HOLY SHIT IDK WTF HAPPENED WITH THIS HOLY CRAP

I FIX IT

WELCOME TO UPPERTALE! An AU created by my good friend Quad and I ^^
We've been working on this for quite some time and we're finally far enough into it that we want to start posting it :D
I'll be posting her chapters on here as well as mine so be prepared! Updates will be every Wednesday ^^
Don't forget to review, follow/favorite, and SPREAD THE AU~!

He was back there again. With her. In that field they always met. Young and naive. It was a constant so familiar that he could even smell the soft air filled with the drifting scents of flowers and pine and wet leaves. He always loved these times. The grass against his bones, between his fingers and the ring of flowers on his head tickling him as they moved with him.

She was smiling like always. The worries of anyone finding them way in the back of their minds as they continued laughing at some lame joke he'd come up with. Which was all the time. Her hair, a light shade of blonde with dark streaks and eyes as brown as mud were all he cared about. Most humans had straight brown hair and blonde was rare, but she had little streaks of both that made her special.

Enjoying her company was as easy as the smile plastered on his face. Just as pleasant as laughing along with his own puns when no one else did.

"You're always so funny, Sans," she said, finally, when they had stopped snorting.

He scratched at his head. "Yeah, I try to be. Someone's gotta lighten the mood. It's either my jokes or I start lighting fires. That aught a brighten up the day!"

Charisma giggled once more. "Don't set everything on fire! That's so bad!"

The skeleton echoed her snicker. "I couldn't if I wanted to. No powers yet. I'm a useless bag of bones. Although I could ask my fire buddy Grillby to help out." He winked and she kept up her giggle fit. "So how'd you sneak out this time? Hasn't your dad been asking stuff yet?"

The blonde shrugged. "I just tell him I'm going hunting. I set traps on the way here and check them on the way back." She messed with a strand of hair, twirling the brown strands around her finger. "What about you? Don't you have to watch your little brother?"

Sans waved it away like a smoke cloud. "He's, like, two. I put him down for a nap so he should be sleeping for a while." A looming sadness ebbed in then. One that he has feared coming. "I wish we didn't have to meet secretly. It feels bad."

"But we have fun right? How's that bad?" She knew what he meant. She knew very well what he meant.

The war between humans and monsters had been going on for so long that it seemed normal for the two species to immediately hate each other. That was why it was weird when Sans had found Charisma laughing at his jokes the first day she'd ran into him. It had been such a shock that the two kids decided not to call for help and instead get to know each other. Later they'd admitted to first doing it to try and get closer to them and get information, but then they'd truly grown close and any other plans had fallen through. They began meeting every week in the afternoon. For nearly a year now.

"I'm just scared someone will find out. We're such good friends… it's weird."

Those brown eyes softened. "We're not weird, Sans." Fingertips brushed across smooth bone, caressing his face. "We're friends." A tint of red lit up her cheeks and Sans felt the familiar blue tingle reflecting on him. "I care about you and you care about me. What's so weird about that?"

"But we're enemies- at least… we're supposed to be." Sans took a deep breath and let it out. "Charisma, I've just… been… I mean… You… I don't want you to get in trouble, I mean, for seeing me."

Her hands remained there, holding his face toward hers. "I don't care. I want my village to know because… You're so nice and you make your dad and brother sound so sweet… I want them to see that not all monsters are scary."

That knot of sadness jerked into fear, popping and spreading in a panic. "You know what they'd do to me if they saw me…!" he whimpered.

Her happiness faded then, smile dropping. "I know."

"That's why I don't want anyone to see you either." His hand came up to hers, resting on her wrist. "I don't want them to destroy your soul."

She nodded. "Yeah." Charisma leaned forward resting her head against Sans's. "I don't want that for you too."

They sat there like that for a while. The peace of being near each other resonating from within them and settling their nerves. With little to no speaking they were able to comfort each other in a way that Sans had never experienced before. He liked it. The small amount of effort it took other than just physically being there. Every tiny movement of her thumb against his blue cheek… Each moment of tightening his grip on her wrist… The simple feeling of her heart pounding and his soul calling out to hers with southing waves.

Charisma moved, closing the small distance and placing a soft kiss against his mouth, backing off quickly with a shy smile.

Taken aback, it took a moment for Sans to smile back at her. He couldn't see his life without her. In some ways he couldn't imagine her life without him. Heck, he couldn't imagine the life she often told him about. He knew so much and yet so little… He wanted to understand the many things she told him about the humans' technology.

He took what he could and hoped one day to better know what she spoke of. Maybe she didn't understand his stories either but copied him and listened with a smile. One day he wanted to take her to his home and show her everything she didn't know about. One day… he wanted to be able to see her without being afraid.

A crack broke into the comforting silence. Something small and solid cracked against Sans's shoulder forcing him away from her. The pain was intense as whatever it was had cracked his shoulder, blood slowly oozing from the split in his bone. He held back a scream as tears built up in his sockets and poured over. Not able to ignore the pain the only sound that struggled out past his teeth was a pathetic whimpering cry.

"Sans…!" Charisma had moved toward him but a hand yanked her away.

A tall, dark figure stood over the small skeleton. A solid black barrel pointed down at him, smoke drifting from the hole at the end. "Creature…" growled the low voice from the male human behind the weapon. "Stay away from my daughter! You can't have her soul!"

Sans flinched and scooted away from the danger in front of him but another shot fired, ripping through his jacket and only scraping at his ribs. Still the pain was unavoidable, vibrating down the bone and into his spine. Drops of blood soaked into his jacket from both wounds. As his body realized he was under attack, his soul appeared before him… small and blue and afraid. The edges of the small heart wavered from injury. Fear had the tiny object shivering where it floated against his chest. The monster grabbed for it to shield it from harm.

"Dad! Stop!" Charisma was grabbing at his shirt only to be pushed back and told to run. "Dad you don't understand- Please!"

"No! You don't understand, Charisma! This thing only wants your soul!" The weapon snapped, a shiny yellow shell falling from it. It clanged to the ground and for some reason made Sans feel all the more in danger. "I won't let it hurt you. I WON'T!"

Light flashed from the end of the barrel.

Sans shut his eyes, but no pain ever came.

Did it miss?

Opening his eyes, Sans flinched at the floating bones before him. Long and crooked, somewhere in the mass of bones stretched a spine that swirled around the smaller skeleton ending in a strangely shaped skull. Spikes lined the jaws and rose up the muzzle with curled horns edging the head. Two glowing orbs hovered in the eye sockets, orange and blue. "Wh…what…?"

"Sans."

He jumped, turning to the voice. "Dad?!"

"Are you alright." It was a question but didn't sound at all like one. Gaster was an intimidating figure. Extremely tall and thin with a skull holding two cracks up and down either sides of his sockets. Though his eyes were normally white, the orange and blue glows there now were enough to make him terrifying even without making a face.

"I…I'm…" Sans didn't say it but winced and gripped at his bleeding shoulder.

Gaster's attention turned to the motion, but it was only his eyes. Without changing his expression he was looking back at the human now pointing his weapon at him. "Human."

The weapon snapped again, a shell falling from it.

"Take your young and leave. I don't wish to show such violence in front of my offspring." Then his eyes burned, energy flowing from them like reversed rivers rising up into the nothingness of air. "That being said, if you attempt to fire at my son again I will not hesitate in relieving you of your soul."

The human stopped, weapon lowering. He grabbed up Charisma and ran. The blonde reached from her father's shoulder, tears in her eyes. Wordlessly she screamed for him as they vanished into the forest.

Sans reached out to her wishing he could stand and go after her. He couldn't. He was wounded but something else felt wrong. It was like a part of his soul had gone with her. Releasing the blue heart in his hand he saw how it shook and faded in and out like a heartbeat. It remained against his chest, not vanishing like it should when he's no longer in danger. It's not like this hadn't happened before… He'd been in fights with other monsters… Why wasn't it going away?

"Sans," Gaster knelt down to him.

Not wanting to seem vulnerable, Sans unzipped his jacket and hid his soul inside. "It's not that bad," he muttered in reference to his shoulder and ribs. Still the pain was there and it was something he wished would just go away. The cracks in his bone pulsed with the waves of his panicking soul.

"We must get you home. We can talk later." There was a look in those once again white orbs that seemed to give off a feeling of compassion. "For now you need rest. Your soul needs rest. Come, son." Gaster held out a hand and Sans took it accepting the help up.

The two left the clearing. Every step further and further away felt like another small part of Sans was being left behind.

Step… after step… after step… He couldn't breathe. His soul panicked-!

Sans sat up with a jolt, blue glow in his left eye illuminating his vision of his darkened room. The memory was over. He was awake. No longer a child and no longer innocent in his own skull. It was a new time with old ones lost to the forward flow. Charisma was gone as far as he knew yet still he couldn't get her smiling face out of his memories. Funny enough he was older now – twenty-three, right? The years all mixed together anymore – so thinking of a younger girl's face and feeling nothing but love for her didn't seem at all right. Reminding himself that she was grown now and living her life made it feel less creepy.

The ache in his shoulder persisted even though it was healed long ago. Remembering that day so vividly had brought the pain back intensely enough that his soul had appeared again. It hovered against his chest shivering and flickering with dim light. So fragile. There had always been a small black blip within the glow showing the small part of him that had left him that day. It had weakened his emotions, but it wasn't the only thing that'd weakened him.

Apparently his dad had known about Sans and Charisma meeting and had been watching them. Studying them. Seeing how a human and monster could get along so well. He admitted that they seemed so similar that it confounded him to why humans and monsters didn't get along to begin with. Still he thought it was best if the two didn't meet again – much to Sans's dismay.

The ordeal of losing her, his only friend at the time, was hard. Gaster must have noticed because he began bringing Sans and Papyrus to work with him at the lab. The two mostly sat around playing with empty test tubes and other various things in the lab. Sans couldn't help but laugh at remembering the day Papyrus had gotten his head stuck in a beaker. It had taken an entire stick of butter to get it off and Gaster hadn't been too happy about it.

Over time, his dad had begun testing out some different machines. He would test them on small creatures but never got the results he needed. Sans asked if he could help since Papyrus was sleeping and he was bored. His dad thought it over and, after a few hesitant tries, nodded.

He could still feel the flash of the ray, the electric sting of it across his bones only for it to settle on his chest and embrace his soul. It didn't hurt, per say, but feeling something foreign holding your soul wasn't something Sans could call pleasant. As quickly as it had grasped the floating heart, it let go and San's felt odd. He crumbled to his knees gripping at his chest and where the soul had vanished from sight. He felt tired. There was no pain but hos exhausted he was had him winded and afraid. He couldn't breathe… Why couldn't be breathe…?!

The effects wore off eventually and Gaster was pleased with what had happened, both smiling and sounding worried as he ran to check on his son. This process continued over many months and the more he endured it and the many other machines that his father had created, it seemed the faster their effects took hold and the longer it took for him to recover.

One day… he didn't.

Sans had collapsed. He couldn't move let alone breathe. Unlike any other times the effects didn't fade. He never got the feeling back in his bones. Actually it got worse. His entire body felt like it was shivering without him wanting it to. When he was able to think about it, he looked at his soul and saw fine lines drawing across it. It was cracking. His soul was breaking.

Gaster had panicked then, scooping the skeleton up and rushing him to his assistant who was more skilled in medicine than science. Before even getting there… Sans watched his soul slowly splitting in two and blacked out before it fully broke.

No one ever told him what had happened after that. Papyrus's excited yelp when he woke up was all he recalled and then lots and lots of bed rest with almost no strength returning. He was never the same after that. Any time he got too upset over anything his soul would appear before him and small lines would make their way over it.

Even now as he recalled everything…

Sans took a deep breath and let it out. The panic swelling within him faded with each inhale and exhale pushing back the crumbling cracks forming across the heart. It healed right up the more he woke up and forgot about those days. He was doing fine now. All he had to worry about was Papyrus's training for the Royal Guard. That wasn't truly the biggest thing on his mind, though.

Before he could delve back into his memories, the door to his room opened. "Brother? Are you awake yet?" It was Papyrus. Up early as usual.

"Yeah, bro, I'm up." Sans laughed halfheartedly. He was already climbing out of bed when the door opened all the way and his brother stood in the doorway. "Leaving already?"

"Yes. Undyne said she wanted to train us in the cave outside of the village so she said to leave early." The much taller skeleton still stood there.

"Well? Aren't you going to hurry and get out there?" When he didn't move, Sans asked, "What's wrong? Dog got your leg?" He offered a smirk, snickering at his own lame joke.

Even with the stupidity of it, the other smiled and looked away to hide it. "I was just making sure you were up. Can't have you sleeping all day, lazy bones."

"I'm awake already." Throwing his jacket on, Sans left the darkness of his room and memories behind to try and let the oncoming day cheer him up.