((A/N: ATTENTION! "Count Your Blessings" is a sequel to "Tally Up Your Sins." I beg of you, please read TUYS before this! Even the first sentence of this fic contains spoilers for the first, so you've been warned!
I wasn't planning on posting this on this website until it was finished, but I got a surprising number of people on here asking me about the sequel. The main reason I posted "Tally Up Your Sins" on this site was because I heard rumors of people stealing fics from AO3 and posting them on FF, so, since TUYS is semi-popular on AO3 and at risk of being stolen, I figured I'd post it here before anyone could do that to me. But I didn't realize there was such a strong Undertale presence on this site! So I guess I'll post CYB here as I write it; it's not like it's much trouble, just one extra step. Feel free to read here or on AO3; my AO3 account username is "BlueTwilight"
If you want to follow me on Tumblr, my url is "bluewuf" and the tag for this fic is "CYB"
Lastly (and I promise I won't put long author's notes like this in every chapter), please leave reviews! I'd really appreciate it, because they're part of what motivates me to write. Thanks!))
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"Ah, heh, you must be confused! For, you see, I, The Great Papyrus, do not have any brothers!"
With those words, Sans shut down. You felt him slip out of control, into the back of your collective mind.
Sans? You probed, but he was silent. He'd closed himself off, completely barricading his thoughts from you. It was disconcerting, being relatively alone after months of Sans' consciousness constantly pressing against yours, for better or for worse. You pushed against him, metaphorically, but to no avail. Sans was much better at this mental stuff than you, and if he didn't want you to know what he was feeling, then there was nothing you could do. Frustrated, you pounded on his defenses. You hadn't even wanted to come here in the first place, and now he was just going to leave you when things started to look bad? If everyone really had forgotten all about Sans, how were you even going to begin to explain your situation to them?
Meanwhile, for the first time, no one was controlling the body. It sat, idle, where Sans had left it; gripping Papyrus' arms for dear life. You would have forgotten entirely about the physical world, had a new voice not shaken you into alertness.
"Hey, who's this? Paps, is this guy giving you trouble?" With a great effort, you tore yourself away from your futile attempts to break down Sans' mental walls, steeling yourself to clean up whatever mess your partner had gotten the two of you in.
"Ah, no! They're just-" You had only a split second to survey the situation, noticing that Undyne had appeared over Papyrus' shoulder and was glaring at you suspiciously, before a small creature came barrelling out of the depths of house to tackle you in a hug.
You gasped in surprise, finally letting go of Papyrus and blinking down at the newcomer. They were so short that they could only reach far enough to wrap their arms around your legs. In your dazed and confused state, it took you a moment to recognize the blue and purple striped sweater.
"...Frisk?" The child craned their neck to look up at you, a happy little smile on their face.
"You fixed it!" Their voice was quiet, but they sounded pleased. You held up your hands, unsure what to do with them.
"Uh…." You were bad with kids. Like, really bad. You pleaded silently for Sans to come back and deal with this in your stead, but he didn't answer.
"Oh! Do you two know each other?!" Papyrus asked excitedly. But, before you could think of an answer, someone else appeared from within the house.
"My child, who is this?" A kind-looking, goat-like woman asked, peering over Papyrus' shoulder to get a look at you. You'd never met her before, but you knew who she was right away.
Overwhelmed, you stumbled back as soon as Frisk let go of you. You hunched over and clasped your hands in front of you in a nervous gesture. Your wings quivered, and a couple of feathers fell out at once.
"I… this is… a mistake… I should…" Fisk made a wordless noise of protest and lunged forward to grab your hand. The relatively normal hand, not the one with the talons. Feeling their tiny, warm hand in your own quickly shut you up. You hadn't had physical contact with anyone, human or monster, in months. Frisk's flesh felt soft and unbearably fragile. You froze, not squeezing back or pulling away for fear of hurting them.
Gently, they tugged you forward, back up to the doorway, and into the house. Undyne, Papyrus, and Toriel all parted to let you through. Frisk made rapid motions with their free hand as they led you through the house. You barely registered being tugged through a living room full of unpacked boxes and into a kitchen area. Forgetting to duck, you knocked your forehead on the archway connecting the two rooms. You winced, rubbing your head and allowing yourself to be ushered into a chair by Frisk. Now that both of their hands were free, they turned to face the other monsters, their fingers dancing in the air rapidly. You recognized it as sign language, but had no idea what the child was saying. Sans knew sign, but he wasn't around to translate for you.
Uncomprehending, you stared at your hosts, eyes flickering nervously from Frisk to the other three. Everyone's eyes went wide as they watched Frisk's hands; Toriel even brought a hand up to cover her mouth. You stomach twisted into anxious knots. Even Papyrus was uncharacteristically quiet.
"My child, are you sure? This seems… well… quite unbelievable." Frisk frowned and put their hands on their hips. Obviously, they were quite sure. Then, as if the kitchen couldn't have gotten more crowded, Alphys entered with a huge, furry monster who you'd only ever seen in 2D.
"What is going- oh!" Asgore's deep, rumbling voice was cut off as he noticed you, sitting hunched over in your chair. "Howdy! I'm sorry, I don't recognize you. Who are you?"
"Frisk says they are the combination of a monster and a human." Toriel whispered, and both she and Asgore looked uncomfortable. You wrung your hands together, massaging your talons with your normal fingers. This was awkward, especially because you had no idea what Frisk had just said about you. Everyone was talking about you, but no one was talking to you. Frisk made a quick hand motion, which you had no idea how to interpret.
"Ah, oh no… how did this happen?" Asgore asked, concerned, "Did a monster get past the human guards?" You assumed he meant the soldiers who guarded the outer border of the plot of land the humans had given to the monsters.
"Of course not, no one could have gotten past them," Toriel snapped at Asgore, who looked cowed, "There is no way this monster is any sort of hybrid. My child, you must be confused… have you eaten anything funny lately?" Toriel put a hand to Frisk's forehead, who swatted her away irritably.
"This must be just a teensy misunderstanding! Besides, Frisk also said that I have a long-lost brother, which I do not! I think I would know if I did. After all, there is nothing that the Great Papyrus does not know about himself! Nyeh heh… heh?" Frisk made a face at Papyrus, who looked a little unsure of himself despite his boasting.
Suddenly, Undyne pushed Papyrus aside, moving to stand at the front of the group.
"Nghaa! Let's just settle this!" She made a sharp, beckoning motion with her hand. You flinched back when you heard the three, telltale clicks. You couldn't have stopped your soul from bursting from your chest, even if you'd wanted to. But the results were… unexpected.
Instead of being a solid lilac color, your heart-shaped soul was encased with a layer of pure white, with the usual purple heart at the center. There was a clear distinction between the white and the purple; it was like the white soul had completely engulfed the purple one. They pulsed in time with one another, sending waves of raw, invisible energy through the tiny kitchen. The force of it sent a couple of the smaller bystanders staggering back. It was… distressing for you to look at, and even more distressing to have everyone staring at it.
"'Scuse you." You grunted, bringing your hand up to shield your mutated soul from view. You pressed it back into your chest, shuddering a little as it disappeared into your ribcage. Everyone stared at you; Alphys was openly gaping, and even Undyne had lost steam. Frisk tried to say something with their hands, but nobody was looking at them.
"How did this happen?" Toriel broke the silence, giving you a stern look. You shrugged and your wings twitched, irritated.
"Short story? Your brother," You nodded at Papyrus, who looked very confused as to what was going on, "absorbed my soul to cross th' barrier." You looked from person to person, waiting for someone to challenge you. Eventually, Papyrus spoke meekly,
"But… I don't have a brother…?"
"Ya do, you jus' don't remember." He wrung his hands together, looking doubtful. "Ever feel like there was somethin' missin'? In your life, or…?" His eyes shifted from side to side, and he mumbled something unintelligible. You took that as a yes. "When we crossed th' Barrier… it… uh… erased both of us from everyone's memories. Alphys," You turned to the scientist, who looked startled to have been addressed, "you ever think there was somethin' weird about th' Barrier?" She blushed as all eyes turned to her, and stammered,
"W-well, it has some properties that su-suggest that it may be a-a link between two separate realities. I once did a study on how matter reacts when exposed to it, and the laws of physics seem to break down…" You gave her a big smile, glad that, even in this timeline, she still believed you.
"Exactly." Unfortunately, everyone else was giving you blank stares. You supposed you weren't explaining this very well. Before you could say any more, Frisk jumped up and tugged on Toriel's sleeve. They signed something urgently to the goat woman, who furrowed her brow.
"Frisk tells me you helped destroy the Barrier… is that true?" She asked you, her voice stern but not unkind. You weren't sure if you could rightly take credit for that, but if it improved the monsters' opinions of you, you were all for it.
"Yeah, 'suppose so." Everyone began to whisper among themselves, their quiet murmurs coalescing into a vague buzzing noise that was impossible for you to understand. Suddenly, you remembered something. You turned to Frisk and asked quietly, "Chara?" They grimaced and signed something at you, but you shook your head helplessly. "Kid, I can't understand ya." They pouted, puffing out their cheeks in an adorably frustrated way, then tapped their own head. You frowned. "Still in there, huh?" Frisk nodded sadly. You got the message. Seeing your simple exchange, everyone else stopped talking amongst themselves.
"Alright, not to break up this touching reunion, but what the heck is going on?!" Undyne flared her fins and put her hands on her hips. You faced her, sitting up a little straighter. You felt a little more confident, knowing that Frisk seemed to have your back.
"I'm th' reason you're all walking on th' surface right now. Sans and I saved you all, but you don' remember any of it." At your side, Frisk nodded vigorously. You felt your confidence bolstered even more. Undyne looked incredulous as she turned to Alphys,
"Babe, is that possible?" Ah, right, you'd forgotten; Undyne and Alphys were dating in this timeline. Remembering how they'd argued when you'd been down there yourself made you glad things had worked out this way, instead. Alphys bit her lip,
"U-uh… I d-don't know… maybe?" Frisk groaned and flopped onto the chair next to yours dramatically. You had to grin at their exasperation; they were obviously not enjoying this back-and-forth debate.
"If Frisk says that this is the case, then I think it would be wise to believe them." Asgore spoke up, his voice holding a kind of quiet authority over the rest of the crowd. He smiled kindly at you. "I do not fully understand what you did to contribute to our freedom, but I would like to thank you for it nonetheless. Please, if there is anything we can do for you, just ask. You are more than welcome to stay, and we can discuss all of this over a nice cup of tea." The king was being very nice, but you shook your head. Perhaps Sans had come here to reconnect with friends and chat about life, but Sans wasn't there at the moment. On the other hand, you had no interest in overstaying your welcome, and had only one motive for agreeing to come here in the first place.
"No, thanks. But, now that you mention it… I have got one request." You squared your shoulders, and would have stood up if you hadn't been afraid of hitting your head on the ceiling again. "You all owe me. You owe us. Whether you realize it, or not." You looked from person to person, fixing them each with a serious look from your blank eyes and speaking as clearly as you could manage, "I am goin' to get my body back, and you're all goin' to help me do it."