EmeraldMoonGreen asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)

Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. I own nothing.

Friends Can Lift Your Burdens

Sans sat bolt-upright in his bed with a start, glancing around quickly and stumbling over to the curtains and opening them to find that the sun was just starting to turn the eastern sky into a myriad of colors, which told him it was barely dawn, but he let out a sigh of relief. They weren't in the Underground anymore.

Frisk had fallen about three months ago and after traveling around the Underground for two months and getting to know all the monsters by doing a Pacifist route, she had managed to convince Asgore that he didn't have to kill her and she had freed them all. Sans hadn't really held hope that they'd ever be freed, consider the other six children that had fallen before. A couple of them had decided to reset so many times that Sans had seen enough to always fear that the other kids would reset and he was even afraid Frisk would reset, which was one of the reasons, besides making the promise to Toriel, that he had kept a close eye on Frisk.

But as he had hung out with the young girl and seen her get past Undyne with kind words and not fighting her, even helping Mettaton after winning the fight with him, and fighting off Flowey who had tried to keep them all there, Sans actually cared about Frisk as if she was his own daughter/niece. The bond between them had solidified after Frisk asked if she could call him 'Dunkle Sans'. He had agreed and had noticed how she considered the others her family too.

But he also knew that she could Reset. All of the kids had had that ability, but only two of the previous six had used that power. Frisk had asked him about that when she noticed it during the fight sequence with Papyrus, which had ended with the tall skeleton offering to be friends instead of continuing the battle, which Frisk had instantly accepted as it helped her to convince him that he didn't have to fight her.

Sans had told her that it was a power that could destroy everything, which was the truth. His eyes had gotten dark and his left eye had lit up, actually scaring the young girl, who asked him why he was so upset.

"You're not the only one who got this power, kid," he had said. "The other six had the ability to Reset, but only two of them actually used it, but it was two too many."

Frisk had looked absolutely terrified and she had stood in front of him trembling. "Is…Is the Reset…like a nightmare?" She had asked.

"Yes," he had answered with a nod. "Do us both a favor, kid. If you want to stay on my good side, if you really mean that you'll get us out of the Underground by being Pacifist, then never, ever, use the Reset button. Never. Or you'll face severe consequences, namely from me. And trust me, you won't like it."

That had terrified Frisk and she had promised she'd never use the Reset power, ever. Seeing she was being truthful, Sans had let his powers dissipate and seen the young girl trembling and he had kneeled down, holding out his arms to her. "Come here, kiddo," he had said to her gently.

She had slowly walked over to him and allowed him to hug her comfortingly. "As long as you keep your promise, kiddo, you never have to be scared of me, okay?" He had reassured her. "I know you're being honest with me. Can you promise you won't be afraid of me, baby bones? Can you trust me to never hurt you?"

The reassurances had helped her and Frisk had promised him.

But old fears weren't easy to let go of and Sans was constantly plagued by nightmares of the two children that had decided to treat it all like a video game, doing the Genocide Route so many times that Sans could literally do play-by-play commentary. And what was worse was that the two hadn't stopped going between Genocide Route and Pacifist Route until Sans had finally had enough and on the last Genocide Routes had called Asgore to the Judgment Hall, and the king had both times stopped the two and the Resets.

Now they were finally on the surface, Sans was having a lot of trouble with his nightmares from those Genocide Routes and every time, he'd check his window to make sure it wasn't real. While it wasn't, it was making him very tired and he took longer naps. Frisk had asked him why he seemed more tired than usual and he joked that his bones were just getting old.

That evening, Sans decided to go to his favorite restaurant, Grillby's. His fire friend's restaurant had been opened for only a few weeks on the surface, but he had a lot of business, which was good for him. Sans hadn't seen him in a bit and so went over to there, sitting on the barstool at the bar where Grillby had just finished delivering another order to a customer, who praised him on his fast service and even the young child with her said she liked the way Grillby did the fries, which made the bartender smile and Sans chuckled lightly. "Looks like business is on fire, huh, Grillbz?" He asked.

More than used to his skeleton friend's puns, Grillby shook his head, but smiled at the same time. "Yes, it's going well," he said, setting a bottle of ketchup in front of Sans. "Burger and fries?"

"Sure. Thanks," said Sans and pushed some money towards him. "I know I owe a lot more, but it's all I can do for now."

Grillby nodded, hiding his confusion. Sans had already paid his tab up, but maybe he didn't realize he had. He actually had a credit now, but the bartender went ahead and added the money to that credit after deducting the price of the fries and the burger from it.

Sans ate the burger and fries and drank the ketchup, trying to forget about his nightmares and the Resets, but because he was so tired, he put his head down on the bar, using his arms like a pillow, and closing his eyes, meaning to rest for a moment, but was soon passed out. Grillby noticed, but knew that Sans often took naps, and so let him be.

But Sans didn't wake up the entire time the restaurant was open, which was surprising. When closing time came, Grillby closed up, locking the doors and cleaning up. After that, he went over to Sans to wake him up. "Sans?" He called gently.

Just as he was about to shake his friend's shoulder gently, Sans began groaning and breathing heavily. "No! Papyrus!" He called out, fear in his voice. "Kid! Stop!"

Grillby jumped back a little in surprise and gently shook Sans' shoulder, but the skeleton was still lost in his nightmare. "Kid, why do you keep resetting?!" Sans cried out. "Stop! Stop torturing us!"

That was enough for Grillby to now pick up Sans and hug him. "Sans, wake up," he said, gently shaking his friend's shoulder, but with urgency too, holding the skeleton so that he couldn't lash out in reflex.

Sans gasped sharply as his eyes opened and he shuddered as he began breathing hard and he managed to get one hand free to rub at his eyes. "Where am I?" He asked.

"Sans?"

The skeleton turned his head to find Grillby was behind him and he clutched his friend's vest. "Grillby. Oh, my word. We're back in the Underground," he said, beginning to panic.

"Sans, calm down," said Grillby soothingly. "We're not in the Underground anymore. Frisk freed us, remember?"

Sans went up to the door and glanced outside, seeing the streetlights and some cars go by and took a deep breath of relief. "Sans?" Grillby asked in concern. "What happened?"

"I'm okay, Grillbz," said the joke-loving skeleton, but the bartender noticed quickly that Sans hadn't made any jokes yet, which made him even more concerned to where he picked Sans up, much to the skeleton's surprise and carried him to the back room. Sans must have still been tired because he didn't put up a fuss about being carried, but then Grillby set him down in a chair and sat in another chair in front of him.

"Sans, you were having a nightmare," he said. "You mentioned something about resetting and you were begging someone to stop torturing you. Who did you see that was hurting you?"

Sans just shook his head. "It's nothing, Grillbz," he said. "It was probably just my imagination going nuts."

The fire monster didn't buy that. "Sans, nightmares are a result of something you've seen that is frightening," he said. "What happened? Who was hurting you and Papyrus? Who did you see in your nightmares?"

Sans shook his head again. "It's nothing, Grillby," he said. "I'm fine."

Grillby sighed. "Then, as a friend who is very concerned about you, you leave me no choice," he said and snapped his fingers.

To Sans' utter shock, a warm, yellowish-orange glow surrounded him and he was lifted up out of the chair. "Whoa!" He cried out sharply. "Grillbz?! What are you doing?!"

"I rarely use my telekinesis power, Sans, except for when I feel drastic measures are needed to be taken," the fire monster explained before going over to a couch that had no back or arms, just the cushions and Sans floated over, unable to move as Grillby then brought out a strange-looking device that slid under the couch and pulled up on one side to show a board with two holes in it. He did the same to the other side and an identical board came into view, basically giving the couch a half-boxed in look. "I occasionally get a customer who gets very drunk and causes quite a scene to where I have to take them outside and bring them back here," Grillby said in explanation as he moved towards Sans and gently took off his friend's blue hoodie and set it aside. "I put those drunk customers in these stocks so that they can't cause any harm to anyone and the room is soundproof, so no one can hear them."

Sans gulped audibly. "Um, Grillby, what exactly do you do with them when you have them in those stocks?" He asked worriedly.

"I take care of them," he said. "Like I said, I've only had a few that I've had to do this too."

Sans tried to struggle, but because he was exhausted, he couldn't use his telekinesis. "How exactly do you take care of them?" He asked as he weakly struggled as Grillby used his telekinesis to pull his friend closer and put his hands and feet in the stocks. Sans was quick to notice the stock holes were padded, which gave some comfort, but he was still nervous as Grillby made sure the stocks were locked and Sans was restrained well before releasing him from his telekinesis.

"I helped those drunks get through the hangover they got after drinking so much and gave them the option to either not get drunk here like that again, or they'd be banned from my restaurant," he said. "They took it to heart and I haven't had a repeat of that."

He now looked at Sans. "But I have something else in mind for you," he said. "Something I've seen you use on Papyrus to get him to talk."

Sans' eyes widened and he tried to get free, but the stocks held him well. Grillby chuckled. "Sorry, Sans, but you need this," he said and started tickling Sans' neck.

Letting out a squeak, the skeleton began giggling. "C-Come on, Grillbz!" He laughed in protest.

"Nope," said the fire monster with a chuckle. "I'm going to tickle you good until you tell me what's wrong."

Sans shrieked when Grillby began tickling his ribs. "Cootchie, cootchie, coo!" Grillby said teasingly. "Look at all these ticklish ribs!"

Sans couldn't stop laughing as he squirmed hard and his shirt rode up a little, exposing his lowest ribs, which his friend wasted no time in tickling and Sans shrieked again as Grillby's warm fingers tickled mercilessly over the bared, sensitive ribs, making him squirm harder, especially when the tickles moved to his spine and hips.

Grillby then paused to let Sans have a breather for a few minutes, but then moved the tickle torture to the skeleton's knees.

"NYEH HEH HEH!" Sans laughed out.

The unexpected sound surprised Grillby, but then made him laugh. "You sound just like your brother," he said teasingly, continuing to tickle Sans' knees.

Sans continued laughing. "NYEH HEH HEH HEH!" He laughed again. "STOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOP!"

"Nope," the fire monster said with a smile. "Look at these ticklish knees. How they make you squeal just like your brother when he's being tickled. Tickle, tickle, tickle!"

"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!" Sans cackled again. "G-Grillby! Q-Quit it!"

"Well, I suppose I can give you another breather," the bartender relented and let his friend regain some of his breath as he removed Sans' pink slippers and without warning, began tickling his feet.

Sans let out another shriek as he was thrown back into a fit of laughter at that. "Well, well, your feet are just as ticklish as your ribs, hmm?" Grillby asked teasingly as he tickled Sans' feet all over, especially under the toes when he heard Sans squeal again.

"Grillby! PLEAHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEASE!" Sans begged him.

Stopping the tickle torture but keeping Sans in the stocks, Grillby pulled a chair up and sat beside his friend. "So, are you going to tell me now?" He asked, waiting patiently for the answer as Sans took several deep breaths.

"I told you, Grillbz. It's nothing," he said.

Grillby shook his head. "You have strong endurance, Sans, but it's about to go down hard," he said, going over to his desk and pulling out a long feather. "If you thought my fingers on your ticklish spots were bad, then this will drive you crazy."

Sans, seeing the feather, instantly began squirming, but once again, the stocks held firmly and Grillby ran the feather over Sans' underarms first.

"NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Sans cried out, trying to squirm away, but the fire monster continued, even gently lifting up Sans' shirt to tickle all his ribs and spine with the feather, which made the skeleton go nuts with laughter.

"Cootchie, cootchie, coo!" Grillby cooed. "Such ticklish ribs! What a ticklish skeleton!"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STOHOHOHOHOHOP DOIHIHIHIHIHNG THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT!" Sans pleaded with him, but his pleas went unheard as Grillby mercilessly tickled the sensitive ribs extra good with the feather and then tickled Sans' hips as well before allowing him another breather.

"And now, the best for last," said the fire monster as he waited for Sans to breathe normally before using the soft feather on the skeleton's knees.

"NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"

Grillby chuckled in amusement. "Tickle, tickle, tickle! I've got you, Sans!" He teased him relentlessly.

Sans then saw Grillby wasn't kidding about the room being soundproof because his laughter was loud enough to shake the walls, but honestly, he was glad too, because he was a little embarrassed about this.

Thankfully, Grillby decided that the ticklish knees had been tickled enough and let Sans have another breather before moving to Sans' feet, giving his friend no warning as he ran the feather over the bared bones.

Sans again burst into laughter, but this time, tears were in his eye sockets and running down his face. Grillby could tell by this that Sans had reached his limit. "Sans, I'll stop, if you tell me what happened," he offered.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OKAY! OKAY! PLEAHEEHEEHEEHEESE!"

At the laughed out request, Grillby nodded and put the feather away, watching as the hoodie-wearing skeleton took deep breaths to recover. The fire monster then released his friend from the stocks, putting them away and kindly placing Sans' slippers back on his feet, kneeling beside the couch his friend lay on. "Aw, did the tickling make you bone-tired, Sans? Maybe I should tickle your funny bone some more," he teased as he lifted his hands and wiggled his fingers, pretending he was going to tickle Sans again. "Who likes being tickled?"

Sans' face now looked like a blueberry from blushing at his friend's teasing. "Grillbz, come on," he groaned without heat, gently swatting the fire monster's hands away, hearing his friend chuckle gently.

Grillby then sat down beside Sans. "Sans, what happened?" He asked. "Was…Was Frisk the one hurting you?"

The bartender didn't want to believe that the young child that had freed them had hurt Sans and saw the skeleton shake his head. "No," he answered. "It was two of the others who had fallen long ago."

Grillby remembered hearing about the other six children. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand," he said gently.

"Each kid that fell had the ability to Reset, Grillbz," Sans said. "To wipe away everything and put us back in the Underground."

"You mean…change time and history?"

"Yeah," said Sans. "Two of them decided to Reset just for the fun of it and treated it all like a game. They reset so many times, Grillby, I lost count."

The fire monster saw the look of despair on Sans' face. "What happened during these Resets?" He asked.

The skeleton now had tears running down his face. "They did Genocide runs," he said.

That was all Sans was able to say before he began crying. Grillby lifted his friend up and hugged him, just holding him as Sans clung to him. "Asgore finally stopped them," the skeleton managed to say through his sobs. "A-And…I made Frisk promise."

"That she'd never use the Reset ability?" Grillby asked quietly.

Sans nodded. "Yeah," he said, his breathing slowly becoming steady again. "She's kept that promise, but…,"

"It's hard to let old fears go," the bartender said quietly and Sans nodded again, leaning tiredly against Grillby.

"I fell asleep at the bar, huh?" He asked, to which his friend nodded. "Guess the bar was set pretty low then, huh?"

Grillby let out a sigh and shook his head, but a smile formed on his face. "By that, I can tell you're feeling better," he said.

"Yeah, thanks, Grillbz," Sans said honestly. "I'll admit, you sure know how to tickle my funny bone."

"Or funny bones for that matter," the fire monster said, playfully squeezing Sans' knees gently, making his friend jump slightly in reflex.

"Grillby," he protested.

Grillby laughed gently. "Alright," he said in agreement. "Come on. I'll get you home. Papyrus worries enough about you as it is."

Sans sighed deeply, not protesting when Grillby picked him up again, grabbing the blue hoodie before heading out. "Sans, is there anything that can help you sleep at night and stop these nightmares?" The fire monster asked curiously. "Maybe having your brother in the same room with you?"

The skeleton fell into thought. "There was one time I didn't have nightmares," he said suddenly. "It was when Frisk had a nightmare and came to me, asking if she could sleep over."

Grillby nodded. "She knew she wasn't alone and you knew you weren't alone," he said. "Maybe until the nightmares stop, you two should have sleepovers."

Sans nodded. "That actually isn't a bad idea," he said. "I've been worried about Frisk too. She had a bad dream the other night and Papyrus comforted her, but she's been having way to many nightmares for a kid her age."

"And you've had too many nightmares as well, Sans," Grillby said as they finally reached the skeleton brothers' home and the fire monster gently set Sans down and knocked on the door. Frisk answered it.

"Dunkle Sans!" She said in relief, hugging him hard. "Are you okay?"

Chuckling, the hoodie-wearing skeleton hugged the little girl. "I'm okay, baby bones," he said. "Grillby was just helping me with some stuff and time just flew by."

Frisk giggled at his joke and looked up at him hopefully. "Dunkle Sans, can we have another sleepover tonight?" She asked.

"You must be a mind reader, kiddo," he said with another chuckle. "Sure we can."

Frisk smiled at that and looked at Grillby, going over and gently tugging on the tall, fire monster's pant leg. Grillby kneeled down to the child's height and Frisk hugged him. "Thanks for bringing Dunkle Sans home, Mr. Grillby," she said.

Chuckling, Grillby hugged her back, gently ruffling her hair in affection. "You take care of your dunkle now, okay, Frisk?" He said.

"I will. I promise," she said with a smile.

Nodding, Grillby left and Sans let out a sigh, feeling tired again. "Well, I think it's a bit past your bedtime, kiddo," he said. "Where's Papyrus?"

"He's sleeping in his room," Frisk said. "I couldn't sleep because I was worried about you and…I had another bad dream."

Sans nodded. "Well, let's get up to bed," he said to the ten-year-old, who nodded and headed up for his room, waiting for him patiently as he walked up the stairs and opened the door. A few minutes later, they were both in Sans' bed and Frisk snuggled closer to him and he rubbed her back. "I'm here, baby bones," he said soothingly to her.

"Love you, Dunkle Sans," the child said to him.

"I love you too, kiddo," he responded back with a smile as he saw her fall asleep and he yawned a bit, noticing how he didn't feel like something was weighing him down and he smiled again.

"Thanks, Grillbz," he said softly.

His friend had helped him to feel better, as Frisk was doing right then and Sans fell into a peaceful sleep, his burdens gone forever.

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