This will be around 5 chapters

Occasionally, Asriel and his foster sibling, who was also his best friend, would go back Home, a place that now lied in decrepit ruins where only a few monsters lived. They wouldn't go by themselves, of course. They were only children after all, as the Queen would remind them often, patting Asriel's head and feeding his sibling the chocolate that they dearly loved. And though they often begged to go with her, knowing she was weak to their whines, Asriel, truthfully never really wanted to come along in the first place. At least the capital was full of life.

"This place is so empty and boring," he told his best friend as they traversed through the caverns, heading for that same grotto where the ground was bare, and the expanse of the sky was too far away to be seen so clearly. Both of them were wearing matching striped shirts, green lined with yellow bars. "I don't know why you keep wanting to come here. You know the barrier is back at New Home, right?"

His best friend, as always, would just smile. And every time, Asriel would tell himself that this was just how the humans must smile, no matter the silence.

Queen Toriel was making her rounds to visit the other monsters, to those that lived in this empty section of the underground, and thus had little knowledge of the current happenings of the kingdom. She would leave her children in their temporary home, telling them to stay where it was safe, for the Ruins would have tricky puzzles and trickier monsters who may not be so kind. But always they would leave just as soon as she did. Asriel would sometimes have to run to catch up to his best friend, knees scraping against the stone.

On one outing, Asriel had tripped down a small slope. He gasped, hitting the point of his elbow against the ground sharply, ripping his shirt. He had fallen quite a few feet, and was momentarily dizzy, his eyes adjusting to the softly lit darkness. The sun's reflection from the surface was weak, barely lighting up the area.

"H-hey!" he called out, searching for his friend. He tried looking up the slope, but his ankle suddenly hurt more than he expected. "I… I think my leg is broken!" Tears threatened to drip down his muzzle. He did his best to blink them away.

For a moment, he saw his best friend standing on top of the cliff, eyes bright, mouth pulled into that perpetual smile. Asriel smiled back, waving his arms for help.

The human child stepped away into the shadows, leaving him alone.

Asriel didn't say anything at first. He waited until the cavern winds blew, waited until not even his fur could keep him warm. It wasn't long. He had always been so much weaker than his best friend, and called out to them again.

"Wait! Don't leave me here!" He tried to crawl over, but kept wincing at the sharp pain. Already he was beginning to cry. Big boys don't cry, he thought frantically, but it didn't help. "I… I can't… I don't know what to do!"

"hey, ease up."

The injured boy turned, his heart pounding. Who was that? He hadn't even heard anyone come up to him.

Not far from him at all was another monster, older than him, but not much taller at all, dressed in a casual hooded sweatshirt, and shorts that nearly reached down to his ankles. He was so pale, to the point where he looked as if his very skin must have been made of bones-

"Are you a skeleton?" he asked rather dumbly.

The skeleton, hands in his pockets, looked down at himself. He raised his eye sockets to look back at the child. Pinpricks of white stared out from them. Pupils? Or just reflections of the light?

"last i checked." He pointed at Asriel. "so are you, you know. technically."

The skeleton had a wide smile on his face, which Asriel guessed made sense, since he had no skin or fur to cover it with. Though he couldn't really tell if it was an actual smile or…

"I'm not… supposed to talk with strangers." He looked away with a sniffle, hoping to see his best friend again. "I should go." He tried to stand up with dignity, succeeding in only falling back on his face.

"whoa hey." The skeleton moved closer, stopping only a few inches away. "don't be scared."

Big boys don't get scared. "I'm not! I just don't need any help, that's all."

Somehow, with no eyelids to speak of, the skeleton winked at him from his left eye socket. "come on, kid. what did i do to grab your goat now?"

Asriel tilted his head in confusion. The skeleton pointed at him again.

"you know, cause you're a goat. heh. or….wait, are you a ram? or a dog? ya got the ears for it."

Asriel felt his lips curl. A laugh tumbled out of his throat. "Oh, I get it now!"

The monster looked a bit relieved. "phew, thought i was losing my touch there."

He realized his smile wasn't so bad really. His nerves eased, the laughter aching his lungs.

"now that the ice is broken," the skeleton said, tapping the heel of his foot against the ground. He looked like he was wearing loafers that were three sizes too big for him. "wanna tell me what's broken with you?"

Asriel flicked a glance to his leg, but quickly looked away. "It's not… that bad. I just can't seem to get up very well, that's all. Besides!" He kept his lips firm, fists clenched. "My friend will be here for me. They just went to go get some help."

"oh. that sounds good." Hands still in his pockets, the skeleton winked again. "then i can just keep you company till then. it can get awfully…bonely around here by yourself."

Asriel cracked another smile. "You sure must have a… skele-ton of those jokes, huh?"

The skeleton shook a little, his deep, quiet laugh accompanied by rattling - of his ribs, Asriel was guessing. "you learn pretty fast, kid."

He was comfortable enough to finally admit his real problem. "I think my leg is broken. I can't move it at all."

At that, his new friend moved closer, bending down on one knee. "mind if i check it out? i know a thing or two about broken bones."

"Really? Why?"

"um." The skeleton gestured to himself.

"Oh, yeah."

"and it looks more like an ankle thing then a leg anyway. it's not so bad."

"But it…kinda hurts." Asriel didn't mean to let out a little whimper, but he had shifted, and the pain started anew. At least the tears had stopped.

"don't move too much, kid." A brief pause. "here, let me try something."

The skeleton finally slipped his left hand from his pocket, thin phalanges bending, as stark white as the rest of him. Then that hand started to glow, blue light coating the bones in its entirety like a well-fitted glove. It was bright enough to light up the darkness that made up most of the Ruins.

Asriel was instantly reminded of his mother, how she would sometimes light up the path with her own magic, spreading it around like tiny, controlled bonfires. This skeleton's magic also had that kind of warmth.

The hand hovered over his ankle, enveloping it in heat. He didn't feel much at first, and was surprised when the skeleton moved back not too long after.

"was sprained. should be better now though. try walking."

Asriel obeyed, picking himself up with hesitation. He pressed down on his right foot. There was still a little ache, but he could move now. He could move!

"Wow! Thanks! I… I never knew magic could heal, too."

"well, yeah." The skeleton pocketed his hand again, extinguishing the light. "if you don't happen to have some nice cream on ya, magic like this sure comes in…." He trailed off, waiting.

"Handy!" Asriel answered, laughing cheerfully.

The skeleton winked. "knew you wouldn't let me down."

His new friend kept cracking jokes and puns, enough to make Asriel's cheeks ache with his constant smiles. He wasn't sure how long that lasted, until he felt he ought to say something.

"Thanks for helping me." He shifted. "My name is Asriel Dreemur, by the way. So… howdy!"

The skeleton paused for a short moment. Obviously, he must have recognized the name, and the child prepared for a shift in tone, for the monster to start acting all proper and boring when one met with the prince of the Underground.

"sans the skeleton. nice meeting ya, royal buddy." He held out his right hand. "put er' there."

Asriel took the hand, and a long, raspberry sound emitted between their palms. He flinched.

"heh." Sans raised up his hand, which held a small whoopee cushion strapped on. "it's always funny, huh?"

And Asriel had to laugh again, agreeing with the skeleton completely.

"It's just a temporary home for us now," Asriel explained, following Sans as they traveled out of the caves to the vast hallways, wading through small rivers, flicking open switches to strange puzzles. "I don't think my mother would like me telling you where it is anyway."

"no prob, kid. i can just drop you off around here, far away from any cliffs, ledges, or pits." He then pointed to some piles of red leaves. "except for those pits there. probably don't wanna go over there."

The prince heeded the advice, and once both were at a crossroads in the Ruins, the air a bit chill, he decided to ask a question. "What are you doing here in the Ruins anyway? Only the Froggits and some spiders live here mostly. And… sometimes that weird Jerry guy passes by."

"on the job." Sans winked. "top secret mission and all."

"So you can't tell me?"

"nope. that's why they're called secrets, ya know."

Usually he'd back down with an apology. But his best friend had once asked him why he wouldn't just use his status to get what he wanted. He would have to at some point, wouldn't he? His best friend was always smart like that.

So Asriel tried to put on his best royal voice, standing up tall, head raised high to show off his horns, even though those horns were really just stubs. "But I'm the prince! The future ruler of the Underground. So, I, um… order you to tell me!" He crossed his arms triumphantly.

Sans held up both bony hands in mock surrender. "alright, alright. here, i'll tell you, but we can't let anyone else know."

Taking this act of secret-sharing very seriously, Asriel leaned nearer for Sans to whisper to him the mission that he was on, his floppy ear perked up slightly.

After three seconds, Asriel stepped back, eyes wide and jaw slack.

"…You're…. looking for the legendary fartmaster?"

Sans shrugged, his permanent grin brighter than the rest of his face. "i have to find him soon, so that i can learn all of his techniques."

Asriel pouted. "But I'm serious! I want to know what your mission was!"

"and i told you."

Just as he was about to protest some more, the skeleton turned away, his eyeless gaze peering through the rock ceiling. For a moment, Asriel remembered the hint of sky he once saw, that day his best friend fell. He wondered if the skeleton, being here, had ever seen it.

"besides, the higher powers that be can't let me talk too much about it."

Despite his years, Asriel could understand the implications behind his words. "Do you mean my parents?"

Sans turned back to him. "heh, you just see right through me, don't ya, kid?"

Despite his lips cracking another smile, the boy tried to stay stubborn. "I could always just ask them about you."

"yeah, you could," Sans answered him, calling his bluff.

Sometimes, Asriel really wished he was more like his best friend. They'd always be able to get what they wanted or needed, as they did from both the king and queen. He was sure that they could do the same with Sans. But all Asriel himself could do was pout, scuffing a clawed foot against the floor.

Strangely, the skeleton decided to throw him a bone, so to say. "i know the guy that works for your dad. you probably met him before. speaks with his hands, kinda?"

A brief trip through his memory and, yes, Asriel could remember someone like that. That man with a silent kind of smile, and that whenever his voice echoed, pictures seemed to form, sometimes making no sense. His dad had been able to understand him, though he was one of the few who could really get what the Royal Scientist could say.

"Wait, so are you Dr. Gaster's-"

Sans held up a hand, asking for the prince's silence. "sorry, kid. that's all you're getting today."

Footsteps echoed ahead of them.

Asriel whirled around, recognizing that even tread, so methodical in its pace, never hurrying, never frantic. "Oh! It's…" He reached for San's hand, the thin bones engulfed easily by his own fleshier appendage. "Here, I want you two to meet."

Sans let himself be tugged along, having to meet the prince's fast pace as they rushed to the foster sibling of Asriel, the human that had fallen into the Underground just over a year ago. The child smiled vacantly, their eyes bright, their irises the color of the red leaves that would curiously scatter around the floor of the Ruins. A locket hung around their neck, hand-crafted by the queen herself, to show her devotion and love for the child that was neither her blood nor her kind.

"Hey! Did you get lost?" Asriel immediately asked, then pulled Sans up more to avoid the answer. "This guy helped me find my way back. He's really funny! His name's Sans."

"hey." Sans waved with his other hand. "what's up?"

The human child said nothing, instead staring at the skeleton with that same, blank expression. Silence was their response.

"quite a talker, huh?"

Asriel really wanted his best friend to like Sans, so he came up with an idea. "Sans, tell him one of your jokes."

"alright." Sans cleared his throat. "knock, knock."

The child stayed silent.

Flustered, the prince stuttered to take his best friend's role in the joke. "W-who's there?"

"dishes," Sans answered, not missing a beat.

"Dishes who?"

"dishes a very bad joke."

Asriel laughed, mixing it along with San's chuckle. He turned to his best friend, ready to just interpret their smile as acknowledgment that it had indeed been a joke.

And they still smiled, but there was something different about it. Tighter, forced almost. The human child walked away.

"Wait, I didn't get to introduce you-" but they had turned the corner of the hallway, leaving Sans and Asriel to themselves.

"well, it was a pretty bad joke," Sans said light-heartedly.

Asriel just felt terrible about the whole thing. "I'm really sorry. They… don't usually just leave like that." At least not without staring for a minute or two.

"don't worry about it. i have to head out anyway."

Asriel couldn't really explain about why he didn't want his new friend to leave. They had only talked for a small time, but he hadn't enjoyed such jokes in a while. "Well, I hope to see you again soon. Maybe you can come by at New Home!"

"probably." Sans looked ahead of him, down into that corridor where the human had left. "just be careful, okay?"

"Well, of course." The prince grew suspicious. "Why are you saying that?"

"just don't wanna see you tripping down slopes again. won't always be here to look out for ya."

"That's fine. They always look out for me anyways."

He didn't have to specify who he meant.

The skeleton's grin was wide. "did they now?"

"Yes! They were just off to go get our mother! If they climbed down, they'd only get hurt, too!" Asriel clenched his fists, his teeth gritted. Never had he suddenly felt so angry. "Don't make fun of them! You don't get what they've been through!"

Sans made no clear change in his expression. "i wasn't." Then he shrugged. "i don't have any bones to pick with them."

Asriel didn't react, his eyes cast downward into the floor. His voice was barely above a whisper. "You don't understand. Only they do, only they ever have."

Silence passed between them. Sans took his cue to leave.

"i'll catch ya later, okay, royal buddy?"

The heat of his rage passed. Asriel looked up to the skeleton with some shame. "I… I'm sorry. I was just…"

"relax, kid. no biggie." Another shrug. "besides, with us skeletons, nothing gets under our skin."

The joke caught him off-guard. Asriel laughed, the intensity of his previous rage transforming into ecstatic humor. He doubled-over slightly, hands on his knees.

"That-! That was really-!" He raised up his head then, but Sans was suddenly nowhere to be found. He hadn't even heard him walk away.

When he went to find his best friend later, back at his old room where there was only one bed, he couldn't help but ask, "Why did you leave? Did I do something wrong?"

With that same smile, they had told him how much they didn't like comedians.

He'd made a mistake.

"I don't want to do this anymore," Asriel said aloud that day his best friend died. His arms strained as he carried the human's body, climbing his way to the top of the mountain. Didn't matter that his body had changed to something wondrous. Each step he took terrified him, and yet he couldn't break out of the hold. "I can't keep going on with this."

His best friend disagreed.

"I don't want to hurt anyone."

His best friend said he needed to.

"I don't want you to be dead!"

His best friend said it was too late for that.

He walked down to that village, underneath the brightest star he had never seen before, brighter than the shining rocks in Waterfall. There was that field of flowers his best friend would talk about, golden and soft, the wind bringing him its pleasant fragrance. In that field of flowers, the humans saw him. They saw him and hurled rocks and dirt and sharp tools. They cried in anger at the dead child he carried, despite the fact that he was a child himself. And though he was now tall and grown, housing the soul of his best friend, wielding powers beyond any normal monster - it hurt still.

His best friend told him they needed six more souls. They needed to kill these humans, and perhaps even a few extra, to make sure that the barrier would be destroyed. Everyone was counting on them; Mother, Father, the pleading monsters of New Home. Everyone. His best friend had been smart, had always been the smart one, coming up the plan for everyone's freedom. If Asriel had half of his best friend's intelligence, he would have allowed them full control, and effectively wipe out the villagers. Quick, easy, bringing the souls down to the barrier, and finally earn freedom. It's kill or be killed, remember? Did he really want to die?

But Asriel knew he wasn't smart, that he wasn't much of anything, really. He was so overcome by fear that his limbs locked in place, doing nothing to the humans attacking him, letting every projectile hit his body until he felt close to breaking down. Asriel wasn't brave either. He could not willingly go die for the sake of monsters, as his best friend did. That was why he had left the village, climbing back up Mt. Ebott, and fell down to the land below where he laid down his best friend's body, himself finally turning to dust. There had been flower seeds on his clothes, floating through the air to settle, to grow.

His best friend had long stopped talking to him before he died.

When Flowey woke up in the garden, he realized how alone he was. He cried out, unable to feel his body, calling for his mother, his father. He called out for his best friend. But nobody came.

At least, not at first.

King Asgore was no help. Flowey realized then that his father had barely been much help to begin with. Large hands would cradle his petals, and he'd always be given just the right amount of water, along with all the other plants that he now resembled in that garden. "I know Mommy's not here," Asgore would say apologetically. "But we can still be a family together."

He had such a sniveling, pathetic voice, just as his best friend would often tell him with a grin. How had he never noticed that himself before?

"Show me where they're buried," he had asked once. "I want to see them again."

Asgore would refuse, like always. "I don't like going there myself."

Coward.

So Flowey had run away, all the way past Hotland, past Waterfall, past Snowdin, paying no thought to the drastic temperatures. Why bother, when you can just travel underground like a fast, burrowing worm, your roots extended to all places at once? He had gone back to his old home, thinking that maybe being inside his room again would awaken something in him. It was a time before his best friend had fallen, when the King and Queen had lived there on the edge of the Underground, looking up to a sky they could barely see or recognize.

His mother was there, baking her pies, writing her puns, and doing all other sorts of motherly things. As expected, she had cried when her son, thought to be long gone, was back in her arms once more, but trapped in such a fragile, ludicrous form. "My sweet child," she had whispered, cradling his petals with her own large hands. "At least we can be together again."

She was so smothering, so overbearing. His best friend had told him that, those observant eyes always open. How had he never noticed that himself before?

They were useless. He couldn't be at fault for trying, for he did so much, weathering through Asgore's complaints, through Toriel's weeping sentiments. But everyone has their limits, and he had reached his long ago. So he ran away again, back to the garden where he fell, the ground more sparse then before. The king was gone, so he was alone. He might as well have his best friend's courage now, couldn't he? He might as well die. It wasn't like he was missing out on much anymore.

He'd made a mistake.

He woke up again in that garden, but the day was different. Familiar. The other flowers were more full, leaving no patch uncovered, unlike before. He was back.

Again.

He had learned something new about himself. He was not strong, or smart, not at all. But he was-

Determined. Was he not?

That was at least one thing that he could share with his deceased best friend. Determined enough to not die, but to start over, back at his SAVE POINT in the king's garden. Determined enough to keep going, and maybe try something new.

If he was determined enough to live, surely he could be determined enough to actually love, like he used to, couldn't he?

And maybe…

They would finally talk to him again.