So angsty...! It will get better, probably. Poor Sans, lol.

If you read this, please feel free to tell me what you think! Any kind of feedback is very appreciated, as I'm a little unsure about my writing any tips or advice would really mean a lot! :)

Oh, and I had a though when it comes to the language barrier when Sans is in his Blaster form. It's hard to write his responses in thoughts and body language so I figured that perhaps the whole skeleton family has their own way of communication by rattling their bones and clutching their teeth. Sort of like morse-code but with more variety in sounds. I hope it makes sense lol. That way it doesn't matter if Sans is in his blaster-form, he can still communicate. At least with Papyrus and Gaster who understands this concept. Whenever they're using this way of communication I will start and end their sentence with * rather than " as well as use a cursive font.

Hope that makes sense, lol!

-17 years ago-

As Sans woke up, his skull was covered in tiny beads of sweat. His soul raced within his rib cage and his breath was staggered. Another nightmare, he thought to himself and nervously looked around the dimmed room, clutching the blanket in his hands. It seemed like forever since he managed to sleep through an entire night without any disruptions, usually in the form of nightmares. Horrible dreams of melting monsters and sharp needles piercing his soul. A shiver traveled down his spine when he thought of it.

"S-SANS? ARE YOU AWAKE?" A tiny voice called from beside his bed. It was his little brother, Papyrus. "I HEARD YOU SCREAM, SO I CAME TO WAKE YOU UP."

"oh, was, uh... was i really screaming this time? sorry bro, i didn't mean to scare you. it was just a nightmare."

"IT'S OKAY, BROTHER. I JUST THOUGHT IT SOUNDED SCARY SO, I CAME TO SNAP YOU OUT OF IT. DO YOU WANT ME TO STAY HERE WITH YOU AND KEEP THE BAD DREAMS AWAY?" asked the tiny skeleton. Even though young, there was nothing wrong with his self-confidence. But right now, his usual fearless expression was replaced with big, worried eyes looking at right at him.

"thanks bro. i'm lucky to have such a cool dude to look after me," said Sans and made room for him on his bed.

"YEAH, YOU ARE!" Papyrus chirped happily and crept up beside Sans. He yawned and his bones crackled softly as he stretched his arms. "HEY, SANS... CAN I ASK YOU SOMETHING?" asked Papyrus as he made himself comfortable.

"hm? of course."

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SICK SO OFTEN?"

"oh... well. that's just how it goes i guess...?" Sans blurted out. This was a subject he'd really not want to discuss with Papyrus. He hated having to lie to his bro, but as for now, he had no other choice.

"WHY CAN'T DADDY GIVE YOU YOUR MEDICATION HERE AT HOME? I DON'T LIKE IT WHEN YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE LAB WITH HIM."

Every first Monday of the month their father, the royal scientist of King Asgore, Doctor Wing Dings Aster brought Sans to his laboratory to give him 'medication', to 'treat his sickness'. Or at least that was what Papyrus and Grandpa Semi believed. In reality he was taken to the lab in order preform a few tests for his father. The test-subject was himself and while he wasn't really sure what his father and his colleagues were testing, he knew that it was very important to them.

He was often told how clever he was for his age, and if he may say so himself he was pretty strong too. Apparently those were traits that made him a good candidate for whatever their project was. Unfortunately the procedure consisted of sticking a long tube with a needle in one end and a bag of what his father referred to as DT at the other end into Sans' soul. It left him feeling very sick almost all of the time afterwards. He'd get really tired, nauseous and his body would hurt a lot. His father, Wing Dings was very scarce on information when Sans confronted him about the experiment, and only told him that 'one day, he'd understand', or 'it's for the benefit of all monsters'. But it sure was getting tiresome for the nine year old skeleton.

Besides, always having to lie was the worst. Wing Dings was very clear about not telling anyone. Not even the rest of their family. He had no idea why, but he felt obligated to obey his father. So they made up some crazy story about an imaginary illness, because of which Sans needed regular input of medication into his soul every other day. It made him feel like he was betraying both Paps and Grandpa Semi and it really killed him.

Poor old Grandpa Semi. Sans loved his grandpa very much and looked up to him much more than his father. Semi always had time, always knew what to say and always had a funny joke up his sleeve. Unlike Wing Dings who was working all of the time. Sans knew of, and respected his importance as a royal scientist, but he really wished to be excluded out of his overambitious theories.

"YOU ARE GONNA GET WELL ONE DAY SOON, RIGHT? AND THEN YOU WON'T HAVE TO GO AWAY ANYMORE." said Papyrus, half mumbling.

"yeah, of course, bro. dad is, uh... really close to finding a medicine that'll cure me for good! besides, you don't have to be sad while i'm gone. you get this whole room all to yourself. no stinkin' brother to boss you around and you can play with all of my toys if you want..."

"I'D MUCH RATHER HAVE YOU HERE," Papyrus whispered and dragged the blanket over his face.

"yeah? well, me too," Sans mumbled under his breath after a short pause.

The next morning was much like any other first Monday of the month. No one said a word at breakfast, except for Grandpa Semi, who babbled on about something he read in the newspaper. Wing Dings might as well not have been there at all. He was engaged in gathering the rest of the supplies needed for the visit to the lab, and the normally talkative Papyrus was eating his cereal in silence. Sans didn't have much of an appetite himself. He knew what awaited him today, and he was not looking forward to it.

When it was time to go, he gave Papyrus a big parting hug and reassured him that he would definitely not feel sick or tired when he got back home. Another lie, of course, but at least it made Papyrus feel better. His father grabbed his hand as they left their small house in the suburb of New Home and headed for the big lab in the Hotlands. On the way there they passed through the core, which gave Wing Dings an opportunity to check on his creation and make sure that it was running efficiently. Sans had been there with him more times than he could count and he felt like he knew his way around the core almost at good as his dad did.

When they got to the lab, many other scientist greeted them happily with tired smiles and coffee mugs in their hands. Wing Dings led Sans into his office and closed the door behind him. Sans saw a concerned, almost nervous look on the doctor's face. It was not like him at all. He wondered if he got a bad result from last time, or something like that.

"what's up dad?" asked Sans and put his backpack down on the floor.

"Nothing." There was a certain hint of hesitation in Wing Dings' voice. "I just... I mean, I know you've been very patient with all this, son," he continued as he opened a drawer from his desk and grabbed what appeared to be a syringe.

"yup that's me. the patient..." Sans couldn't resist the opportunity for a pun, but he regretted it quickly and carefully glanced at the grim look on his father's face.

But Wing Dings replied with a smile and rubbed his nose bone between his thumb and index finger. "You spend too much time with your grandfather. He would probably be lying on the floor laughing if he heard you just now. But in all seriousness, Sans. I think the progress of this experiment have been going very well, and that means we're ready to move on."

"move on? like, i don't have to get a needle stuck into my soul anymore?"

"No. That's still going to be necessary, I'm afraid. But hopefully once the new procedure is done, you won't experience the same amount of discomfort afterwards anymore."

"oh, okay. what is the new procedure?" Sans asked. As much as he liked the possibility of get rid of the long way to recovery after each session, he was scared of what this new procedure might be. If it weren't something bad his father wouldn't be so wary.

"It's just a single injection. A one time thing and then hopefully no more discomfort," said Wing Dings.

"huh. really?"

"Yes. If my calculations are correct then you should be able to handle this quite well by now."

"what is this then?"

Dr Wing Dings sat down on his desk chair and sighed. "Every monster's soul lacks a major part of what human souls consist of, and that's a trait called Determination, or DT for short. It's what we've been injecting it into your soul. It was all done to make you tolerant to this." Aster held up the syringe for Sans to look at. It contained a blue-ish substance that almost seemed to be glowing somehow. "This is the very essence of my research and I need to find a proper host for this to grow and develop in. That's where you come in. While I think you're more than ready to handle this right now, you'll still need the DT for it to sustain within you," said Wing Dings and placed the syringe on the desk in front of Sans. He rubbed his bony hands with excitement and Sans couldn't remember the last time he had seen his father so worked up about something. This really did mean a lot to him.

"but you still didn't say what's in it."

A knock on the door interrupted Wing Dings before he had a chance to explain. Though something told Sans that his father wouldn't have answered his question anyway.

"Good morning, doctor," said the scientist who entered the room. Sans knew her from before. She was usually assisting his father to check up on him during each procedure. Her calico fur was clad with the same white lab coat every scientist at the lab wore and glasses were resting upon her wrinkly pink nose. Strands of tangled, white hair draped her tired face. Her name was Fani. She was a monster of the feline type. Her white whiskers perked up when she noticed him. "Hi peewee. You ready for today?" she said, sounding as happy as ever.

"yeah. i guess so."

"Glad to hear. Come, this way, please."

Sans gave his father a concerned look but followed Fani to the elevator, which dropped down to the basement and into the corridor that lead the usual examination room. On the way there they passed many other rooms. No one spoke of what was in there, but Sans knew.
There were other test subjects, monsters who had been through a lot more than he ever had. Monsters who were so far gone with various experiments that their bodies had started to fall apart.

He only knew this because during his previous stays in the basement, Sans had gotten bored and crept out of his room and actually spoke to one of those monsters. It was somber and a little scary even. The monster he spoke with sounded almost like it was drowning in its own lungs, but it had been very nice and encouraging to him.
Sans would try to sneak out to speak to that monster again, but when he got busted out of his room, his father scalded him mercilessly and increased supervision over him. Not even after that did anyone speak about the other experiments, even though they knew that he was aware of them.

"Please, make yourself comfortable on the examination table, and I'll go get the DT bag. Before we can give you the injection, you need to have a bit of an excess of DT. A little more than you're used to. It may make you feel a bit... uh, tingly. But don't worry! If all goes well everything will be just fine from now on! That's a good thing, right?" said Fani eagerly. She spoke way too fast to sound sure of her own words.

"sure." Sans shrugged his shoulders and got up on the examination table. "although dad didn't tell me exactly what the thing in the syringe was. only that it was something he had worked very hard on." In the corner of his eye he could see her body language stiffen.

"Oh. Well anyway, it should be fine."

"but what is it?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but if the doctor didn't tell you then neither should I. Not that I think he's going to keep it from you. I think he's just had too much on his mind right now. And I think he should be the one to tell you... it's his project after all. But don't worry, it should be fine."

"heh. you keep saying that word. should." A nervous chuckle involuntarily escaped his throat.

"Oh, peewee you know that's not what I meant. Of course it'll be fine." said Fani gawkily. She hesitated a while before leaving the room only to come back a few minutes later with the familiar IV bag, filled with red substance in it. With steady hands she prepared everything in the usual manner. "Ready?"

"yeah."

It always stung when the needle pricked his soul. After that it wasn't that bad. Not until a few hours after the procedure at least, and this time he feared he would get affected worse than before because of the increased dose. And he didn't like how both his father and Fani talked about if the new experiment would be a success or not. How it should be fine.

But he didn't feel fine. He was getting nervous and he felt his stomach turn when his father entered the room holding the syringe. He knew well that his father wasn't much of a talker, but a comforting word or some encouragement sure would have been nice.

"dad..." Sans began, but the royal scientist interrupted him.

"I'm sorry Sans. This may hurt a little. As soon as I know for sure the installment is successful I will give you some painkillers. But until then I'm afraid any drugs might affect it." He clutched the syringe in a tighter grasp.

"seriously dad. what is that?"

Wing Dings sighed deeply, but didn't say anything. Sans thought he would leave him with that, but finally the royal scientist spoke. "What it is, is a chance to bring down the barrier without having to wait around for more humans to come along. That's all you need to know. Now keep absolutely still. I'm going to inject it through your eye."

"what? n-no...!" Chills traveled down his spine at the thought of that needle entering his eye and suddenly the barrier suddenly did seem so important.

"Take it easy Sans, it'll be..."

"you keep saying that, but it won't be fine. i'm not letting you do that." Sans quickly rose from the examination table and walked towards the closed door. "it's not worth it, right dad? what if something goes wrong and i end up like some of the other experiments down the corridor?"

Wing Dings' face was completely emotionless. "How disappointing. I was hoping you'd be willing to cooperate. I expected more of you."

"don't do that," said Sans, fighting the tears forming in his sockets. "i've always been cooperative. i have never complained before. i've done everything you've told me to and put up with everything you've done. but i don't want to do this anymore, i'm scared!"

"Please get back up on the table. If you don't do it on your own, we'll have to strap you up to it."

"no, you've always said you'd stop the minute i told you to. i'm telling you to stop now!"

"I know, but this is necessary." A blue light ignited around Wing Dings' hand and magic grabbed a hold of Sans' soul and forced him back onto the examination table.

"dad, please..." Sans begged as Fani swiftly strained his flailing limbs stuck to the table, making him incapable of covering his face with his hands and the blue magic his father cast kept him put on the examination table.

When his father approached him with the syringe in his hand, he couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He silently sobbed when the needled hoovered so close to his eye.

"Just... please, know that I'm sorry for this," said Wing Dings before inserting the syringe into Sans' eye with a swift motion.

A very sharp pain radiated through Sans' entire skull and an agonized scream escaped his throat. Not being able to move goaded on the sensation of panic that spread in his abdomen and he barely noticed when Dr Aster removed the now empty syringe and put a bandage over his eyes.

.,.,.,.

Silence.

Sans listened very carefully, but he was unable to hear any sounds. No steps hurrying through the hallway outside of his room, no machines running, no voices talking. He had no idea how much time had passed since his father injected the amalgamate into his eye. All he knew was that since then he'd been drifting on and off between consciousness. It was hard to stay awake for very long periods of time.

He could feel it inside his skull and it didn't feel right at all. Like a splinter radiating with a searing pain

Though it wasn't as bad now as it was during the procedure, it was still staggering with a sense of constrained presence. If his arms were free, he wouldn't have hesitated to shove his hand inside his eye socket in order to try and rip the damn thing out.

It bothered him that he couldn't tell the time and not a single person had been checking in on him, not even his father. Well, at least that he was aware of. He wondered how Papyrus and grandpa Semi was doing and he really wanted to go home.

The bandage was still wrapped over his eyes, so he couldn't see anything. Not that it would matter, because even when he tried to peer onto the edges of the bandage there was only darkness.

When the door suddenly opened he winced in surprise and rapidly turned his head towards the sound.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, peewee," said a familiar voice.

"fani?" asked Sans. His head throbbed even worse as he spoke.

"Yeah. How are you feeling?"

"not great. it kinda hurts."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

Sans could hear her fumbling with something. It sounded like she put down something heavy on the floor, or possibly on the desk. A tearing sound of velcro made him realize she had probably brought a bag with her.

"dad mentioned something about painkillers. i could really use it..." he tried, sincerely hoping that was why she came in the first place.

"Sorry, not yet," said Fani monotonously.

"why not?"

"Because there seems to have been a slight complication regarding the amalgamate. It's not combined with your soul yet. We thought the DT would do that, and while it did work a little bit it failed to make it merge properly."

Sans immediately started to tremble. He caught himself beginning to breathe way too fast. He had to make a big effort to try and control himself, despite the fact that he was terrified.
So, things did go wrong after all. Before Fani could go on about the matter, he already painted a picture in his head, where he would end up like the scary monsters down the hall and be stuck at the lab forever, or possibly even fall down. Fani must have noticed his shudders and realized how scared he was. He felt her getting closer to him and a soft, furry hand gently stroked his forehead.

"Hey, don't be scared. It's not dangerous. We're just going to have to reevaluate the experiment a little bit. You're fine and you'll stay fine. I promise."

He cringed when she removed her hand from his head. Though his skull stung when she touched him, her touch had still been soothing. It was reassuring that someone was actually there and made him feel less lonely and miserable.

"Dr Gaster came up with a solution that should work, but I'm afraid it's rather drastic."

"wh-what are you going to do?"

"For now, I'm just going to check your stats for a bit, okay? I also brought you a little something to eat. For dessert, I got you some monster candy too, but don't tell anyone about that."

"i'm not hungry."

"I didn't think you would be, but it would be good for your HP."

"i don't care."

"Please, don't be like that. At least have some of the candy? It strictly has no taste of licorice, and I know you like that," said Fani with a chirpy tone to her voice, and judging by the imminent smell of candy, she must have waved it in front of his face to tempt him. But it did just the opposite of what it was she intended it to. Smelling the candy made a sudden wave of nausea rush through him. He had no apatite before, and even less so now. It was so horrible that he really though he might heave because of the scent alone.

"if i eat it, i'm gonna be sick."

"Oh. Do you feel nauseous?"

"very."

"Alright. Sorry, I didn't realize... but you'll still need to increase you HP for the next procedure, because you might lose a few points because of it... but don't worry! I promised you that you'll be alright, didn't I?" she blurted out, and just like she did before she was speaking way too fast and jittery to sound even remotely convincing. "Your HP is fine, but we need it to be as good as it can possibly be in order to have a little marginal to work with."

"what does that mean?" asked the tiny skeleton. But Fani didn't reply. He heard her sigh deeply and move away. The rustling noise that followed told him she was going through her bag. "The sooner we can get started, the sooner it will be over," she murmured. Her usual exuberance seemed to have completely faded as she'd walked away from him. Moments later when she came back to the bedside he heard her put something rather heavy down on the nightstand with a thud.

"is it... more dt?" asked Sans. He wasn't really sure what to expect other than that.

"... No," said Fani and exhaled sharply. "But anyway, since you won't eat, before I do anything, I'm going to give you a little synthetic magic through a syringe, in order to maximize your HP and give you a few temporary hit points. It might sting a little and you may experience a tingling sensation through your body. But that's completely normal. You'll probably even feel rather refreshed afterwards. Let me just go out and get it," said Fani and exited the room. It didn't take long for her to return. Or at least it didn't feel like it. It was hard to tell.

"why does my hp need to be so high?" asked Sans.

"Well... that's j-just because... " she stacked on her own words as she spoke and her voice sounded uncertain. "Since... since you've already been given such a high d-dose of DT, we have to cut back on it for now. After all, it is working, just not as well as we'd like it to. So, in order to boost the properties of the DT, we're gonna have to set off a huge dose of adrenaline into your system. Do you understand?" asked Fani slowly. Her own insecurity was shining through clearly.

"y-yes." said Sans. His soul sank in his chest. Considering Fani's nervous behavior, he already knew things weren't looking good for him.

"Good boy. In order to release adrenaline, we have to... put you through some deplorable situations... starting with electric shocks."

"what?" exclaimed Sans, chocked. It was worse than he imagined and he didn't understand. Why? How could anyone do this? He couldn't think of anything to say that would help. What could he say? Even if he protested, it wouldn't matter anyway. They didn't stop before and they wouldn't stop now.

Without being able to control it, his body began to tremble again and beads of cold sweat were starting to form on his skull. The bandage over his eyes instantly absorbed the tears that were forming in his sockets, so Fani couldn't see it, but it stung his left socket.

Fani worked silently and promptly. She injected the syringe in his humerus bone, all the way to the marrow. By now he was so used to to syringes that it didn't bother him much. Besides, it didn't hurt nearly as bad as when they injected DT into his soul. Just like Fani said he did feel refreshed. Like he had just woken up from a long, peaceful nap. Under different circumstances it would have been a welcomed sensation, but knowing what was about to happen took the tranquility away and he was still trembling like a leaf.

She proceeded to put sticky patches on each side of his temporal bones as well as on his sternum. "These are electrodes," she said while working. "The current of electricity is going to go through them. Given the fact that this procedure can be a little breathtaking, you need to be kept restrained for now. It's for your safety, as well as mine, so don't let it alarm you. After this I'm going to plug you up to a battery and I'm going to be delivering electric shocks into your body. They aren't going to be very intense, but if nothing happens the intensity will be increasing in order to trigger a reaction."

Sans heard her fidgeting with something just beside him. She didn't say anything else, but her breathing was jagged and she dropped the item she held multiple times. She connected three wires to the electrodes, probably connected to the item she had fumbled with, which was presumably the battery she spoke of.

"i wanna go home," Sans sniffed after a moment of silence.

"Oh peewee, I know. But don't worry. This will be all over soon. Please, just try to bear with it. Just h-hang in there."

"don't do this. please," he pleaded with a brittle tone to his voice.

"I'm sorry. Get ready, okay? I'm going to count to three. One, two, three."

After the sound of a button being pressed, his body instantly triggered and stiffened like a board, resulting in the inability to move at all. He tried to yell at her to stop, but no words came out of his mouth. All he could do was breathe, or more like gasp for air with shallow, labored breaths. And then, as fast as it started, it faded and he whined loudly with relief.

"It's okay! It's okay. Okay..? I'm going to wait a few moments before the next one comes, just in case anything happens."

After a few minutes break, Fani repeated the procedure four more times. Each time a little worse than the previous. When she finally told him she'd stop he was utterly relieved.

Completely out of breath and hurting, he wanted nothing more than to drift off into sleep, but he doubted he would be able to. It hurt too much and he was too worked up. It was a vicious cycle from which he couldn't seem to escape.

Much to his alleviation, the pain started to fade in a rapid rate. Not before long it was completely gone and it was the best feeling in the world.

"There," said Fani and softly brushed his forehead. "I gave you a little something for the pain, so you can sleep at ease."

Sans hadn't even noticed, but he was overjoyed that she did.

"thank you."

"Don't thank me, peewee," she whispered. "Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."

"It's time to examine the result. Are you ready? Bandage off in three, two, one," said Dr Aster and removed the bandage. Sans's vision switched from tranquil darkness to piercing, blurry light. His whole head hurt and he cringed upon the change. He couldn't see past the blurriness. All he could tell was that he was in a light room and that his father was there with him as well.

Since the shock-treatment he had mostly been left alone, which he didn't mind at all. It was far better than being put through another 'deplorable situation'. He really hoped they would have their result by now, so he wouldn't have to cope with a similar, or even worse ordeal.

"Easy now, son." Dr Aster carefully helped Sans's limp body up into a sitting position. Bony hands grabbed his cheeks and turned his head in different directions and he could almost feel his father's curious eyes on him. As soon as he let go Sans' head lolled back and he decided to lay back down again.

"Looks like the installment finally succeeded. How do you feel?" asked Dr Aster. But his voice sounded distant and dull. Though Sans was glad to hear the installment, or whatever it was, was successful, his thoughts wandered away and fatigue dimmed his mind. He just wanted to sleep.

"Sans?" Dr Aster repeated his question.

"oh, uh. well, still can't see anything."

"Other than that? Does it hurt?"

"yeah. i mean kinda. i dunno. it's weird 'cause it feels numb at the same time."

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Sans was able to make out a motion in front of him, but there was no way he even saw the contour of a hand. Let alone how many fingers there were.

"i told you. i can't see anything, it's all blurry."

"And you can't even see anything on your right eye?"

"no. it kinda felt better with the bandage on too. while it's all blurry, i can at least make out that the room is bright and... it feels a bit overwhelming."

"Alright. Then I will put the bandage back on for you shortly. But first wee need to chart any changes in your magic, okay? It shouldn't take long."

"do i have to? i'm really tired," said Sans as he carefully rubbed his aching left eye, but Dr Aster quickly removed his tiny hand from his face and decidedly put the arm down by his side.

"You can go back to sleep as soon as we're done. Now, let's see some magic."

Sans was good at magic, but it was difficult to muster enough energy to use his regular blue magic. The result turned out to be a half-assed attempt, which his father quickly scribbled down the result of in a notebook. After a while when Dr Aster told him he could stop and try to get some rest, Sans was more than happy to oblige.
The constant beeping noise of the machine beside him as well as the scribbling on paper slowly made falling asleep impossible to ward off. Somewhere between consciousness and dormancy he head his father speak softly to him.

"It's going to be okay."

But the following night was anything but okay. He was abruptly awoken by a dull, throbbing pain that was surging through his bones that he couldn't get any comfort from, no matter what he did. He tried getting up for a walk, he tried stretching his bones and rubbing them but the pain only got worse. He felt weird and out of proportion and he was really starting to freak out. His left eye socket felt as if it would catch fire anytime. Not knowing what else to do he ripped the bandage off. It was wrapped too tight anyway. Somehow even his pyjamas started to feel too tight. When he finally blacked out on the floor he drew a sigh of relief.

When he woke up again, nothing seemed to be as it should. He was lying on his side and when he tried to move his whole body, especially his head, felt heavier than usual and his coordination was totally off. So, he decided to remain on his side. There was an odd thudding noise behind him that annoyed the hell out of him. But he couldn't even muster enough strength to turn his head and find out what it was.

Everything still hurt, especially behind his eye, but at least not as badly as it had done before he fell unconscious. A moan, which sounded nothing like himself escaped his throat and shocked him. His mouth felt numb and when he tried to speak and call for help, he found himself unable to pronounce words. The only sound he was capable of was grunts or moans. He started to wonder if the final procedure had gotten to his mind somehow.

He discovered that his sight and returned, at least on the right side and though still a little blurry, he noticed that he had been moved to another room. Not a single piece of furniture was in this new room, with the exception of a large mirror on the wall, without a question a one-way mirror, and the mattress he was lying on. The walls as well as the floor was sterile white and very plain, but that didn't matter. Sans closed his eyes and did his best to remember what just happened and why he had been moved. But he was unable to figure it out.

When the door suddenly opened he instinctively drew back against the wall, but he fell back down on the floor as he soon as he tried to stand up. A surge of pain that followed when his bones hit the ground made him refrain from trying to get up again and he had to try hard to hold back a yelp. That's when he noticed his arms and hands looked completely different than usual. His metacarpals were longer than they normal and the tip of his distal phalanges were adorned with huge claws. He forced his head up and looked down on the rest his body.

No wonder he felt so uncoordinated and off. His entire body had changed form.
He slowly reached for his face with one of his hands, meticulously trying not to scratch himself with his new claws, and found that it had expanded and grown into a muzzle. His teeth felt sharp and mandible was split in half. The creepiest thing though was the crevice traveling from his snout all the way up to his forehead, and on the top of his skull he could feel strange, elongated ridges.

At the root of his spine a long tail, looking like a tapering spinal cord, with spikes at the end, extended behind him, swaying from side to side. It explained the thudding noise when it hit the wall.

If he weren't freaking out before, he sure was now. What the hell was he going to tell Paps? He tried to get up into an upright stance but again, he lost his balance immediately and fell down on all fours wincing in pain. His breathing became shallow and fast and he barely noticed that it was Fani who had entered the room. In her hands she carried a plate with a few food items on.

"Good morning," she greeted him a bit nervously and put the plate down beside the door. "Wow. Look at you. That's rather unexpected." She kept talking about something, but Sans didn't listen to her. It wasn't until she walked up to him and gently put a hand on his forehead that he actually started to pay attention to her. "It's okay," she whispered softly and rubbed his skull. "How are you holding up?"

Sans tried to answer her, but only managed to make upset moaning sounds at her. He had already forgot the fact that he was unable to speak. He was a little embarrassed by the awkward noises he made, but Fani didn't look surprised.

"Schh, you don't need to answer. I understand. Wouldn't have expected anything else after what you've just been through. I just... wanted to make sure. Guess I shouldn't be calling you peewee anymore, huh?

He actually managed to remain standing for a little while. If he stretched his extended neck he was actually taller than Fani, but not by much. It was still much taller than he used to be.

With shaky legs, Sans turned away from Fani and inspected his new body carefully, while trying to regulate his new center of gravity. His tail was swaying to and fro behind him to subconsciously help him with that. Despite trying a few times, there was no way he could stand up without supporting part of his weight on his arms... or were they front legs now? Either way he felt completely out of place and not at all like himself. After he finally managed to stabilized himself, he felt a stronger sensation of pain surging through his skull, hitting him so hard he almost felt a bit dizzy. Looking at the blue illumination cast on the plain environment in front of him, he realized that his eyes were glowing with a sharp cerulean light.

"Sans, listen to me very carefully," said Fani and placed her hands on his cheekbones, and gently aimed his head towards her, forcing him to face her. "Look at me, please. I know you must be very confused and I know that it must hurt, but you need to remain calm. I will explain everything to you, but you need to calm down."

How was he going to be able to calm down after discovering this? Especially when he strongly associated her with the entire mess. An involuntary growl escaped his throat and he lowered his head, clicking with his jaws. His eyes were still glowing and the pain fueled his frustration.

'this is her fault', he thought and growled at her again, only louder and he snapped his jaws at her. This time very much intentional.

"Sans?" said Fani and backed away a few steps. "Stop that." There were no mistaking the fear in her trembling voice. But Sans didn't care. In fact, he was glad that she was scared of him. He wanted her to feel just as scared as he was before.

With a quick snap of his neck, he buried his sharp teeth into Fani's forearm. She winced and yelled out in pain, but Sans refused to let her go. Even when he noticed her HP starting to drop, he still didn't loose his teeth around her.

"Sans. Stop." A stern, familiar voice bellowed when Dr Aster entered the room. The sight of the royal scientist made Sans quickly release the grip over Fani's arm. Guilt began to spark in his abdomen and he wondered if his father would be very mad at his behavior. "Fani, you are needed upstairs," Dr Aster told the feline monster, who responded with a nod and left the room while clutching her wounded arm. Sans shifted his his full attention to his father, but it was not as easy to let his frustration out on him. Part of him just wanted to put all the blame on Fani and the other scientists and pretend that his father never had anything to do with any of the recent events, because surely he wouldn't have done something like this to him?

"You must be very confused, so I will not rebuke you for your actions towards my colleague, but I will make you calm down by holding you in place with blue magic if I have to, and I think neither one of us would be happy about that. After all that's happened, I will explain the situation to you. Answer me by rattling if you understand."

It took a lot of willpower to calm down, but after letting some of the steam out through agitated growls and roars, he managed to recompose himself enough to present a reply. *yeah, i understand.* Rattling his bones felt a little strange with all his new proportions and he wasn't sure he managed to get every word right, but the doctor nodded his head in understanding.

"Good." Dr Aster clasped his hands behind his back. "As I told you earlier we've been injecting essence of determination into your soul. DT is a trait monsterkind lack in their souls, and humans souls are made of, more or less. However this does not mean all human souls are the same. As far as we know their souls are divided into various properties. While determination is a property on it's own there are far more than just that. Like kindness, perseverance, bravery, patience, justice and integrity, just to mention a few. Asgore was kind enough to provide us with two different kind of human souls so that we could study their properties and extract some determination. What we installed into your soul was an amalgamation made of two souls with the properties of patience and justice. I've never been able to bind two various properties into the same vessel before, and the potential of this project is far more important than you can ever realize. However," he started and sighed deeply. "I should not have dismissed the old sayings of what the legend tells happens when a human soul is combined with a monsters soul. While your powers should increase, the amalgamation of the two souls and their different properties also seemed to have made you take on an entirely new form. But don't worry," said Dr Aster after noticing Sans' sad expression. "you should be able to shift back into your regular form as soon as you learn to switch this power off, sorta say."

Sans nodded his enlarged head. It was a lot of information to process, and he wasn't sure he grasped the entity of it yet. At least it made him feel a bit calmer knowing that this transformation wouldn't be permanent. *it hurts,* he rattled after a while.

"I can imagine that. I will see to that right now. In the meantime I think you should try to eat something. Fani made you pancakes."

The thought of what he just did to Fani a few moments ago made Sans cringe and he despised himself for his malicious intentions. In his defense though, he was hurting, and he was scared. Scared that he might be stuck like this, scared that he could never go home again, scared he might never see Papyrus or grandpa Semi again. None the less he knew what he did to Fani was wrong and that she didn't deserve it.

*will you tell her i'm sorry?*

"Of course. I think she'll understand."


If Sans knew what he had ahead of him, he wouldn't have complained about before when he only had to go to the lab for a few days once a month. Days turned to weeks and he hated every minute he had to spend like this. It didn't feel natural. After transforming, he had to relearn every motor skill. Even standing up required practice, not to mention keeping his new, extended neck steady in order to hold up his head. But relearning how to walk had been the worst. His body already ached without him falling down on the floor every other step he tried to take.

His new tail was useful for balance, but it bothered him for some reason. Perhaps because every inch of it was an entirely new part of his body. His legs and arms and such, though misshapen was not strange to him since he had them before. But the long tail was just wrong.

Nobody wanted to be in the same room as him when he tried to figure out how to work his body. On more than one occasion he accidentally shoved someone into a wall or knocked someone over with his spiked tail. But at least when no one was around, there were no one to conduct any experiments. He really hated when they did. They would stick thick needles into his bones or create stressful or frightening situations just to study his reaction, claiming it had to do something with impulse control and whatnot. Sometimes they'd scrape bone shards from him and he hated that the most, because the wound stung for days afterwards.

The only thing that made him endure the abhorrent experiments, every tedious tests and check-ups was the hope that he would be able to finally learn how to 'turn off' the power from the amalgamate and return to his normal self. Then he could go home. At least that's what his father said.

Fani would sometimes come in to his room and sit down and talk to him for a while or read a book to him, even after what he did to her. He really appreciated the gesture, because she was the only one who actually visited him just to keep him company. None of the other scientists did. Not even his father. By now he had given up trying to blame anyone. There was no point anyway and it only made him feel dejected. He felt like all he could do was accept the situation and adjust, in order to move forward. That being said, he didn't trust her. He didn't trust any of the scientists, including his father.

The change had brought drastic changes in his magic. After all, he now held a great excess of it, which as it turned out had made him capable of very unusual, strong attacks. His father had been enthused upon discovering this, and even though Sans was usually tired and sluggish in this new form, he had to practice a very particular kind of attack. A wave of magic energy concentrated into a blast. It had devastating effects but Sans could never use it very long since it took so much out of him.

Roughly two weeks later, still in his new form, befittingly named 'Blaster', Sans was feeling unusually tired. He had been compelled to use his magic attack terribly continual today and his humerus was neatly wrapped in a bandage after a collected bone sample.

Fani, who was sitting beside him gently patted his skull and talked about something that he didn't bother listening to. His body was aching and he felt uncomfortable. He couldn't keep his body from squirming and wiggling. Little by little the sensation escalated and his bones tensed up to the point where he could no longer move. The pain that ensued reminded him of when he first transformed. His neck cracked as he bent it down and looked down at his front legs. His eyes widened with dear as he noticed his arms were shrinking down, and slowly regaining their regular shape and size. The same feeling progressively spread to the rest of his body as well. He quickly braced himself for the same agony he felt when he first transformed. Fani quickly picked up on what was happening and expeditiously excused herself and left the room, leaving him all by himself.

A harsh stifled yell escaped his throat as his bones relocated themselves, reverting back to their original shape and place. He covered his face with his arms and curled up into a ball. Unlike when he first transformed, reverting back was much less strained and even though it still hurt, he at least managed to remain conscious during the entire time it took.

Once it was finally over, the exhausted skeleton collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. As soon as he caught his breath he looked down on his hands and he ran them over his body to make sure he really was himself again. Words could not describe his relief when he found that he was completely changed back. He started to laugh out loud. But the laugh gradually turned into sobs as the current events caught up with him. He limped over to his mattress, with tears flowing from his eye sockets and burrowed himself under the blanket. It took a good while for him to calm himself down enough to finally fall asleep.


When Sans opened his eyes again, his mind was filled with sleepy haze. To his surprise he found himself neatly tucked into a proper bed. The blue walls and shelves full of neatly organized toys looked just the room he shared with Papyrus at home. But surely he wouldn't be home yet. Not so soon after changing back. He was sure there had to be some kind of experiment or test left to do before he could go home. No, this was probably just a dream.

"Good, you're awake," he heard the familiar voice of his father say. He hadn't noticed the slender skeleton standing beside his bed, holding a small notebook in his hands.

"dad?" After spending so much time in Blaster-form, it felt weird to be able to speak, not to mention hearing his own voice again. "a-am i home?" He dared to ask.

"Yes. How are you feeling?" Sans yawned and sat himself up, leaning against the pillow. Dr Aster sat down at the foot of his bed.

"still a little tired, but otherwise i think i'm good." He inspected his hands and arms thoroughly as if he still couldn't believe he was finally back to normal and he smiled to himself when he eventually convinced himself that it was real and that he was in fact home again.

"Tired? You've been sleeping since you changed back, and that was three days ago."

"three days?" he echoed, but he didn't pay attention to it. He was just so happy to be home, and he couldn't wait to see Papyrus and grandpa Semi again. He didn't really notice that his father kept talking.

"Are you even listening, Sans?" said dr Aster after a while and sighed.

"huh? sorry, no. must've drifted off," he replied and rested his hands on his lap and turned his attention to his father.

"I said we still need to monitor the development of the amalgamate and make charts of when, or if you're transforming again the next time it's power activates. We also need to make sure it doesn't happen spontaneously, which is why we need to get back to the lab rather shortly. But I did promise you to go home, didn't I? And here we are."

For once even Sans though it was probably for the best, since he didn't want to risk turning into a Blaster in front of anyone, also considering what he had done to Fani when he was confused. Not that he particularly liked the idea of going back to the lab either and he frowned thinking back on the stay in the lab. But his father seemed to pick up on his concern and quickly added:

"That being said, it doesn't mean you'll never be able to go home. As soon as we've managed to find a pattern to the output of magic, things will be back to normal. We'll just have to go back once a month, like before and the continuing experiments won't be as harsh as they have been."

For a while the only sound heard was the ticking of the clock on the wall.

"okay," said Sans and nodded his skull. "but... can i at least see paps and gramps before we go?"

"I can get them for you right now, if you want to?"

"yeah."

Sans felt a surge of happiness when he saw the familiar, friendly faces and just like that he felt much better than he had in a long time. Papyrus hasted towards him and gave him a heartfelt hug, but when he drew back, he had an annoyed look on his small face.

"YOU'VE GONE FOREVER AND TOLD ME YOU WOULDN'T BE SICK OR TIRED WHEN YOU GOT BACK HOME!" he complained in his usual loud voice, and pouted while crossing his arms.

"i know. sorry, bro."

"Don't be too hard on him, Paps," grandpa Semi said and gave Sans a welcome-home nudge on he head. His eyes full of gentle concern as he lightly put his hand on Sans' shoulder. "We missed you, Sansy."

"i missed you too," Sans replied and smiled.

"Feeling any better?"

"yeah," he said after small pause and the smile slowly faded.

"ARE YOU GONNA STAY HOME NOW?" asked Papyrus and threw an anxious look at their father. His entire posture dropped when the doctor shook his head.

"In order to prevent any backlashes, we need to take him back to the lab. But hopefully things will get better than they have been," he answered and gently pat Papyrus on the skull. But the apprehensive look on his face didn't go away. "But if all goes as speculated, he should recover to the point where he only needs his medication once a month," he added.

"OH. HOW LONG IS THAT GONNA TAKE?"

"We'll see," said Dr Aster and walked slowly towards the door.

Despite of Papyrus's peppy attitude, he always worried so much about Sans. Like he was the big brother and not the other way around. It was really touching. He was the most caring soul that Sans had ever known, and he doubted he would ever meet an equal to him. He was really the greatest, and words could not describe how much Sans looked up to his li'l bro.

The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up, and Sans gladly listened to everything that Papyrus had been up to while he was gone. Papyrus told him about going to Waterfall with grandpa Semi, where they had been scavenging through some garbage and he even made a new friend. Sans enjoyed just listening to him, but it would be nice to be able to play with him too, but for the moment he was still feeling too tired for any kind of game.

Hopefully that was going to change rather soon. After all, his father did say that the amalgamated souls would ease the side effects of the DT. He just hoped that it was true. He was actually surprised that his father had kept his word and taken him home. Maybe there was hope after all.


He got three days home before he was taken back to the lab. Dr Aster and his team of scientists immediately resumed their experiment and kept careful record of how Sans felt and acted in various situations that might trigger the amalgamate's power and set off a transformation. Thankfully they merely observed him so far and during this time, he didn't transform once. In fact he barely felt different at all.

Not until after his regular monthly dose of DT did he start to feel odd again and a few hours later he was writhing on the floor as the transformation ripped through his body. But this time he only maintained this new form for a few hours before changing back again. The scientists didn't even have time to execute any tests this time. Not that Sans minded that. Everyone was still at a loss to why he changed back so soon, and Sans himself had no idea what he did differently.
But he was still was kept in the lab under strict supervision. The team of scientists gradually resumed the a few tests, but just like his father told him, said experiments were not nearly as harsh as they were before. At least not to start with. But the frequent check-ups on the state of the amalgamate were really starting to get on his nerves.

Things went in in a similar pace for about a month, but still nothing happened and no one ever told him what was happening. Sans was almost beginning to let himself believe that the amalgamate's power was worn out. But it wouldn't really make sense and it was too good to be true anyway.

But just a short while before the next DT injection, he was sitting in the corner of his room with his back against the wall to get a good overview in order to see when someone might enter. He really didn't want to be sick from the DT again and since he transformed only hours after the last injection he felt skittish and kinda scared. When Fani opened the door and entered he winced and pressed closer harder against the wall. She had a somber look on her face as she prepared for the injection.

And sure enough, once again it didn't take long after the injection before he transformed after the DT entered his system. As it turned out the transformation occurred every time they gave him DT after that point. Dr Aster came to the conclusion that it was the main factor in triggering the transformations.

The time he had to spend as a Blaster varied. It could be anything between just a few hours, to a few days. But even though he still wasn't sure how he did it, he always managed to change back into his normal form again, which was consoling at least. But now that he transformed somewhat regularly, none of the experiments was any less harsh than before, even though his father told him so. Quite on the contrary. It was at least twice as bad as before and everything happened so suddenly that Sans barely had time to reflect over it. One thing set off another straight away and everything about it was absolutely appalling. More than once did he try to escape from the lab and go home. But he never succeeded. '

As time passed Sans couldn't help but to become increasingly apathetic over it. He was on edge all the time and the nightmares became worse than before. Over time he drew himself away from everyone. Even from Papyrus and Grandpa Semi when he was allowed to go home again.

But he'd especially draw away from his father, because he knew how much Sans suffered from the experiment, and yet still kept going. He installed the amalgamate, despite the fact that Sans told him he didn't want it. He caused him to re-experience the painful conversion between forms over and over and he supervised the experiments but he didn't seem to care at all.

This was the reason why Sans, many months later on the evening before the day he would get his monthly DT injection, found himself outside the door to his father's room. He needed to talk. He needed to know if there was another way to progress the experiment and state that he didn't want to transform again. Maybe this time he would listen? Sans opened the door without knocking. Knocking on the door would risk getting denied coming in.

Luckily, the door was unlocked and when he entered, he saw his father sitting by his desk, surrounded by piles of paper and books. Not really surprising at all. He glared at Sans when entered the room.

Sans quietly closed the door behind him. The room kinda reflected the doctor's personality. The walls were adorned with a stylish black- and white wallpaper and the furniture looked antique and very classy. One could almost not even tell that they came from a garbage dump. On the opposite side of the room was a door that led to his workshop in the basement. But no one, except for the royal scientist himself was allowed in there.

"Entering someone else's room without knocking. How unobtrusive," the royal scientist said sarcastically.

"i want to talk," said Sans and clutched his fists, which were hanging stiffly down his sides. His shoulders were tense and in all honesty he was pretty scared. But he needed to at least try to have this conversation.

"What about?" dr Aster said and turned his chair towards him. Sans did his best to look him in the eye, and hoped that his father wouldn't notice just how much he trembled.

"i think you know."

"Yes, but you'll need to be more specific."

"i want you to stop doing this to me. i'm tired. please? there has to be something else you can do? i don't want to go back to the lab tomorrow. i know what's most likely to happen there and i won't... i can't do this anymore."

Dr Aster exhaled sharply and removed his reading-glasses from his face. "Sans. We've been over this many times before-"

"and you're hurting me," Sans interrupted.

"I know it must be rough, son. It may seem more drastic than it is. But you have to stay strong. We've gotten so far and we can't stop now. Besides, the amalgamate would be damaged without the DT. Hell, it may even break and we need to study the way it reacts to it, and in order to..."

"i don't care about it."

His father cringed, ever so slightly. "Listen, son, I know you that it probably doesn't interest you, but that's just because you don't understand about it. If you put the same effort in trying to undertand it as you do memorizing the awful jokes from your book, then I'm sure that-"

"what if i refuse to go at all?" He was so agitated that he didn't even care that he interrupted his father twice. There was a hint of surprise on dr Aster's face, a slight trace of shock. Sans cowered when his father turned his chair and got up, walking towards him with determined steps. He leaned over him and looked straight into his eyes. His brows were frowned and the look on his face now was very skeptical.

"I would say that it would be very unwise. If you know what's best for you, you'll go, you'll cooperate. Tomorrow and furthermore, and we will not have a similar discussion again."

Sans was surprised that rather than fear, he was beginning to experience anger. "or else? what are you gonna do? it's my life and you have no right to control it!" he spat, but immediately regretted it when he saw the stern look on his father's face.

"Listen, Sans. You are my son, which means that to the day you come of age I have every right to control your life."

"but that's not fair," Sans protested.

"Life seldom is fair, little one. Or we wouldn't be locked away under this damn mountain in the first place. Now, the way I see it you have two choices at this point. One; you can spend a peaceful evening at home with grandpa and Papyrus, under the condition that you go to the lab with me willingly tomorrow, do the procedure, handle the transformation so we can gather data, and then go back home again. Two; you could choose to run away or hide. In whichever case, I will find you. The underground isn't that big. And when I do I'll take you to the lab by force and make sure that you remain there so we can always keep an eye on you. What you choose is entirely up to you. Choose wisely, son," said his father and nonchalantly turned back to the pile of papers on the desk.

Tears were welling up in the tiny skeletons eye sockets. He turned his gaze down at the floor as he tried to fight them. He left his father's room and headed towards the front door. He had to get outside to gather his thoughts for a while. Running away was tempting. He really wanted to give his father hell for a while. But in the end he knew it wasn't worth it. He wiped his face with his sleeve as he walked, picking up quite a pace. He didn't even notice grandpa Semi until he walked straight onto him.

"Oomph!" the old skeleton exclaimed. "Oh, hello Sansy. Aren't you in a hurry. Going somewhere?"

Sans was in all honesty not really in the mood for small talk. All he had his mind set on was to get out.

"i'm just going outside for a moment."

"Where to?"

"dunno. i just need to think. i promise i'll be back soon."

"You look like you have a lot on your mind. Are you sure you're alright?"

"don't worry 'bout it. i feel... better. i just want to go outside for a while." Sans tried to mirror his grandfather's smile in order to convince him he was fine, but judging by the look on grandpa Semi's face, it wasn't working.

"Better... but not good?" The smile faded from Semi's face and he crouched down to Sans' level and lightly placed a bony hand on his shoulder.

"you know that's not what i meant, grandpa."

"Don't lie to me Sans. You know I can read you like a book. I can tell something's up. You haven't been yourself lately," Semi said, raising a non-existing eyebrow. It was kinda odd seeing the old skeleton without the usual sheepish grin on his face.

"i'm not lying," Sans replied and promptly aimed his gaze at the floor.

"Yes you are. I can tell."

"either way, it's fine!" The tears returned in his sockets and threatened to roll down his cheekbones. Sans really hoped that his grandpa wouldn't notice.

"You're still lying, sonny."

It would feel so much better to to bare his heart and tell grandpa Semi about everything. Just talking to anyone about what happened would take a huge load of his mind. But he was afraid that if he told anyone about the experiments, he'd be stuck for good in the lab, or that something bad might happen to anyone he told, and he didn't want to put grandpa Semi at any risk. He hid his face behind his forearm and sobbed silently.

"It's okay Sans. It's okay to not always be strong. You are allowed to feel bad sometimes. It does not make you weak or insignificant. I know that it's hard, and that your illness must take it's toll on you, which is why I think you need to become more honest about how you feel in order to cope with what's difficult, don't you agree?" said Semi and placed his hand under Sans' chin as he gently tilted his head up to meet his eyes. His eyes were sincere, but thoughtful. The certain spark of humor, which normally was his trademark was absent, for now.

"i don't know..." said Sans quietly.

"Now, I'm not going to force you to tell anything me unless you want to. But I want you to know that I will always be there to listen to you. We can sort this out together when you're ready to."

Sans nodded his skull slowly. He wiped the tears off his face with his arm. He really loved Grandpa Semi. He was nothing like dr Aster and he would never even hurt a fly. Semi was always in a good mood, always willing to talk, and he didn't deserve to the cold treatment that Sans had given him lately. There were frequent moments when grandpa Semi, out of concern, had been a little too nosy about what went on with him. Sans had always suspected that he knew more than he let on, so he would often tell him off. Sometimes more harshly than intended, but that was only in order to keep him away from the truth. Maybe Semi thought that he hated him for that? As soon as that though crossed his mind he panicked. In the heat of the moment, or possibly due to sheer desperation, just when Semi got up to leave, Sans quickly grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and stopped him.

"wait. actually, there is something i want to tell you. just... don't tell dad about anything... or paps, okay?" Sans pleaded nervously. He still couldn't bring himself to look his grandpa in the eye. Semi smiled gently and pat Sans' skull.

"Of course. Whatever you tell me I promise to keep a secret."

Sans inhaled sharply and began to tell his grandfather what had been taking place all this time. He told him all about how the DT-extract was causing him to be sick, he told him about the soul amalgamate, the experiments and the painful transformations he had to endure. It was hard to talk about and he had to make many pauses to calm himself down. The pace of his soul was beating rapidly and he was constantly glancing behind his shoulder as he spoke, to make sure his father didn't show up.
When he was finally done, he was surprised how relieved he felt. It was like an enormous weight had been taken off his shoulders.

"This is not... it's what I expected to hear, Sans," said Semi after being completely silent for short while. "I'm... so sorry I didn't realize. I mean, I did suspect that something wasn't right, but not that it would be something... like this." His expression looked distant, as if he went through what Sans had just told him over in his head and Sans wasn't really sure yet if he was being taken seriously or not. Perhaps grandpa Semi just went along with the story to make him feel better?

"d-do you believe me?" Scared, wide-opened eyes peered at the old skeleton, hoping to be taken seriously. Sans was nervously fidgeting with his own hands as he awaited a reply.

"Of course I do. I may be just an silly, old monster, but I know my son, and... putting all the pieces together makes sense. C'mere you." As Semi pulled him in for a heartfelt hug, Sans exhaled sharply, feeling alleviated and safe. He didn't want to let go. He wiped his eyes when Semi finally pulled away and sobbed silently.

"Listen, I am not going to let him do any of that to you again, so don't worry. I'm going to talk to your father and-"

"no! no, don't tell him that you know. i'm not supposed to tell anyone. not even you. i don't know what he might do if he knows that i told you." The relief was abruptly replaced with a knot in his symbolic stomach when he thought about what his father might say, or do if he knew that Sans had told him. "he'll be angry. really angry."

"Not as angry as I am with him right now," said Semi.

"please, grandpa? i thought you said i could tell you anything and you'd promise to keep it a secret...?"

"Yeah, that was the case before. But this thing is huge, and you're suffering from it." The old skeleton sighed and scratched his nasal bone between his index finger and thumb. "Well, what do you want me to do then? Do you really expect me to let this go on?" he said slowly and calmly, but his creased brows said otherwise.

"i don't know. i have no idea what to do. i just don't want you to get hurt because i told you," Sans said anxiously.

"Well, sonny, I'm glad you decided to tell me. And don't worry. We're going to find a way to end this, and I promise you, you're not going back to that lab anymore."


The next morning went on as it usually did. Everyone was gathered at the breakfast table eating their food in silence, but Sans couldn't swallow a bite. He was far too anxious. Not only because he was gonna have to go back to the lab, because he couldn't really see another option, despite his grandpa's promise, but his subconscious kept thinking up every worst scenario possible, since he finally told grandpa Semi about everything. What if his father had heard him talk to Semi? What if Semi decided to confront him about it despite Sans begging him not to? Would grandpa Semi have to suffer because of him?

Various thoughts crowded his mind and he felt stressed by just being in the same room with everyone. He glanced nervously at his grandpa, who seemed to be as calm and collected as ever as he was reading his newspaper. He must have sensed Sans' worried eyes. He looked up from the paper and gave him an encouraging smile and patted his skull affectionately before adjusting his glasses. When Papyrus finished his cereal and pumpkin juice he went back to their shared room. Sans tried to follow, but Semi placed a hand on his shoulder and carefully pushed him back into his chair.

"I had a thought," he said. "Since Sans' treatment doesn't seem to make him any better, what's the point in continuing it? It seems to me that he only seems to be getting worse. Is it really that necessary?" Sans widened his eyes and almost choked on the air. He gave Semi an anxious look, but the look on the old skeleton's face indicated that he didn't share the nervous feeling at all. Dr Aster raised an eyebrow and glared at his old father.

"It's very necessary."

"I just fail to see how it is so important when it seems to be deceasing his health, rather than the opposite, like it should. Don't you think so, my boy?" Semi turned to Sans. Beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead and he honestly had no idea what to answer.

"uh," was all he managed to say.

"Never mind. Even a blind bat can see from ten miles ahead that you are not well. I worry about you," Semi said. Even though Sans was thankful he didn't mention just how much he knew, he was still feeling apprehensive. He carefully glanced at his father, who still scowled at Semi.

"He has been making progress. If we stop the treatment now, he might get worse," said dr Aster and crossed his arms. Sans tried to excuse himself again, but once more Semi placed his hand on his shoulder and pushed him right back into his chair.

"Worse, you say? Like he got the other day? He's spent a lot of time at the lab lately. During multiple occasions. I think we need more than one doctor's opinion. Now, there's a very proficient one whose clinic lies downtown, and..."

"Oh, please, don't be ridiculous. I am a doctor and I'm much more proficient than any quack here in New Home. I am the royal scientist of king Asgore's court, for heaven's sake. I think I know what I'm doing," said the doctor under clutched teeth.

"Sometimes I wonder where your arrogance comes from," Semi grumbled and waved a hand in the air at him. "You can't keep taking on too much work all of the time. You're not invincible! All of your research for the king and maintenance of the core, plus looking after the boy and making sure he's healthy... You can't possibly be doing a good job with everything simultaneously. There is nothing shameful about asking for help. One day or other you're gonna hit your breaking point, and then what?"

"That's enough!" dr Aster bellowed and slammed a fist on the table. The surprise made made Sans jump up a few inches from his chair. Try as he may he just couldn't keep his body from trembling and he really hoped neither one of the adults noticed. A gnawing feeling sparked in his stomach and he just wanted to disappear from the scene.

"Sans does not need to hear any of this," dr Aster continued, with a much calmer tone to his voice. "Don't you think he's got enough going on as it is? Do you think he wants this? Do you think I want this for him?" said dr Aster.

The stomachache got worse and the pain was starting to spread through his bones in an all too familiar fashion. Upon inspecting the fingers on his hands Sans could see claws forming on the tips. He gasped quietly and tried tried his best to gain control of the situation by breathing deeply and thinking about something else, but the pain only got worse and no matter how hard he tried, he failed to do anything about it. His father and Semi continued to argue and didn't pay any attention to him until he tried to excuse himself again.

"please, i really need to go, i don't feel well," he said with a quivering voice. It became difficult to breathe too. As soon as he got up from his chair, he felt dizzy, and even saw stars in front of him. It didn't take long before he collapsed on the floor gasping for air. Semi and dr Aster both rushed to his side. They were trying to talk to him, but their words blended together and Sans was unable to hear what either one of them was saying. He felt cornered and confused. This had never happened without external provocation before. Let alone at home, where he usually was much more at ease than at the lab.

He could feel his feet leave the ground when somebody picked him up and carried him away. It was distressing being held while transforming and he had to try hard to refrain from thrashing about to avoid accidentally hurting whoever carried him. He recognized the neatly decorated room he was carried as his father's. Or at least that's what he thought, but the pain surging through his body made it hard to focus his vision. Dr Aster walked straight through the room and the opened the door that led to his workshop and hurried down the stairs. Sans thought he noticed that grandpa Semi persistently followed them there too, despite his father's loud protesting noises.

When Sans feet hit ground he fell down, clutching his stomach as the transformation progressed. The tail that had formed at the end of his spine was whipping from side to side. He couldn't pay much attention to his surroundings, but he was almost certain that he saw fluttering blue lights dance on the pastel green wallpapers. A door slammed and his grandpa's voice faded. Anxiety got a hold of him as he though of what his father might do now. He tried with all his might to focus his gaze on him to read his expression, but concentrating took a lot of strength from him. In the end, all he saw was his father's back turned against him. He was standing by a desk, fumbling with something that Sans couldn't see. Another surge of pain, even worse than the ones he felt before made him unable to focus on anything but the transformation. He felt insecure and exposed. Everything was strange and out of the ordinary. He was completely overwhelmed. It felt even longer than usual to transform, and once it was finally over he fell into involuntary unconsciousness right on the floor.


Dr Gaster was usually a calm and collected monster. He was used to being in control and stick to plans, but this was not going according to plan. Although he had always known there was a possibility that the amalgamate would act up without the DT, he kept it out of his calculations since it never happened before. One would think he'd know better than to make such a foolish mistake. At least now he could add stress to the list of things that seemed to provoke the amalgamate, judging on the look on Sans' face moments before it all begun, and considering the situation. Or perhaps since they used adrenaline to secure it's sustenance at the very beginning of the installation, it was the reason to it's sudden reaction?

Maybe the DT wasn't such a big factor at all when it came to that. Perhaps it was more connected to the way Sans felt before, which was stress, or possibly fear. He would have to look into it more properly in the future.

Either way, the fact that his old father had witnessed the first phase of the transformation was indeed very bothersome. This would not be easily explained. Besides, since he seemed skeptical already he wouldn't settle with just any answer. Gaster sighed deeply. Thinking up a lie to cover for this would not be easy.

Sans, now completely transformed was laying flat on the concrete floor, unconscious. When he woke up, he would need to be restrained, should he decide to act up against him. Lately he had noticed a change in the boy's behavior for the worse. He had developed quite an attitude towards him, and become cold and distant. Well, in all honesty; no wonder. He just wished Sans would stay calm and at least somewhat cooperative down here in his workshop. There were too many valuable prototypes of his inventions here.

After all, Gaster knew very well the potential that was in him now and wanted to secure the situation before it got worse. He needed to get him to the lab as quickly as possible where he could be safely sealed in his room. But getting him to the lab would be arduous. Especially if he resisted. With his free hand he grabbed his cell and texted his colleagues at the lab to inform them of what had happened.

He glanced at the contraption in his other hand and the remaining five ones scattered around the desk, and wondered if maybe this would be a good opportunity to try them out? They were mechanical hands, designed to amplify his own magic and give 'an extra pair of hands', sorta say. However they were only prototypes and he still hadn't calibrated his magic to them. Should they work, the power of his blue magic would augment notably. It was the best solution he could come up with right now, since his magic at this point wouldn't be able to hold Sans very long in this form.

The gaping holes on the palms of the artificial hands lit up with a faint blue light as Gaster begun transferring his magic to them. Even though it was just a small part of magic, somehow he still found himself feeling fatigued when he was done. He even had to sit down on his chair to catch his breath for a while. The hands reacted by emitting a whirring noise, that reminded of the sound of booting up a computer and then they started hovering in the air. A minor success, at least. But whither or not they would actually amplify his magic was uncertain. Only one way to find out.

The infernal knocking on the door upstairs interrupted him and caused some of the floating hands to drop down on the floor. Didn't take a genius to figure out who that would be and he gritted his teeth as the tried to figure out what to do. Sans had already began transforming before he could get his father out of the scene and he couldn't escape the fact that the old skeleton had seen it happen.

"Dings! Open this door right now!" the Semi thundered from the other side of the door. Come to think of it, perhaps, another lie would be redundant. Without Sans, there was nothing that Semi do to prove anything anyway. Should he decide to share what he had just seen, people would just think he was delirious. And he knew Sans would never tell anyone.

So after all, it would probably be best to let him in for now. That way he could keep an eye on him, while he figured out how to proceed this situation. As soon as he opened the door, Semi pressed himself inside, shoving Gaster aside.

"Get out of my way. And don't you try anything," he said while rushing down the stairs. When Gaster got back downstairs Semi was already crouched down next to Sans, gently trying to wake him up while calling his name.

Gaster walked up to them without saying a word.

"Is he going to be okay?" he asked after a while, when he realized his attempts to wake Sans up were in vain.

"Of course he is," Gaster replied.

"When will he turn back?"

"Eventually. Is Papyrus still upstairs? I think we'd better keep him from coming downstairs to see this and-"

"I sent him out to play. He won't be back for a while."

"That's good."

"Wing Dings Aster, how could you do something like this?"

"Like what?" Gaster raised an eyebrow. He hated when his father used his whole name. His old name.

"Stop it. I know what you've done. Sans told me all about it."

Gaster cringed. That was rather concerning. Once again he cursed his own foolishness and tendency to take things for granted. He'd never even imagined that Sans would dare to tell anyone. Even if he had become bolder, he was still very loyal and duteous. Normally he wouldn't betray him. What made him do such a thing?

"Did he now?" said Gaster astonished, but trying to keep as calm as best as he could.

"You still didn't answer my question," said Semi under grinding teeth.

"Well... I don't know what you want me to say, because I know you're not going to like the answer I have. But, in the end, I am a scientist and it's my business to obtain results to my experiments."

"Your experiments? You're unbelievable. This is your son." When his father's eyes met his, it felt as if his gaze were piercing through his very soul. He backed away ever so slightly. "and he is not some kind of lab-rat who you can use for your research. I never in my mind thought you'd be able to even think about doing something like this. At least not to your own family. I don't even know what to say to you right now, other than I am ashamed of you," Semi spat. But his words didn't bother Gaster. He was a bit surprised by it himself. The only thing that mattered was to get on with the experiment. What his father thought of him wasn't important.

"That does not matter. I don't need your permission to do this." Gaster glanced at the hands that were scattered on the floor. The fingers were starting to twitch, unbeknownst to Semi, who had turned back to Sans.

"Apparently no conscience either. Wing Dings, please-"

"Do not call me that. It's not my name," he yelled. He didn't have to put up with being scalded anymore.

"What? Yes it is. It's the name given to you by your mother and me."

"But it's not who I am anymore. My name is Doctor Gaster now."

"Wow. Clever. Real scary," said Semi sarcastically. "Either way we need to talk about what happens next."

"I agree and I can tell you right now what's going to happen. The experiment continues and you'd do best to try to forget what happened today. No one will believe you if you try to tell them what you saw, and you won't have any way of proving that you speak the truth."

"I was afraid you might say something like that," said Semi with a deep sigh. "So, until you come to your senses, I'm gonna take both of the boys and leave. I will not risk you putting Papyrus through the same thing, and I would never forgive myself if I let this continue. I'm putting an end to this now."

"No. You're not," Gaster mumbled and with the gesture of his real hand, the mechanical hands on the floor sprung to life emitting a piercing blue light. There was no way in hell he was going to let anyone take this away from him, even if it was his own father. The experiment was successful and he had put in too much blood and sweat into it just to let it be taken away so easily.

One hand floated in Semi's direction and though the old skeleton used his own magic in a feeble attempt to ward off Gaster's attack, he was still hurled back against a wall, with one of the mechanical hands firmly grasping his skull. Another hand callously placed itself on Sans' forehead, as well as two more on his temples.

A blue light in Sans' eye abruptly lit and he started howling loudly as he was awoken. He squirmed around on the floor, as if he was in pain, which was disturbingly odd. The transformation should have been completed now. When Gaster turned to his father, he was displaying similar behavior. He was desperately clawing at his skull in an attempt to remove the hand. Gaster flinched. It seemed the magical enhancement intended for the hands was stronger than he anticipated. They were without a doubt living up to their purpose, but it seemed to be overwhelming both Sans and Semi.

This was just a prototype after all and there was still no telling how they might react. An idea of how to make them useful crossed his mind. But keeping the power up was draining and w hen his phone suddenly buzzed he shifted his focus ever so slightly. Before he could pick it up, a blue colored bone came flying in his direction and hit him directly, since he was moving. No significant amount of HP was lost, but it was enough to throw him off his game. He turned around ready to counter the attack, but to his dismay there was no one there anymore. Both Semi and Sans were gone.


The air was knocked out of Semi's lungs as soon as he hit the ground and he cursed his clumsiness. The impact left him laying still for a short while, but he quickly recovered and sat himself up. His chest ached and he could feel the strain on his soul. It had taken much more effort than usual to teleport, or use a shortcut as he liked to call it. Especially with Sans along too. But he would never leave him behind. Especially not after learning the things he knew now.

The tidy basement workshop had been replaced with dark cave walls and streams of water. Garbage was laying all over the floor and the smell was rather nasty. Semi took a few deep breaths to recover from the agony he felt before. The agonizing pain had left him stupefied, even by his measures and he was sure that Sans had felt the same.

He glanced over at Sans in this new beastly form. When he had told him about everything that happened the past few months, there was not a doubt in his mind that he was telling the truth, but to actually see him changed like this was strange, to say the least. The poor boy looked nothing like himself. Tattered pieces of what was left of his pyjamas hung down from his spine and arms as he had grown much too big for it. His appearance was reminiscent of a canine, with the exception of the long, spiked tail and clawed appendages on his hands and feet.

Semi's bones crackled when he rose up and hurried to his grandson's side. Sans was lying flat on the ground, whimpering softly. It was hard to tell if he was conscious, because his body was tense but he seemed unresponsive when Semi tried calling his name.

He knew he couldn't take him to a hospital. At least not unless absolutely necessary. There would be a bit too much to explain if they were even to take him in, and Wings Dings would be contacted too and that was the least thing he wanted right now. Maybe a vet would be better suited right now anyway?

He was not at all prepared for Sans to come back to his senses so suddenly and he winced when the boy hastily drew back, pressing himself against the cave wall. His eyes were wide opened and he glared at Semi while growling and snarling, like a beast. There wasn't any trace of recognition in his eyes, which glowed in with a fierce blue light. His normal gentle, mischievous eyes were now wild and scared.

"Sonny? It's alright. You're safe now," said Semi, in the calmest voice he could possibly muster. "You're safe." He slowly moved closer, raising his right arm in a defensive stance. Though he did his best to remain as calm as he could, his rib cage was moving up and down rapidly as he tried to catch his racing breath.

Sans kept his gaze locked on him as a faint blue light emitted from the back of his throat.

Slow, but steady kept Semi approaching. "It's alright," he repeated over and over. Sans kept growling fiercely, but at least the blue light in his maw went out. This gave Semi confidence to proceed. As soon as he was close enough he reached out his hand for his grandson.

A loud snap echoed through the garbage dump as Sans, with a swift jerk of his lengthy neck, buried his teeth around Semi's arm. Semi cried out in pain, but managed to calm himself down pretty quickly. It was a sharp, throbbing pain, but nothing he couldn't handle given his high pain tolerance. He didn't' fight back and he didn't even try to pull away. He simply waited for Sans to realize that he wasn't a threat.

Eventually he loosened his grip and winced back. The growling became whimpering once more as he pressed himself closer against the wall. Finally there was some recognition in his eyes again and Semi dared to hope he'd come back to his senses.

"Sans? Is it you?"

His mandible trembled as he slowly nodded his head. Semi drew a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, You had me worried for a while."

Sans replied with a soft whimper, refusing to meet his eyes.

"How are you doing?"

No reply. He cowered even closer to the wall, even though Semi was pretty sure he couldn't get further away. Sans lowered his head away and refused to look at him.

"Sans? It's okay. You didn't hurt me, see?" he said, briskly moving his arm around. "Everything is fine, I promise."

Very carefully he turned his eyes towards him, without lifting his head. Once more Semi tried to approach. This time, Sans made no sound at all and he lay motionless. There was a much clearer hint of familiarity in his eyes now and Semi was certain that he wouldn't lash out again. Very gently he placed his hand on his snout.

"Are you okay?" he asked, but was given no response other than quiet whimpers and whines. "Can you even speak like this?"

He shook his head. *i can rattle.*

"Okay. That's good, that's something."

*i'm so sorry,* he rattled, somewhat insecure, after a brief pause.

"You've nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault. Now, are you okay?" Semi asked again.

*did he hurt you too?*

"Don't worry. It's passed now. I'm fine, see?"

*i hurt you, didn't i?* he rattled, seemingly taking none, or little notice of what Semi said. The old skeleton tried over and over to reassure him that everything was okay, but it seemed that the young one didn't really trust him on that.

*i never should have told you anything. then you wouldn't have gotten hurt at all, and you and dad wouldn't be upset with one another, and-*

"Sans, sonny," Semi interrupted. "I'm gonna stop you right there. Listen, and listen carefully. I'm glad that you told me and deep inside I think you are too. Your well-being is more important to me than anything. I'm just sad that your father doesn't share that opinion."

Sans squirmed and he turned his face away, but Semi could still see tears overflowing in his eye sockets.

*i tried to talk to him so many times, but he never listened. he just told me that i was being selfish and that one day, i'd understand.*

Semi exhaled sharply as he sat himself down on the damp ground beside Sans. "He never should have done this to you in the first place. There is no excuse for what he's done. Not even the barrier."

Though the shallow pools of water around them was tainted by the dirt from all the garbage laying around, the waterfalls drizzling down on the rocks were clear blue and pure. For a while the only noise heard was that of the many waterfalls pounding against the rocks around them. Sans wiped his face with his front leg and looked around the area.

*are we at waterfall? how did we get here so fast?* he asked after a while.

"Let's just say that I know a shortcut. It's the easiest way to explain it."

*where is dad?*

"Still at home, probably wondering where we went. But we're not going back home. At least not when things are like this. After you went to bed yesterday I packed some baggage, just in case Wing Dings would insist on taking you to the lab even after I spoke with him. I took a shortcut and left the bags around here somewhere. It should last us for some time and I know of a place we can stay until I manage to come up with a permanent solution."

*but what about paps?* Sans was quick to add, and even though he could only communicate through rattling sounds there was no mistaking the concern written all over his face.

"Don't worry. I though of him too. I dropped him off here in Waterfall to play with his new friend before, when Wing Dings threw me out of his workshop. He should be nearby. As soon as you feel ready to get a move-on, we'll pick him up and then leave."

*what if dad finds us? he told me that if i ever decided to run, he would find me,* he rattled after a while.

"We'll deal with that if it ever comes to it. But as I said, I know a place near the Snowdin region that not many monsters are aware of. Not even your dad, so we should be safe there."

*but... what if i lose control again? i don't want to hurt paps. and i don't want to hurt you again.*

"You were just scared, because you didn't know what was going on. I'm sure it won't happen again."

*but it did happen once before in the lab. i lashed out at one of dad colleagues. i think i hurt her pretty bad and it took her a while to act normal around me after that.*

"I can't imagine you doing such a thing without external provocation. But this time, as soon as we're in Snowdin, you'll be safe. You'll have no reason to lash out on anyone, because no one is going to hurt you. Besides, Paps doesn't need to know about that, so he'll have no reason to be even the slightest bit scared of you."

*he doesn't need to know anything...*

"Well, he's a little too young to process the situation regarding your dad, but you looking a little different? I wouldn't worry about that. He's considerate by nature and I know that he won't mind at all. You're still you and that's all he's gonna care about."

*i dunno. i really don't think it's a good idea. it feels like he will make a big deal out of it. besides, i will turn back soon to myself again soon, and i don't think this crap is gonna happen as frequently anymore. dad mentioned that the amalgamate might get damaged and break without more dt.*

It was very unlike Sans to be so self-conscious, and Semi wondered where the sudden concern came from. But supposedly such a drastic change would be a different matter, he thought. After all, it would be strange for his self image not to be affected by this. But the situation would be unpractical. "So then, after I pick him up, you're just gonna hide from us until you change back? And if you do transform again in the future, you're gonna hide then too?"

*... yes?*

The old skeleton couldn't hold back an amused chuckle. "What a troubleshooter you are," he said, with a mild tone to his voice. "But speaking of witch, how long do you usually stay like this?"

*i'm not sure. sometimes it's all over within a few hours and other times it can withstand for days.*

"Alright then. I'll get you to Snowdin first and then I'll get Paps."

*okay. thank you, grandpa.*

A few minutes later Sans finally mustered up enough strength to get back on his feet. The remaining pieces of threadbare fabric on him fell to the ground as he shook them off. Now that he was standing up Semi got a better picture of how big he actually was like this. Even in his quadrupedal stance, his withers height almost reached above his own shoulders, and the tail that slithered behind him was at least as long as his whole body length. The only thing that remained somewhat reminiscent about him were his skeletal features, but it was his eyes that gave him away. Though lit by the strange light, Semi could recognize them clearly.

It didn't take long for them to find the bags Semi packed the night before and then using a shortcut, it only took moments to get to the old cabin in the cold region of Snowdin. But just as before, using the shortcut left him a bit winded. He had to try hard to convince Sans that he was alright. After some rest and a nice meal he'd get back on his game again.

The old cabin, which was located on a remote place just on the border between Waterfall and Snowdin, didn't look like much. In fact it was more of a hovel than a cabin. It was much smaller and worn than Semi remembered, but at least it would provide a roof over their heads for now. The once blue door only had chips of color left here and there and it creaked loudly as Semi opened it.

The inside was just as unsightly as the outside. Maybe even worse. Various trinkets and items were scattered all over, and broken furniture took up most of the space.

"Perhaps you could make some space while I get Paps?" Semi asked. Sans nodded and quickly got to it. "Just shove it to the corners, and don't go outside until I'm back, okay?"

Sans nodded again, but Semi still had nervous feeling in his gut when he closed the door behind him. This would not be easy.