodge???” Questioned Undyne as she turned her head over to Asgore.

There was only one other monster in the underground capable of doing that.

Papyrus and Toriel only sighed in relief, “Oh thank goodness.” But this did not alleviate them right away. The problem was still at large.

“Asgore!!” complained Undyne.

“I did not make him the royal judge for no reason, Undyne…”

“NYEH!!! Enough! Sans!!” He said as he took a deep breath and tried to release harmless attacks, but he only dodged them all.

Sans only continued to rant. And in that moment Papyrus could only think about everything his brother was saying. His suicidal ideation and tendencies. All the secrets, all the burdens. Making himself feel guilt and responsibility for something that’s completely out of his control, how Sans felt all alone for so long. Lonely, with no one by his side…

Papyrus couldn’t be there by his side.

Alphys at this point tried to hide herself from everything, she felt like she was about to burst into a nervous breakdown.

Sans had begun to attack at random. By that point Flowey ran away, and was trying hard to use his vines to reach for everyone and pull them down. But that attacks kept coming. It wrecked the coffee table in the process.

Then a blast came in charring the wall.

As everyone was terrified, Undyne was more shocked. “WOAH?! Is that his blaster attacks?! It’s completely different from yours Paps!” Undyne complained.

“Of course it’s different!! He’s my older brother not my twin brother! Our magic is different!!” Argued Papyrus back

“R-right…” she replied

“oh woe is me!! Remembering the feeling of being struck across my chest!” He said sliding a finger down across his body.
“Bleeding out and being left to die all alone as my body split into a million pieces.”

As Sans continued to ramble about the genocide timelines, Undyne tried to go back and focus on the situation they were stuck in.

“Great, he can dodge them and attack our attempts to reach to him, there goes our plan, now what are we supposed to do?!?!” Concerned Undyne

Papyrus tried to squeeze his eye sockets shut and think. Sans began to laugh in despair. Hearing him ramble on and on about all his trauma

Everyone attempted calling out for him for him a final time, but Sans kept rambling on in his little bubble.

At this point Flowey tried to grab Sans but he kept avoiding it like he was being attacked, “Snap out of it you idiot!! You’re gonna regret it after this, or even worse hurt your stupid self! Look I get it now I’m sorry ok!!”

Then, Papyrus got a lightbulb, “Wait a minute…I-I think I have an idea!!”

Sans starts grabbing at his face and head, smiling while there’s deep despair in his tired eye sockets. The rant just continues as everything has finally piled up. He must act soon before it’s too late.

“Well???” Questioned Undyne.

“M-maybe I can counter his blue magic with my own!!” He said as he turned to focus on his magic.

Sans held back the urge to cry as his voice cracked. His finally most vulnerable feelings were finally all spilling out.

“S-sans!! Don’t worry I’m coming!!” He said as he threw a blue bone at himself.

Papyrus watched as his brother was finally crumbling. He could tell that Sans, even spaced out, held back the urge to cry, the NEED to cry. It was absolutely crushing him.

All he wanted to do was to hug his beloved poor brother.

Sans began to make puns in the middle of his vent. He began to laugh at his own jokes, because that’s all he was, an isolated Skelton crumping under the loneliness. Using humor as a last resort to keep his sanity.

He was on the verge of tears as his voice was breaking.

“Brother, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you! I’m so sorry you were so alone all these years that it caused you to feel such way about yourself!!” He cried out.

“S-sans can’t h-hear you right now…!” Cried Alphys

*ding*!

“NYEH?! IT WORKED…!!” He said as he slowly started to float himself back down. “SANS!!” He tried to yell out.

“And for the life of me I can never understand why anyone would ever insist on seeing that hope in me! Even if I don’t take my own life I’m barely hanging on by a thread! I’m at 1HP! No healthy normal being can live long like that! I can fall down at any given second! I used to have like 10 or 20 I don’t fucking know it’s been so long since I’ve had no hope!”

Everyone fell silent upon finding out, Toriel covered her mouth in despair as she remembered about what happened minutes ago.

“Sans please!! It’s ok brother, I promise you’ll never be alone again!!”

“Sadness is enough to kill a monster. Why else did you think people kept falling down in the underground?! Why did you think I tried hard to help them? Help break the barrier! I gave up on myself, I so tried doing it for them! But in the end I was a useless hopeless fat fuck! I’m such a waste of space and time, wasting everyone’s energy! I tried so hard to be likeable, but I’m just—!”

 

“SANS!!” He screamed as Papyrus aggressively embraced his brother from behind. Holding on tight, not letting go. He couldn’t help but break into tears on his brother’s shoulder.

“Sans!! I’m so sorry, b-but please, stop!” He pleaded. “Stop saying all those horrible things about yourself!! None of them are true!! You’re the best big brother I could ever ask for! I’d never ask for more, you were always there for me, always hard working and responsible, you never stopped being the greatest!!” He sobbed

Sans only froze, his face completely dropping.

 

Sans spoke softly “p-paps…”

“Sans?? Sans can you finally hear me?!” He cried out. But Papyrus noticed how the emotion drained out of him as he surrendered into his arms, he tried to comfort him but when he felt Sans’ body go limp and struggling to keep his eyes open, he panicked.

Everyone’s soul suddenly returned to normal, as they fell, Undyne landed on her feet, she csught Alphys in her arms, meanwhile Papyrus used his soul magic on Toriel, Asgore and Frisk to safely float them back down despite the fact he was breaking down

“Sans??? SANS?! SANS!! W-WAKE UP!!” He said as his body got heavier, the both of them half way to the floor.

He was filled with horror, many possibilities crossed his mind. “SANS?! SANS…! A-ANSWER ME, THIS…T-THIS ISN”T FUNNY!! P-PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME! S-SOMEONE P-PLEASE HELP!!”

“Dude what happened?!” Cried out Undyne.

Alphys immediately rushed over to check on him, while Toriel also ran over to use healing magic just in case.

He suddenly recalled one thing Sans had just rambled on about seconds ago,

“I’m at 1HP! No healthy normal being can live long like that! I can fall down at any given second!”

Papyrus Gasped. “D-DON’T TELL ME HE’S FALLEN DOWN PLEASE!! S-SANS DON’T DUST ON ME!!” He wept.

Undyne attempted to confront Papyrus, after a few seconds Alphys yelped out, “H-he’s ok…! A-at least p-physcially…H-he hasn’t fallen down, don’t worry Papyrus…”

Papyrus just sobbed in relief, as Alphys added on, “H-his vitals seem to be o-ok. T-they are a b-bit off, “Sans j-just…wore himself out…b-but honestly t-thats no surprise…H-he’s just b-blanked out r-right now…his eyes are partially o-open, i-if he would’ve fallen down his eyes would've been completely close, like…like someone sleeping…” she spoke somberly.

“Let us get him somewhere comfortable.” Suggested Toriel.

Papyrus transferred him to the couch as he wiped his tears. Sans definitely looked to be awake, but wasn’t mentally responding.

“Sans, c-can you hear me? Do you need anything?? Maybe some water or….”

“Dude, let's just give it a minute, I don't think he can hear us right now.” Sighed Undyne. She then furrowed her expression and turned her attention to Frisk and Flowey. “And YOU two…” she spoke coldly.

The others looked like they were on guard, but Undyne took a deep breath and just spoke orderly, “Look, I get it, all this, it’s complicated. But for the time being, I do not want to see you punks right now. I need you to leave.”

Toriel looked like she wanted to interrupt but Undyne held her arm up, “For AT LEAST 5 or 10 minutes or something I don't know. Go outside, take a walk, go in the backyard, stay in another room, I literally do not care, just get out of my sight right now.” she demanded.

Frisk dropped their shoulders and sadly nodded in agreement. They shuffled to the front door and went to sit outside on the stairs by the front yard. Everyone was saddened, as Undyne just tried to take deep breaths.

“We should probably tidy up a bit.” She spoke up.

“I’ll just get Sans some water, then I’ll help you…” Said Papyrus

“Sounds good.” replied Undyne.

While most of them were cleaning up a bit, Toriel sat next to sans, trying to provide some physical comfort. But Sans wasn’t really reacting or responding much, he just took small sips of the water bottle occasionally. Sans looked so limp and tired on the couch, his eye lights were gone, and his usual big grin was nothing more than a small frown. It really stung Papyrus seeing his brother like this.

He then decided to look out the window, feeling more sad over Frisk. Toriel too was looking as well. He felt bad, he could tell Toriel wanted to go out there but didn’t out of guilt. Papyrus set the broom down and announced, “I will be right back! I just want to check on little Frisk and Flowery real quick!”

As he went out, he intentionally left the door open.

“Frisk!! Flowey! How are you two doing?!” He said sitting down next to them.

“What do you think?” Answered Flowey coldly, while Frisk just tried to look away.

Papyrus took a small breath as he tried to be more gentle, “Listen, human, Flowery, I don’t blame you for what happened. Sure my brother was pushed to the edge but…well he didn’t exactly do anything to reach out sooner…or at all for that matter…But, what I’m trying to say was, do not feel like you are ENTIRELY responsible! You may know this already but I forgive you!”

“Yeah you don’t have to say it, I just don’t get why…” brood Flowey.

“Simple! You see, me and my brother are similar in many ways, believe it or not. Remember how earlier Sans said he was willing to trust and give you a chance because you’ve proven yourself to change for the better! It’s like that! We can’t judge you too much in the past if you make an effort to be different in the future. Expect I don’t need any proof or anything, I believe anyone can change for the better unconditionally! That’s the main difference between Sans and I…” he explained.

Frisk and Flowey looked at Papyrus with more sympathy as he gave them a warm comforting smile, “I know things are rough now, but one day we will all look back at this and laugh about it! But for now, we will all take it one step at a time, I know the others are willing to do that, they just need some time, some more than others.” he chuckled, “ But regardless, I want you to know that I am proud of the both of you! For coming forth with the truth, and trying to make a better change, I want you to know that the effort won’t go unnoticed!! That takes a lot of bravery, so you deserve some recognition for it! Nyeh heheh!!”

Frisk teared up as they went to embrace Papyrus, who hugged in return. Flowey however was stuck in the middle. “Ahh let me go!!” But both of them just laughed.

After a good minute, Papyrus invited them back inside, “Alright I think it's been a good 10 minutes, lets head back inside!!” He said while patting Frisk on the back.

 

Frisk cautiously walked back in. Everyone gave them a sympathetic welcoming look and they felt more comfortable now. Frisk went to hug Toriel. Since Sans was sitting next to her, and it was probably best to have Flowey far from Undyne for the time being, Frisk sat on the other end of the couch next to Sans.

Frisk gave a worried look.

“Do not worry, he should be coming back to us any minute now.” Reassured Asogore.

For a couple minutes, everyone talked to each other discussing what had occurred earlier. Piecing together everything Sans has spilled out. And discussing a plan on how to help Sans.

During the conversation, Alphys brought up a concern she had.

“U-um…if I remember correctly. E-early Sans said something about…” she trailed off in hesitation, so Undyne pushed further, “About what? Go ahead, just tell us.”

“U-um…” Alphys looked extremely nervous as she looked over to Sans. “S-sans? C-can you h-hear me? C-could you j-just…r-roll your sleeves up f-for me…?”

No response except for Sans making a small noise and rolling his arm over to Toriel as his head leaned backwards.

“Wait, his arms?” Questioned Papyrus nervously, “W-what for…”

“J-j-just a p-precaution…! I-It’ll my m-mind at ease a b-bit…” she explained as she looked over to Toriel and asked, “U-Um, Ms.Toriel, could you perhaps…?”

“Yes, of course.” She calmly replied, gently taking one of Sans' arms that was on her lap. “I’m just going to roll up up you sleeves alright?” She spoke to him. But once again, nothing but a small noise.

“Are you sure we should do that here?” Questioned Undyne.

“I-I mean…based on what he said, and h-how he’s not trying to s-subconsciously hide himself right now, I think it sh-should be f-fine…” explained Alphys

Toriel rolled up both of his hoodie sleeves, they were both normal. Everyone sighed in relief.

As Toriel rolled them back down, Alphys commented, “O-ok, that’s g-good. I-I definitely feel t-too uncomfortable checking h-his femers b-but I-I think it’s un-n-necessary either way. Even though he h-has gloves on, they only r-reach to palm s-so everything should be g-good.”

When Alphys mentioned the gloves, Frisk recalled the pinkie promise they made this morning, and looked guilty.

Alphys noticed this detail.

“F-frisk…w-what’s with that l-look…??”

“You look guilty of something, could you perhaps know more of what we do not?” Questioned Asgore.

“Mmmm…ummm…” Frisk nervously began to hunch their shoulders as they drew their arms closer to their body. And very nervously began to explain with sigh language.

‘This morning, me and Sans made a pinkie promise. He took his gloves off for it, and one of his hands looked scarred…’ as they pointed to right hand.

While the others looked concerned, Papyrus looked more thoughtful. Then realization hit him like putting a puzzle piece together.

“Oh!! I think I may have an explanation for it!!”

“Go on then…” expressed Asgore.

“You see, ever since he got here, my brother has hidden his right hand a lot and started wearing gloves or mittens. He was always left handed even back at our old home, but he seemed more extra about it here. Now if I recall correctly, when we first got here, my brother looked a little pained and complained about his hand, but of course even then he tried to hide that from me…this could explain some things.”

“O-oh, I see! So you’re saying that Sans injured his hand when you both first got stranded here r-right?” Added on Alphys.

“Precisely!”

“Ah, well I suppose it’s not as serious as we all thought it was.” Spoke Asgore.

Toriel added on, “Perhaps we could ask Sans about it when he awakens fully. If we wishes to do so. I believe we should not force him to speak too much after today.”

“I agree with you! Hopefully my brother comes back to us any minute now!” Said Papyrus.

And soon enough he did. Sans started to shuffle around and made tired sounds as if he was waking up from a nap.

“Sans?! Sans are you ok?!” Excitedly called out Papyrus

Sans groaned as he leaned over to rest his arm on his knee, Toriel was softly rubbing his spine next to him.

“Can you hear us now?” Asked Toriel

Sans propped himself up in confusion.
“Wha…huh?”

“Sans? Are you with us now?” Asked Toriel

Sans looked around in confusion, “what…?”

Papyrus looked worried as his brother didn’t seem to have much clarity at the moment. He then remembers everything Sans had spilled out today unintentionally. He knew more than anyone that surely his brother was going to dread the situation he put himself in if he remembers everything he said. Everyone is going to have to be as patient and comforting as they possibly could to make sure Sans stays calm.

“S-sans, are you ok?? Y-you kinda just…blanked out on us for a good while…” asked Alphys.

He blinked around furrowing his non-existent eyebrows “I…”

It really seems like the memory hasn’t come to him yet, but Papyrus asked anyways, “Brother! What’s the last thing that you remember??”

Sans holds his head to recall. It took him a solid second before his face dropped in absolute horror. He froze in terror. His eyelights shunk down to pin pricks as they started shaking, his breathing getting faster.

Yep, he remembers now.

“It is alright Sans, no need to stress about what had just occurred. Do not worry." Tried to reassure Asgore.

But Sans seemed unfocused again as he started hyperventilating, grasping on his shirt and face.

“Breathe, just breathe nice and steady alright?” Comforted Toriel, who was still doing soft gentle circles on his back.

Sans scrunched his face up in an attempt to control himself.

Alphys attempted to help “J-just take slow deep breathes o-ok? Breathe in 1..2..3—”

But Sans, under the pressure, just shut his eyes closed tightly and held his hand up, which caused him to accidentally drop the water bottle from his hand. “J-just stop—! D-don’t, p-please I…I’m sorry I just…need a moment…” he said catching his breath.

Sans tried to put his head down as far as he could, resetting one elbow on his knee and using his hand to cover half of his face while the other hand was still grabbing onto his chest, breathing more steadier this time little by little.

Papyrus knew Sans wanted to do nothing more than probably run away from all this right now. But he can’t hide anymore from them. Paps felt bad, but after everything Sans had no choice but to face the consequences. But he was determined to make his brother less terrified and help him no matter the cost.

It was no surprise that Sans resorted to his coping mechanism of telling puns during a stressful situation he wishes to avoid. But everyone spoke on what was on their mind regardless, telling Sans the facts. And tried to both comfort and reassure him.

It kind of ticked Papyrus off that Sans still had the nerve to claim that he was fine after everything.

He tried his best to reassure Sans that his magical outburst too was no big of a deal, since no one had high LV (well maybe except Asgore) or low HP, no one was at risk of getting killed.

However Sans still had the audacity to keep claiming he was fine. Everyone just gave him deafening silence and blank faces. He knew Sans was only trying to hide and push himself away. But after everything that’s happened, Sans can’t ever run away from this one.

Still, it pained Papyrus to know that his brother was hurting for so long. All alone, with no one else. He could’ve been there for him, but he wasn’t.

Well from now on that’s going to change!

During the conversation, Alphys spoke up, “N-No one ever has the choice or c-control on what life…or err, the universe, throws at us. H-However, we can choose what attitude to t-take after the t-things that happen to us.”

Papyrus started comparing himself to Sans, how he took the optimistic approach in life while Sans succumbed to the pessimistic attitude. He could’ve easily helped his brother avoid falling into such a mindset, but he failed…

While looking Sans’ in the eyes, the both of them could tell what they were thinking, no words needed to be spoken.

“…”
“……”

Soon after Toriel breaks the silence, asking how long it’s been since he and Sans had lived in this universe. Papyrus wasn’t too sure now that he tried to recall so he waited for his response. Soon after the topic of resets came back again wondering how long everyone was stuck in a loop for.

Let’s just say it wasn’t pleasant to know. Papyrus was concerned more than ever that all the resets messed up with the perception of time for Sans, along with his memories. Undyne got really upset. Sans thankfully had the situation under control, comforting Frisk and explaining about the Player.

Soon after much discussion, things went downhill again…

 

“Sans. When are you going to consider seeking a doctor?” Questioned Undyne.

Sans was taken aback. “Excuse me?”

“S-sans you aren’t seriously going to d-deny that you n-need help are you…?” Questioned Alphys, before adding on, “I-I can’t diagnose your chronic depression d-due to biases. Y-you’ll have to seek an outside intervention f-for that…”

“Me??” He had the audacity to question.

“Probably all of us to be honest…” murmured Undyne.

But Sans overheard. “Huh…?”

“Look, you desperately need help Sans. This is out of our…expertise to say the least. As for the rest of us well I’m not sure…”

“What…?” He spoke coldly

“You heard me. All this information is life changing, nothing's gonna be the same again. We can’t just have this conversation and leave like nothing ever happened.” She added on

Papyrus had a feeling of dread wash over him. This wasn’t going to end well, and everyone was making it worse. Why can’t they just help his brother properly? Sans never wanted to ever tell anyone anything precisely because he blames himself for it.

“U-Undyne! I-I don’t think that was the right choice of words or perhaps an appropriate time to say that…” Papyrus spoke out on concern

“What? Why?” Undyne questions

“D-did you n-not remember w-what sans said e-earlier??” Questioned Alphys

“Yes, we must be careful with our wording and actions from now on around Sans.” Spoke Asgore.

But things just kept heating up.

“Sans, it is alright. How are you feeling?” Asked Toriel kindly.

He felt like he was about to blow up all over again, but even more nastier than last time.

“Shoot! Ah Sans—“ began Undyne. “Hey forget what I said ok I—“

Papyrus panicked, he could see how Sans grew angry. This cannot happen again.
“See…this is exactly why I wanted NONE of you to EVER find out ANYTHING. Heh…heh I’m leaving.” Grunted Sans angrily

“Oh no the hell you don’t, not with at least one of us with you!” Complained Undyne

“Language!” Lectured Toriel.

“H-hey c-come on you guys p-please!” Pleaded Alphys

Sans angrily questioned, “You seriously can’t trust me being alone for a damn minute??”

“O-of course we trust you sans!!” Nervously replied Papyrus.

Undyne answered in her own response, “How can we trust you?? All these secrets are never ending, it seems! This player shit, the Gaster stuff, this whole Knight crap! You still haven’t told us everything!”

“That’s quite enough everyone!” Toriel spoke out firmly.

“Let us not start again please…” added on Asgore

Sans angrily responded with, “And why should I trust you either??? Everything is literally none of your business!! Why should I dump everything into you, what am I a book??? You have no right to dissect me! God why can’t you just leave me alone?! You’re just like that stupid flower!!”

“If you’re not going to trust us then why should we trust you?? Especially with you being an active risk on yourself?! ”

“U-Undyne please stop!! This isn’t the support Sans needs right now!” Cried out Papyrus

This wasn’t good. Everyone needed to calm down so they can think clearly, stop saying things they could regret. Not make it worse. But no one listened.

Sans complained out loud, “I swear to—I’ve had enough of you guys treating me like I need to be on constant suicide watch or an active risk on myself!”

“Please stop!!” he cried out

“Because you are!!” Yelled Undyne back.

“G-guys please stop…!” Pleaded Alphys

“Why the hell are you so upset we’re just trying to help you! Is having support really nah difficult for you??” Continued Undyne

Sans continued, “You’re all walking eggshells around me now!! You all claim that you don’t see me any differently but you do! You don’t see me as a the pun-loving lazy skeleton anymore, all you see is some depressed suicidal freak! So what if I tried to kill myself and done it before?! Who gives a flying feather about it, it's not a big deal?!”

“Of course it’s a huge deal Sans!! How could you still think like that after everything we’ve been through today?!” Yelped out Papyrus

“Your own life has more value than you can ever imagine! No one should have to go through that, we simply want to help.” Yelled out Toriel in an attempt to soften things out and comfort Sans. But it didn’t work.

“Yknow, if you’re gonna judge me for everything that’s wrong in my head, at least don’t be fucking hypocrites about it!! Because at least when I try to judge someone, I’m self aware of my own shit!” He said bursting out.

“Sans!!”

Sans grabbed his head and started pointing fingers and gesturing his hands at everyone, “If you’re gonna stand here and yell to get help at me for being suicidal, then at the very least you should ALL seek help as well!”

Alphys attempted to stop him “S-sans…!! Do—“

“Cause I’m not the only DAMN person in the room right now that has killed themselves before or at least tried to!” He blurted out

The room fell silent, and the atmosphere got so heavy and tense you could cut right through it like jelly.

“The King and Dr.Alphys over here have dusted themselves off more times than I ever have in other timelines before, I even lost count! Not that I even wanted to count that shit in the first place!!”

Oh no. Not again.

Papyrus cried out, “D-don’t do this Sa—!”

But he continued, “The one time I wasn’t there for you guys you go off and leave me in the dust, literally!!!” his voice began to crack.

Papyrus tried pleading with him, “S-Sans—please st—!”

He choked out, “Tori would’ve probably ended her life if it wasn’t for me being there for her!! I know that damn Flower has attempted before as well!” Sans grabbed his head with one hand and grunted in pain, swinging around trying to focus.

“Sa—!!” Papyrus attempted to reach out for him but Sans just pushed him away. He then aggressively turned to face Undyne.

He grunted out, “And YOU. You claim that I’m such a ‘stRoNg FiGhTeR” and see yourself as a noble hot-tempered warrior, but have you ever considered how WRONG you might be about us?? I mean you seriously DARE accuse ME of being a constant risk?! Do you have ANY idea how many times you put Papyrus and I in constant stress trying to talk YOU out of suicide or even getting off our damn couch when the anomaly killed half the underground when you let the kid go, when Mettaton was killed Alphys killed herself because of it and you lost your home!”

Undyne’s face dropped and she was too stunned to speak or barely move.

“Brother! Please let’s not do this again!” He cried out attempting to reach out for him. But he kept circling around Undyne.

“Not to mention all the times you’ve insulted me, yelled at me, lectured me and treated me like a child just like you are doing it now! And you think I AM the biggest victim here after what EVERYONE has been through?!”

“I’ll have you know that I—!” Sans yelped in pain as he kneeled to the ground, holding his head in one hand and his chest with the other.

He could see that this time Sans tried his best to fight back against it, stay focused. But clearly he’s reached his limit for the day, it’s taking a physical toll on his body now.

Papyrus ran over to him and attempted to hold him up, “Sans!!! H-here it’s a-alright brother, let me help yo—!” But sans only broke away from the embrace standing up.

Still catching his breath, he choked out, “I don’t want your damn help!

“What?! Sans I—!”

“You never helped Papyrus!! You just keep making things worse for me! I sacrificed my entire LIFE, all of my HAPPINESS, all just for YOU, and this is what I get in return?! Just insults and lectures with you! You never leave me the hell alone!! You’ve never once been useful! You ungrateful little—Augh! Always co-dependent on each other. While also neglecting each other’s actual needs!” He cried out.

Papyrus, who grew angry, sarcastically responded with, “Oh well EXCUSE ME, MY MISTAKE for EVER trying to help YOU and your stubborn little boney behind!! You’re nothing but stress Sans, always burdening me! Maybe I should’ve stopped caring about you then!”

The both of them dropped their arms and shoulders and froze as they went silent. Only loud sharp breaths from both of them could be heard as they tried to calm down.

They knew they were angry. The both of them knew that they said things they didn’t mean, but the both of them took it all to heart anyways. Shattering each other’s souls. Papyrus was the first one to break the silence and immediately regretted what he said.

In a broken apologetic voice, he pleaded out. “Sans I—Listen I’m so so—!!”

Sans abruptly interrupted. As he tiredly spoke, “Hey Papyrus…do ya remember this one time, me and you were in the kitchen. I was tryna make coffee, but I messed it up?”

I’m sorry Sans I didn’t mean it “Sans I—!!”

“Then you and I got into the exact same silly argument…”

I was just angry brother I’m so sorry “Please brother I—”

“We told each other the exact same thing…but I guess the meaning had different weight…”

Please stop it! Forgive me! “Stop it San—!”

He slowly pulled his hoodie up, in the hopes to hide away his face, “Heh, some big bro I am…that was probably in another timeline, wasn’t it…? …I’m so sorry little brother…” he spoke out with a cracked voice.

Papyrus attempted to reach out to him one more time “...Sa—!”

But he just turned away and headed towards the door.

Sans coldly spoke out, “I’m goin’ to Grillby’s and will wait there for the next reset…”

Toriel cried out, “Sans! You cannot—!”

Sans then snapped, his hands were shaking, his face twitching from holding back tears building up in his eye-sockets, as he gasped out sharply, “Dammit Frisk just reset the timeline already! Can’t you see how much I’ve messed everything up?! At least now you’ll know what to do to prevent me from doing this again! I got it in the stupid notebook as well!! Or better yet, just do us ALLLL a favor and let me die next time!” He choked out painfully and loudly.

He swung open the door.

No. Not again, he can’t lose him, they were making so much progress. Why did this have to happen? Why did he say that? Why couldn’t he control his feelings?

Papyrus cried out for him, pleaded for him to stop, tried to apologize as he ran to stop him, but Sans pushed him away with his soul magic, however this time, he countered it with his own blue soul magic to deactivate it, but by the time he did, Sans had slammed shut the front door.

Papyrus stumbled to open it immediately a second later, but by the time he looked around to see outside…

 

He was already gone.

“SANS?! SANS PLEASE!! WHERE’D YOU GO?? I'M SO SORRY BROTHER, DON’T DO THIS PLEASE!!” He cried out.

Papyrus began to have a panic attack, as Undyne went up to him with major concern, “Papyrus calm down! L-look I’m sorry—dammit! Just breathe ok??”

“W-we’ll find him ok!!” Reassured Alphys

“He said he was running off to Grillby’s! Surely he must be there!” informed Toriel.

He held onto Undyne as he tried to control his breathing.

After a minute, Papyrus spoke up, “R-right!! We have to go after him!!”

“Let us not waste any time then.” Asgore advised.

Papyrus reached for his car keys and ran out the door.

“Wait!! Shouldn’t we ask him first if Sans is there??” Questioned Undyne.

“I’ll text him on our way!!” shouted Papyrus as he got into his car. Everyone soon followed along in their own respective vehicles.

“God damn!” commented Undyne witnessing everything.

 

.
.
.

 

Sans doesn't know where exactly he teleported too. His eyes were too watery and his mind was too blurry to think or focus. He felt like he was going to explode. He tried to hold it together, but had no choice.

As he gasped for air, he stumbled into an alleyway and crashed against the brick wall, he burst into tears painfully.

Probably sobbed harder than when he did on Frisk's shoulders this morning. He just just cried and cried painfully. He wasn’t hurt physically at all, so he fails to understand why he’s crying as such. Maybe it’s all from the emotional pain he’s dealt with over the years, how much he bottled it up and held back. Maybe he’s crying from all the grief. The heavy suffocation weighing on his soul.

Everything around him was black, it was just him, pathetically sobbing out as his body could not support him anymore, slowly sliding down the wall and into the ground. He used both hands to hold into his shirt for dear life. Trying to hold himself together. He felt his entire face scrunched up and burning up, while the rest of his body felt weak and limp. Everything was just overflowing.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe, barely taking breaths just to sob some more. He felt absolutely awful. He would rather feel numb and depressed then whatever this hell this agony of hell he was feeling right now.

He felt a presence nearby, a voice trying to call out for him. Asking him if he was alright and what was wrong. When he tried to touch him, it felt warm, almost Firey.

But that didn’t matter, he just pushed him away, tried to push himself away with his feet, dragging across the concrete, his voice was all cracked and broken as he painfully sobbed out, “Go away!! Don’t touch me!! J-just leave me alone!! P-please…!”

He has no excuse to act like this, he’s crying like someone just died. But then again, Sans has lost everything, many times. So maybe he is crying like he lost someone.

Maybe it’s because he lost himself.

 

.
.
.

 

Papyrus likes to follow the rules. He always abides by the law if it seems fair enough. Which is why it’s completely out of character for him to be going 20 over the speed limit. Texting and Driving on top of that. The others could barely keep up with him behind Papyrus.

“Man if I was on duty right now, I’d have to pull over Papyrus! Hehehe good thing I’m not!” Commented Undyne who was barely right behind Papyrus. She looked over to glance at Alphys, who just had a worried saddened expression.

“Sorry bae…I’m just trying to lighten up the mood. We’ll find that bonehead soon, and help him properly this time.”

“Y-yeah…I know…” she replied.

Meanwhile, Toriel was behind the couple, driving more cautiously since Frisk was on board.
“My child, do me a favor and pick up the phone for me, will you not?” She said as she threw over her ringing phone. Papyrus was making a group video call, everyone picked up.

“Papyrus?? What happened??” Questioned Undyne.

“Good news!! Sans is indeed at Grillby’s right now! I was just texting him!”

“Ah, what a relief” commented Asgore, who was a couple of cars behind Toriel’s vehicle.

“H-however…he told me he found Sans having a…meltdown…in his alleyway…” added Papyrus with a more saddened tone.

“Oh Sans…” expressed Toriel melancholy.

“Don’t worry dude! We will make things right this time, no more screw ups!” Determined Undyne.

Flowey put the phone on mute so he could rant to Frisk quickly, “Augh! That idiot, even after everything he hasn’t learned a thing! Look at all these people he’s stressing out, and he really expects you to reset the last 7 months of the timeline?? Jeez.”

“That’s enough now Flowey.” Spoke Toriel sternly as she took the phone to unmute. “Very well, we will all meet each other there. Farewell for now.” as the call was being ended.

Yes. They can’t afford anymore mess ups. If they want to help sans, they have to do it right this time. It’s their last chance.

 

.
.
.

Sans doesn't know how long he cried for, but once it was over, he felt like a dried up sponge who was left out in the sun all day. He just laid on the cold concrete floor feeling all numb and tired.

He changed his mind, he’d rather die than feel all numb.

He heard a couple of noises, sounds of doors opening and an object being placed next to him. Sans barely turned his head over to see what it was. It was Grillby, who had placed a bottle of water right beside him.

In a raspy, tired and worn out voice, he spoke softly, “Just go away Grillbs…don’t want anyone seein’ me like this…”

However, it wasn’t surprising that Grillby did not listen to his request. Instead, he leaned against the brick wall and sat down next to him.

“....Make sure…..you…drink…water. It’s important to…….stay…hydrated.” He spoke

Grillby was sort of similar to Frisk, he was selectively mute like them. He must've spoken only due to the fact that Sans had his cheek bone plastered on the cold concrete floor buried in his arm while wearing his hood up, so he couldn't see any sign language.

Sans just sighed in response, at least he was less nosey than the others. The silence was awkward but somewhat peaceful and comforting. Probably due to the fact that Grillby was also naturally providing him warmth.

He didn’t move a bone at all, just stayed there on the ground. Didn’t even touch or glance back at the water. It was the same feeling he would have when he’s rotting away in bed. Numb. Paralyzed. Maybe he was just finally rotting away, out here in nature to decompose within the earth.

After a couple of minutes, Grillby spoke up once more, “Would you like to…..come inside the bar now….?”

Sans could barely shuffle and mumble around in response, “nah, don’t wanna be a bother to anyone inside. It’s fine.”

He felt like shit.
It was comforting to know that Grillby has seen him at his worst already before when he’s had one too many drinks and gets sad drunken that Papyrus had to come pick him up.

But today felt like the lowest of lows he’s ever been.

“There’s no one…inside. It’s empty….I closed…..for the day.”

Sans shifted his body to face up at Grillby, “What? Why? ….It wasn’t cause of me was it…?”

Grillby shook his head, and signed out, “No, while I was worried for your whereabouts and well-being this morning, when I was notified that you were found safe at home, I already had plans to close for the day, to work on the bar. Do inventory and such.”

“Oh, I see…” he replied, before cracking a tired smile and adding on, “Heh, yeah, I used to do that, back in my old home.” he recalled. He then shifted his entire body to lay on his back now, arms behind supporting his head, and crossed his legs.

He might as well spill, even if it’ll be reset, maybe he should give context to Grillby in this timeline.

He closed his eyes and smirked as he casually explained, “Oh yeah, by the way. Did ya know me and Paps were from a different world? Yeah, our old universe was probably destroyed or something, or I dunno maybe it’s fine now. Hell if I know, I’m stuck here now. The day I first came, we woke up just outside of Snowdin. I walked into your bar thinking it was my convenience store, funny amiright? I’m surprised I managed to play it off as smoothly, acting as if I was a regular. Just moments before I came from a completely different world and went through some cosmic horrors in the process. Heh.”

Grillby just stayed silent for a few moments, as Sans reached over to drink water. He was right, crying can really dehydrate you.

“Hmm…I suppose….that explains…..a few things….” he finally replied.

“Oh yeah? Like what.” Sans asked, amused.

“The day you first….appeared….Your early drunken…..rambles….” he answered.

Sans looked away and didn’t really feel like responding to that. Instead he noticed how dark the sky was getting. It was either getting late or it was going to rain. Maybe a mix of both actually. He grunted as he sat himself up. “Ok, I’ll go inside. But only cause I know you’re willing to stay out here with him as long as you have to, and I can’t do that to you.” he spoke.

The both of them got up, and Sans stumbled a little, struggling to move.

“I’m fine…” he grumbled, but Grillby gave him a supporting hand regardless.

He walked Sans inside through the back door. And made his way through the kitchen and out into the bar. He then held onto the counter and made his way over to one of the chairs.

“Wow, seems pretty bonely in here without the rest. Amiright?” Sans commented. He then just sighed and requested, “Pass me glass, strongest one ya got.”

Grillby just looked at him with a serious expression. Reading his face was another way of communicating for Grillby, at least for Sans since he was so good at reading people. And he could tell that Grillby refused to give him any liquor at the moment.

“Aw comeon Grillbs, how about the lightest one then, eh?” He tried to negotiate, but it was clear that after everything, Sans wasn’t going to get a drop today.

“It’s all gonna reset anyways, why does it matter??”

No response, not even some confusion when Sans brought up the resets. Could it be possible that Grillby knows of resets well? Or could it be that Sans had drunkenly rambled one too many times?

He just sighs in defeat. “Fine….you win. But could I at least have some ketchup?” He asked.

“Only if you drink….one more glass….of water.”

“Alright, deal.” he said in surrender.

He was served a nice tall glass of water with a couple of ice cubes, along with a bottle of ketchup, and as promised, which thankfully it was an easy one to keep, he drank all the water before diving into the condiment.

Sans doesn't drink it as a whole often, only when he’s too lazy to squirt it out when eating fries or a burger. It is a rare and occasional thing to drink the whole bottle, and today was just one of those days.

During their interaction, Sans kept hearing Grillby’s phone buzz. And decided to question it for one of the rings.

“Who keeps buzzing at ya anyways?”

“It’s your brother…..he’s worried about you, yknow….”

Sans just sighed in annoyance and rolled his eyes, “Tell him I’m fine, and that I’m not gonna kill myself, jeez.”

Grillby looked at him with a saddened expression.

“Sorry…” apologized Sans.

He then took a deep breath and decided to ramble. It’ll reset anyways, so he might as well stop hiding and let it all out so he won’t double explode in the next run.

Grillby looked like he tried warning him or telling him about something but Sans brushed it off.

“You see, I just don’t get it. Like yeah I understand everything but I just don’t see the reasoning. I mean after so many years, how am I supposed to start moving on from everything? I thought I did, I thought I was moving on. But clearly I haven’t, considering the fact that I’m sitting here right now in an empty bar rambling away while drinking ketchup.” He said taking a sip of the condiment before continuing.

“I mean, I just don’t know where it all went wrong. Did everything from the past years really just piled up over time? Yknow, I thought I was gonna turn out ok in this timeline. I mean it’s the happiest ending we got, no? Everyone’s alive and well up on the surface. And, I guess part of me was hoping that well…seeing everyone happy and thriving would make me happy too. Cause it does make me happy. It’s nice watching the people you love just, carrying on having fun, not worrying about anything. It was peaceful. Yet for some reason…” he spoke as he leaned his elbow on the counter, using hand to hold his head and crossed his legs.

“I guess everyone was right after all. I can’t truly ever be happy in life by simply relying on the happiness of others. I won’t ever be happy because I’m not happy with myself. Yeah, that’s it isn’t it? They all told me and it just didn’t stick to me at the time.” He sighed as he took another sip of ketchup.

“Shit sucks man.” He said with a sad soft chuckle.
“I mean, how the hell did I expect to change such a mind set I had for myself for years now? I thought I could change. I mean I know people are capable of it, but I never had strong beliefs to see it true to the end. The second I don’t see any progress I lose hope in that person. I lost hope in myself… …I feel like I tried my darn best yet maybe I never tried at all. I give up too easily, I always just found it better than putting so much effort into something that never comes to fruition. It ends up being a waste of time.” He took one more sip before resting his chin on the counter.

“I don’t even know what the point to any of this is. At any given moment of our lives, it could all go back to square one, with no memory of it. All that effort for nothing. And yeah sure, the kid promised to never do it again but like, that doesn’t take away the dreadful feeling I have every waking minute. Heh, yknow part of me feels like everything didn’t have to come down to this. I’ve said a lot of things I regret. Things I didn’t mean or thought it through. I didn’t want things to end up this way. I want to trust them, but time and time again I’ve been shown why I shouldn’t, even if it happened in another timeline. I would’ve liked things to take it slow. Just me the kid and probably that darn flower as well. Slowly one by one tell everyone at my own trusting comfort pace…heh, who am I kidding. Can’t even trust myself anymore. That fact that I have no recollection or the conscious choice of whatever the hell I tried doing this morning is proof of that.”

He finally ends his ramble off with “They all probably think I’m crazy now. And they’d probably be right, I mean I could’ve easily fabricated the whole thing, surprise the kid and flower were in on it! But no…it’s all true. And now they all know. Nothing will ever be the same again. They say they don’t judge me for it but that’s not true. That pun loving lazy skeleton was all a facade. And now they see nothing more that a pitiful sad man, trying so hard to help me. All this love, comfort and support is too much for me. I was all alone for years and suddenly it’s all thrown at me like swinging a 1000lb dumbbell towards my direction. It’s so overwhelming that it makes it hard to believe any of it is genuine because of it.”

He finally sighs as he puts his head down on the counter and mumbled. “This is all my fault. I ruined everything, I ruined their lives and the whole timeline. The kid is probably gonna cave into the stress any second now and reset us all the way back…”

 

“See that’s the problem with you, you’ve never had the power of reset yet you act like you do. Having a worse power trip hang over than I ever did.” Spoke Flowey as he popped up on the counter right next to sans.

“Huh?” Questioned Sans who wasn’t as surprised to see Flowey here.

“Earlier, you told me that I had that god complex get to my head with all the power I had over the world. And you’re right. That’s how I used to feel and see things, none of my choices matter because I could always go back and change them. But guess what. Choices do matter, they all have consequences big or small no matter what. And the way you’re acting, you have that same mindset too because you act like nothing you do will matter because your dear friend will just go back to change it, well guess what trash bag, not anymore! Frisk isn’t gonna reset so you’re stuck with the choices you made whether you like em or not! It’s time you also learned that. So what’s it gonna be, are you going to continue making horrible decisions because you think you can, or are you gonna try and change for the better?” Lectured Flowey

Needless to say, that definitely gagged Sans up for good. Not once did he ever think about himself, about his own actions. He was so focused on the actions of others, judging them, that he failed to make a judgment of himself. The flower was right. Sans was living day by day acting like a god was ready to lend him a helping hand in fixing all his problems or changing his fate. When all this time, consequences always mattered. Even ones from other timelines had all bled through into this one. Maybe that’s why he had such a downfall.

Maybe that’s why things ended up the way they did. He simply doomed himself.

“Sans…” Spoke Papyrus from behind. Sans immediately pulled himself from the counter and spun the chair around to see.

Papyrus was there, and so was everyone else.

“Paps…” he stayed silent for a few moments before realizing. “Wait…h-how long have you all been there…?”

Papyrus looked away nervously, “Nyehhh…maybe the whole time?”

Sans spun his chair back around and plopped himself over the counter, “ughhhh great…” he moped.

 

He recalled how Grillby tried to warn him earlier.

 

He should really start listening to others more often.

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Papyrus was the first one who reached the parking lot, since he was empty, he accidentally double parked. Even Papyrus was surprised, he usually follows the law and speed limits, but today he even ran through red lights.

He fled from his car with only one thing on his mind. Undyne follows right behind.

“Dang, who would’ve thought Papyrus of all people would drop everything, even the law, for someone.” Spoke Undyne as she quickly tried to park, more properly than Papyrus did.

“I-is it really t-that surprising? Sans and Papyrus have a-always had each other, their b-brotherly bond goes beyond the universe. I-I know I would also drop everything for s-someone l-like that t-too…” commented Alphys.

“Right…” she said as she parked the car and immediately took her seat belt off to run after Papyrus. Was Papyrus even wearing a seat belt today?

“Hold on Papyrus!” She exclaimed, holding his arm. “Let’s take it easy, we don’t wanna scare away your brother again.”

“O-oh…! Right…” Papyrus said, taking deep breaths to relax.

Instead of going inside right away, Papyrus waited for the rest to arrive. They all hesitated at the door.

“Are you sure it’s open? Grillby closed for the day did he not?” Asgore asked.

Papyrus was glancing over at his phone, “NYEH yes, he said he’d leave the door open for us!” He said looking back up to look at the entrance.

“Let us hurry inside then, it looks like it will be raining soon enough. I prefer to not get my fur all wet.” Laughed Toriel nervously.

“Right…” he responded as he reached for the door handle. He opened it, and since it’s closed, there was no sound of the door bell ringing when a customer walks through.

There he was. Sans was sitting across the bar over the main counter. Papyrus felt his body relax as he sighed in relief. Grillby looked like he tried signaling something to Sans, perhaps telling him that everyone had arrived. But sans didn’t pay attention.

That’s when he heard Sans ramble on again, this time more calmly however. Seems like Sans was reflecting on everything instead this time.

Once it was over, Papyrus wanted to speak, but Flowey beat him to it.

Undyne began to complain, “That darn flower! Frisk why did you let him free—?!”

But Papyrus gently shushed her. “Shhh. Listen Undyne, he may be a bit harsh, but he’s making good points that Sans needs to hear.”

Once Flowey finished, it looked like it made Sans realize.

Papyrus had to admit he was slightly afraid that Sans would disassociate again, so he gently called out for him

“Sans…”

Sans reacted right away, he immediately pulled himself from the counter and spun the chair around to see.

He saw how Sans was surprised to see or hear him.

“Paps…” he stayed silent for a few moments before realizing. “Wait…h-how long have you all been there…?”

Papyrus looked away nervously, “Nyehhh…maybe the whole time?”

He felt guilty, it definitely felt like an invasion of privacy. But it was unintentional this time around.

Sans only spun his chair back around and plopped himself over the counter upon getting his answer, “ughhhh great…” he moped.

It hurt Papyrus, but he felt hopeful. This time they’ll do it right, they’ll help Sans.

“Listen, brother…” Spoke Papyrus gently as he walked over to sit next to Sans, putting a hand on his back.

He took a quick glance at his face. Sans trying not to make eye contact. He looked just like how he found him when he first opened the door this morning to look for him after reading that note.

Except he looked even worse. He clearly did a lot of crying, Grillby didn’t even need to mention it in the text before, it was painfully obvious now with the tear stains across his cheek bones. His eyes sockets were now both swollen and puffy red, and sleep deprived. His eye bags and dark circles remained.

Then there was the sad crackling look in his eye lights.

They say that your eyes are a window to your soul.

He should’ve known long ago how hurting his soul was with a simple glance of his eye. But they were always overlooked.

 

But not this time.

 

“I’m terribly sorry for what happened today brother. I knew this was too much for you. That’s why I didn’t protest when you asked for a nap. I knew that you needed some rest. I know that you’re exhausted. And maybe we all should’ve taken more breaks as well. You and all of us as well were too impatient today. You just wanted to get the conversation over with because you wanted nothing more than to hide again. And we were all just upset or worried to get the problem resolved as soon as possible. But I now realize that…that wasn’t the right way to go about all this. We all should’ve taken everything one step at a time. No matter how upsetting it was or how much we wanted to find out more, that’s not a good excuse to act the way we all did.”

Sans lifted his head up to glance at Papyrus. The rest soon followed after.

“Listen dude, Papyrus was right. I’m sorry for always being impatient and hot headed. I promise I’ll work on that. Maybe I need anger management? I-I’ll look into that later. But you gotta promise us to also work on yourself as well. We are all in this together! So if you need help, don’t be ashamed to ask for a hand! I mean it, we got your back. No judgement, we understand.” Spoke Undyne patting Sans’ shoulder.

Sans made himself sit straight as he slowly paid attention to what they had to say, as overwhelming as it felt, it was definitely more tolerable than before.

“Correct. My deepest apologies for letting the whole situation escalate my friend. We were simply just worried overall, wanting to help a dear friend out.” Said Asgore

Alphys added on, "W-whether you like it or not, y-your our friend Sans. And we won’t s-stop worrying or caring a-about you n-no matter what b-because of that! I-I’m so sorry for not helping sooner, but t-that changes today!”

“You guys…I—“ but Sans paused as he watched Frisk slowly approach Sans timidly, fidgeting with their fingers. Sans softly exhaled as he made himself open and reached his arms out.

“Alright, come here kid.” He spoke gently. Frisk took the cue to go over and sit on his knee. Sans grunted as he chuckled, “Woah, did you get a growth spurt? I remember you being slightly smaller heheh…” he trailed off as he started speaking more sincerely, while rubbing their shoulder,
“Listen kid, I’m sorry about everything. It was selfish of me to be asking you to reset all of this just cause I don’t wanna deal with my own emotions. The flower was right, for once…”

“Hey!” Flowey quickly complained.

“And I’m sorry I made ya feel like you had to bear responsibility for everything. Firstly most of it wasn’t your fault. And secondly ur jus’ a child, even after all the reset shenanigans…I shouldn’t have relied on you too much, maybe reach out sooner to someone closer to my age. I mean, it hasn’t even been a full 24 hours and already over here tryna break the promise we just made this morning.” He then grabbed Frisk by the arms and placed them back in the floor and rubbing their hair.

He finally ended off with “Don’t get it all wrong tho, I wanna try, I really do. It’s just that…Well I don’t quite know where to start I guess…”

“That’s where we can help brother!” Exclaimed Papyrus.

“Right!! But uh…well what now?” Asked Undyne

“What do you mean?” Questioned Papyrus

“I won’t lie to you Papyrus, I’m not good at these things.” She said while scratching her head. “Like uhh, do we go home now? Hand out? Keep talking…??”

While the others began to discuss, Sans turned his attention towards the window.

 

It was raining.

 

Everyone discussed for a good minute before someone noticed Sans was gone again.

“Hey, wait a minute…where’s Sans?”

Papyrus looked around nervously. “Sans…?? Sans?! Oh no not again!! Sa—!”

“Relax Papyrus, he’s by the window.” Interrupted Undyne using one hand to point towards Sans and using the other to lay it on Papyrus’s shoulder to comfort him.

Papyrus sighed in relief, “What is he up to now?”

“I-I think h-he’s watching t-the rain o-outside.” Answered Alphys

“Oh right, you’ve mentioned something about that before right Papyrus?” Commented Undyne.

“Right…” he replied.

“He looks a bit lonely…Should we go check up on him?” Questioned Asgore.

“I shall go talk to him. I need to speak with him in private in any case.” Toriel proudly and calmly announced.

The others either awkwardly or nervously looked at each other, as Toriel walked up towards Sans across the other side of the bar.

“It sure is pouring outside, is it not?” She spoke up standing next to the short skeleton.

Sans jumped a little bit in surprise, “oh! It’s just you Tori…” he said.

Sans was thankful that he still had his hood up, he was able to hide his expression. Because ever since today, it’s like the smiling mask he’s always worn had completely been reduced to atoms, he could feel his face flushing a little bit, making him feel embarrassed.

“Is everything alright?”

“Y-yeah yeah. I’m just…looking outside…” he spoke

“Mm…I see…”

The both of them stood there in silence for a couple seconds before Toriel spoke up again.

“Sans, if you may, I’ve been wanting to speak to you in private for a brief moment if you do not mind. Of course that is if you wish, I do want to force you after every.”

“Nah nah, it’s cool, I’m all ears, even if I lack them heheh.”

He heard her laugh softly, and felt like this soul melted.

His emotions really were all over the place today.

“Ah well, I have just been wondering about something you had said earlier today...” She began

Sans got nervous, out of everything he’s said today, he had an aching feeling he knew what she was going to ask about.

“Now, I’ve had a hunch for a while, but of course I could never assume someone else’s feelings. I had the hope that perhaps I would gain some clarity during our dinner that night…”

Sans sighed, he felt like such a screw up.

She looked away to face towards the window, “But I did not know you were struggling and going through so much back then. Now as for what you said today, well…I suppose I would just like some reassurance.” She turned over to face him once more and asked, “Is what you said really true Sans? Do you…”

“Hey, listen, Tori…” Sans began. “Yeah…Yeah it’s all true. I can’t hide or lie about it anymore. And of course none of this is your fault or personal, but…loving you just made me feel more of a mess than ever. I don’t believe it’s because I also kinda had a crush on the other version of you from my old home. I’ve come to terms with the fact that you and her are two different individuals. Both of you are as similar as you are unique and different. When I heard your voice through that door, not only was I given memories of the past, but I fell inlove all over again with the new. But at the same time, I’ve been so stuck in the past. Trying so hard to recreate moments instead of making new ones…”

Toriel recalls the night of the dinner. Where Sans ran out into the rain, slowly reaching his hand out. Toriel had a feeling like Sans was expecting something to happen, so say something or feel something, but she could tell that nothing came through.

She also recalled again of the knowledge that had loved nature, such as rain. But lost that spark being trapped underground.

She then got an idea, although hesitant, she was determined to do it for Sans.

“Here, follow me.” She spoke

“Huh? Wait where are you going?” He questioned

“Outside silly.” She replied

“Wha—but it’s raining outside—Tori??” He said going after her.

Meanwhile, as everyone watched from the other side of the bar, Undyne huffed, “What are those two dorks up to now?”

Papyrus just smiled warmly in relief.

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Toriel stepped outside the door into the rain.

“W-wait Tori hold on—!” Sans tried to go after her, but upon feeling the droplets on his hand, he retracted it back into himself as if it were raining acid. He stood just outside the door, only being sheltered by the awning that was hanging over by the door.

He watched as Toriel laughed giving a little spin under the rain.

“Tori, what are you doing?? You’re gonna get soaking wet, I thought you hated the rain…”

“Come on now, join me and I’ll tell you!”

Sans gazed upon the scenery of Toriel soaked from the rain, her bright ruby eyes shined brighter than the street light trying to mimic moon light reflecting the droplets. The sound of rain rushing down suddenly felt softer, and the smell felt refreshing. His face widened softly in realization.

He tried so hard to recreate the spark he had once lost, that he forgot why it would’ve never worked in the first place. He’s changed, everything around him has changed, world, his environment, the universe. Everyone changed, and he was changing. But rather than trying to change for the better, he changed into the worst version of himself, giving up too easily. When he changed, so did everyone around him. He and Papyrus basically switched roles, and right now, he felt the same way.

Ironic wasn’t it?

He changed so much that he tried so hard to go back and cling onto what he once was. Relying on his old memories, back to a time where he was happy. He never once stopped to think that maybe…he should try having a new ones instead.

He hesitated, but slowly stepped into the rain. He looked up into the sky, watching the dark puffy clouds shower upon them, his hood slipped off his skull as he took her hand.

“You see, you are correct, I used to dislike the rain. Ever since we got to the surface, and even before the war. I had always viewed the water to be dirty, a noisy inconvenience, and the smell wasn’t pleasant before. I especially did not like the feeling of my fur being soaked…but. I suppose that is how I used to see things, you could say that someone helped me view things differently, have a change of heart.” She said looking at Sans.

Sans didn’t answer, getting lost and admiring her presence instead.

“When Papyrus had shared with us how you used to love all the beauty of nature, I was moved by how you viewed the rain. Something to ‘wash all your worries away’ was it not?” She asked.

“Uhh..heh, yeah. Even for a moment, it was the small temporary moments that always counted. Help motivate me to create newer ones in the future. But I guess after so long…I had forgotten about all that, trying to go back to the good memories instead of trying to make new ones…” he explained.

Toriel softly smiled as she said, “Well, good thing you remember now, is that right?”

Sans felt his eyelights brighten as he smiled at her back. He didn’t realize it at first, but he found himself dancing with her.

“Hey, can I ask a question?” He asked

“Sure, what is it?” She replied.

He recalled how last time he was in a situation like this, he stupidly asked if he could have a dance while always dancing. So instead, he focused on the main thing that was in his mind.

He began to ramble off his question “Just a bit ago, you asked how I felt, but…what about you? Cause if I’m being honest, after everything, I just find it hard that anyone would ever be into such a messy guy like me. I mean, I can’t even take care of myself, could I even have a proper commitment into a relationship…? I think you're the most perfect and beautifully kind mobster out there Tori, you deserve nothing but the best of the best especially what you’ve gone through. So I don’t know if I could ever— or if you’d even—look, I just value our friendship a lot, if you don’t feel the same way that’s fine, I’d just hate to lose you. I don’t think I’d be able to handle that again. I already lost someone once, and technically lost you more than once if we count those timelines where you—“

Sans stopped mid sentence when he felt her hand touch the side of his face.

Toriel responded with, “If you are that worried for how I would feel, rest assured I reciprocate your feelings Sans. I think you are very kind and funny, and the way you care for others, like your brother and my child, is very admirable. I believe you deserve the world as well, especially after knowing everything you have been through. You are very brave and strong even if you do not think so yourself. As long as you try again, I am sure things will turn around. Me and the others are here for you from now on as well to lend a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on. There is no rush, if time is what you need then I shall happily wait, we got all the time in the world after all.”

Time. Time is what he’s needed. For years he was stuck in time. But now it’s finally moving forward, it was all moving on forward without him, because he was making himself stuck in the past. He tried to catch up but only fell in the process. But all his friends noticed, and came back for him. To help him get back up again, and try again. Move forward with them. He just needs a little time to catch up again.

He gently leaned his head into her hand, and held it with his own hand, “Heh…thanks. That’s good to know, I’d like that…” just let things happen naturally at their own pace.

They both very slowly lean towards each other…

But suddenly, they are both splashed by a puddle of water that caught them by complete surprise.

“Aye! Don’t think you dorks are the only ones who could have fun without us!!” Shouted Undyne, who
Was the one responsible for jumping into a puddle splashing them.

Sans glanced over to see that everyone had come out to play in the rain as well. Except for Grillby who was taking shelter by the awning of the door. He may be able to tolerate snow and even love it, but rain was a whole other story for someone like Grillby.

Undyne walked passed Toriel to devilishly whisper “and that's pay back for that one time you stopped me and Alphys from kissing when we were in front of Frisk, the kid was watching right now too y'know~" she smirked while Toriel huffed in playful annoyance.

Sans watched as everyone was starting to have fun under the rain with him. He recalled how alone he’s felt for years. And for the first time in a really long time.

He didn’t feel so lonely anymore. Not at all. A giant genuine smile could be seen on his face, as he went to join them. This was happiness, this was peace. This was…

A memory worth saving.

A small moment on such a shitty day, it’s always the small good moments that count. Helping him move forward to have many more.

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Sans remembers shuffling around, as he opened up his eyes, he jumped in surprise seeing he was riding inside a car.

“Wha?!”

This caused Papyrus to be off guard and scream in response and swerve the vehicle. “NYEH!! Sans??? Are you alright?! Did you have a nightmare??? What’s wrong?”

“I—No I’m fine, I didn’t have a nightmare I just…” he looked outside the window. He was super confused for a moment. Weren’t they just…?

Sans felt like he just dreamed the last 20 years of his life.

“Er…Hey Paps. Can I ask ya a stupid question?” He asked.

“Yesss…?”

“Are we…this is the surface, of the…it’s—the other world right? Not the old one…”

Papyrus was immediately concerned, “Brother, are you alright…??”

“Yes yes I’m fine it’s just—sorry. It’s just that, weren’t we just all playing under the rain…?” He questioned.

“That's the last thing you remember Sans?”

Sans looked away and didn’t answer in embarrassment. Papyrus just sighed

“Yes brother, I suppose considering both worlds were on the surface I can see the confusion but…you don’t remember the dinner we all just had?” He asked

“Dinner…?” He looked at Papyrus very perplexed. He then got disappointed and apologized. “Sorry bro…”

“No need to apologize! This is precisely why we are going to see the doctors in a few days!” Papyrus announced.

“Wait what??”

“Yes brother, we had just discussed this but it seems you have forgotten, but that is alright! I shall give you friendly reminders!”

“Hold on” spoke Sans holding his head, “fill me in on what I missed…”

“Well, considering the last thing you remember, after we were all playing together, the rain started letting up, so Grillby bought us all Towels to dry up and invited us for dinner on the house, inside his bar! Me, Ms.Toriel and Undyne helped him in the kitchen while everyone else was setting up the lobby and cleaning up! We all had a nice little fest and wonderful hang out I’d say. After a while and some more conversation, you were starting to fall asleep so we all decided to go home. And now we are here! Almost home!” Papyrus happily explained.

Sans groaned as he threw himself backward against the car seat. “See, how am I supposed to move forward if I keep forgetting all the good memories and keep remembering all the bad??” He complained.

“Which is exactly why I took some days off work so we could go see those doctors soon!” Re-explained papyrus.

“Wait what? Paps, you didn’t have to do that…”

Papyrus quickly glanced over him unamused, so Sans corrected himself, “What I meant to say was…you didn’t have to take any days off of work just for me.”

“Well I had to! You must've forgotten about our little discussions before, but you’ve said it so yourself. I’ve been working too many hours lately, I do need a break. So I took some vacation days! Being an ambassador can wait, it’s time to take care of me and my brother!” Papyrus exclaimed

Sans just sighed and smiled, “Guess you’re right bro…thanks. So, what time is the appointment…?” asked Sans

“Well tomorrow we don’t have anything! I figured that you would need the whole day to rest up! It’ll just be me and you having a day off, some of our friends will stop by for a bit as well. After that the next day I made 2 appointments, one physiologist and one for your sleeping and memory problems!” Explained Papyrus

Sans took a deep a breath and held his chest, he didn’t feel ready at all to start all this. But Papyrus layed a hand on his shoulder and reassured him.

“I’ll be here with you every step of the way brother, me and all the others.”

“Heh…You really are the coolest…”

“And you’re the greatest.” He smiled smiled softly

 

When they got home, Sans had a hard time falling asleep, but after a long horrible day, he was sound asleep for at least a few hours. The next day Sans felt guilty as hell. Mainly because a lot must’ve happened during dinner, when some friends came over to talk about it, he felt bad when having to explain that he had forgotten about it. As understanding as they were, he still felt bad about it. Later on in the evening Sans was forced to buy things for his bedroom.

In the end it felt refreshing. For once he felt motivated to do things, like proper hygiene, eat meals, go out to do stuff. He can’t remember the last time it was him and Papyrus, and that’s already with the fact that he can barely remember the past 7 months in general.

The following day wasn’t any easier, opening up to a friend or family was completely different than opening up to some stranger. It was definitely a rough journey ahead of him, but he’s not alone in the journey anymore. And that alone provided enough comfort and motivation to at least try.

Try. All you have to do is try, because there’s at least someone out there that cares about him, so he has to try for them.

 

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One Year Later

 

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It was late at night, Sans and Papyrus were out in the backyard star gazing. Sans laid calmly on the grass, using his arms as support for his head, he had his eyes closed just embracing within the night.

He heard footsteps come near him, and opened his eyes to see Papyrus.

“Hello brother!! I have returned with the snacks!” He said as he went to lay down next to him.

“Cool, thanks bro.” Sans smiled back

“Ms. Toriel is putting Frisk to bed and said she’d be out to join us too as well!”

“Oh that’s nice. Tomorrow’s gonna be nice tho, everyone’s gonna come to the metro shower at the park right? I'm especially excited for the kiddo to see it.” He said brightly smiling just imagining the light show that’s to come.

“Yes that is correct!! You’re bringing your telescope too, yes?”

“Of course I am, it would be silly of me not to.”

Papyrus laughed as he took a bite of some snacks and looked up at the night sky. A blanket of darkness coated with sparkles.

After a few minutes of silence. Sans randomly spoke up.

“So, it’s been one year since the whole little incident huh?”

“I’m surprised you remember.” Commented Papyrus

“Yeah, kinda hard to forget. But yknow it’s fine, the day ended on a great note. However…there has been one tiny thing on my mind lately. But ah, it’s probably nothing…just a silly unimportant thought.”

“No, ho ahead Sans, you can tell me.” Reassured Papyrus

“Well…I sometimes think about our old home. How it was a different universe. And I think about how the way I ended up. It’s got me thinking, could there be a better version of me out there is the vast expansion of the multiverse?” He said reaching up for the stars. “And what about the worst version of myself? Is there another me out there that could possibly be worse than I am? Am I ever the best version of myself?”

“Oh Sans, you and your existential questions. Well, here’s how I see it! I say, screw them! None of that matters.”

Sans lifted his head in surprise, “what?” He laughed.

Papyrus continues, “You heard me! While yes, I do feel major sympathy for any version of you that could be out there having it worse than you, I say there’s no point in thinking about it. Because reality is that there’s nothing you and I can necessarily do anything about it. We can’t particularly help them or control their situation. The only thing we can do it hope for the best and focus worrying about ourselves. Surely that other Sans has a loving other Papyrus that will be there for him! And if not, well I’m sure that Sans will have other friends! So let’s focus on us rather than worrying about them.”

Sans stayed silent for a few seconds before chuckling. “…Heh. Yeah, you’re right bro. Man you’re so smart.”

“And you’re the best!” Replied Papyrus

“And you two should not be staying out here so late.” Spoke Toriel. Coming over to sit behind Sans

“It is also your bed time.” She added on while leaning over to give Sans a forehead kiss.

“Aw come on Tor, just a few more minutes please?” Pleaded Sans

Toriel chuckled softly, “Very well then.” She turned her attention towards the stars.

While she and Papyrus started discussing tomorrow's meteor shower, Sans closed his eyes to reflect for a moment…

 

They say there are 5 stages of Grief.

“Sans! Did you fall asleep so fast??”

Denial.

“Huh...no. There’s no way this is happening. Where the hell is my store? Why is it snowing?? What’s going on…”

“I think he did. Sans sweetie, are you awake?”

Anger.

“I’m stuck! I’m stuck in this stupid world with all these stupid people and this stupid flower and stupid resets!!!”

“Hmm…no response.”

Bargaining.

“If I take my own life, risk my own life. Would all these resets stop…? Or should I stop worrying about them, and focus on the machine??”

“Oh brother! Erm…are you ok…?”

Depression.

“just give up…I did.”

“O-oh dear…is he…?”

And Finally…Acceptance.

“All I have to do is try, and move forward. I got company from now on…”

but I don’t lie, I kinda wanna add one more.

“Sans??”

“Huh? Oh sorry guys, I was just thinking.” He yawned, “Yeah I think we should STARt to hit the hay now haha.”

“Augh!!” Papyrus groaned while Toriel laughed.

…

The scene pans out from the 3. Slowly zooming out of the planet.

Far, far far away beyond the stars.

Among all the universes.

There layed one special star.

We slowly zoom into that universe.

Everything looks dark and cold. It’s deadly silent. Nothing but snow and fog. The wind howls as it closes in on a hooded figure. They turn around revealing a sinister skeletal grin.

“REVENGE. is a dish best served COLD heh heh heh.” he spoke revealing a right glowing red eye, and a left cyan and red eye, with blood splattered across his cheek bone.

 

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THE END.