Sans sometimes questioned whether if he should have made Arial or not. And, he didn't mean so in a bad way. Heavens, no, she was the light of his life. But why did she have to suffer so much?

The four year old was terminally ill with a life expectancy of only six years left. It seemed like for each year, the doctors added six or ten more machines to hook the small child up to.

So how was she always so happy and hopeful?

"Can we go there, Frisk?" She asked, pointing weakly-yet excitedly-towards a park that began to come into view. Frisk couldn't help but laugh as they began to push Arial's wheelchair faster.

"Sure, let's go!" Sans couldn't help but smile. Arial was always so excited to go and do things. And Sans was glad for it. If she was still excited to do stuff, that meant she wasn't feeling too bad on some days. She was practically vibrating in her wheelchair from excitement. As she grew more in the years, the less good days she had and felt bad rather than good. Yet, she always managed to keep a smile on her face.

Sans always wondered how she managed to do so. Sans had his own problems that had to do with depression, and he had thought about throwing in the towel more times than he could count. How did she have such a hopeful outlook on life? Not that Sans would change that aspect of her for anything, he just found it odd that she still managed to be so happy.

What, she hadn't been out of the hospital for hardly three days, and here she was acting like everything was ok. Her Epi-Pen stashed away in Frisk's duffle bag, Arial had practically begged that they go outside. She hadn't cared where, just anywhere that wasn't inside. Not that anyone could blame her. After all, she had been cooped up in that hospital for how many months now? At least three, that Sans knew. The days that followed her coming home for the first time in three months she had practically been spoiled.

She had been essentially drowning in stuffed animals and attention. The first night home she had slept with Sans in his bed, claiming that she'd freak out if she woke up in a different environment with no one else there with her. She had curled into Sans's side, gripping an edge of his T-shirt in her tiny fist. Long after she had fallen asleep, Sans continued to stare at her with a look of sadness in his eye sockets.

He had taken his index finger and gently stroked it against her white forehead. The look on her face showed one of contentment. Dare he say it, she actually looked…happy. Shocker. The kid was always happy no matter what. Sometimes Sans envied the hope that the kid almost always had.

Arial had stirred in her sleep, eyes opening slightly, her eyes both glowing a gentle pastel purple. Sans smiled sadly at the small child. "Did I wake you, pumpkin?"

Arial had only hummed slightly, not giving a vibe that said yes or no. She snuggled her head against his chest, her eye sockets closing softly once more. "Can you singe m-me the l-l-lullaby? The one when I w-was a b-baby?" She asked quietly. Sans couldn't stop the weak smile that took over his facial expression. She was talking about the song 'Everything's Alright' by Laura Shigihara. Arial had always found it calming and comforting, even as a baby. It was the song he would always use to get her to stop crying.

So as requested, Sans began to sing the song, his low baritone voice smoothly running over the notes. It would be clear to anyone with a sense of music that Sans's low melodic voice would be placed in the bass section as opposed to the higher pitched tenors in a choir. And Arial loved it when he sang. She always found warmth and comfort in his low baritone voice.

Her grip tightened on both Sans's T-shirt and her teal scarf that was currently gripped in her left hand. The chorus was her favorite part of the entire song. It made her feel happy and hopeful. Like one day she could actually fly away. Away from the illness, away from the medicine, away from the hospitals, just away from it all.

She wanted to listen to the rest of the song, but she had fallen asleep by the beginning of the second verse.

So here she was now, teal scarf wrapped around her neck, the tip being twirled in her hands. Her eyes were as bright as could be, and her smile was wide enough for everyone to see. The scene didn't match up for one major detail. The wheelchair that she sat in was a dead giveaway that something wasn't quite right with the small child. Her feet barely hung over the seat of the mobile chair. While the shortness of Arial and Sans were similar traits, Sans was more big boned while Arial was smaller in bone set. Facially, the two looked very identical, save for the fact that Sans did appear older than Arial.

When she had been declared terminal, her size was a big concern. The illness's attack on her body could be much stronger due to her being so small. But she proved to be resilient and resistant towards whatever disease plagued at her. Sans could still feel the ripping pain of sorrow he had felt explode inside his chest when he was told that his daughter would never be cured. He remembered being taken to the room his daughter had been taken to and crying when he saw hundreds upon hundreds of machines hooked up to his daughter.

But here they were at a park, Arial's smile big enough to rip her face in two. Sans found himself almost telling her to tone the smile down a bit so she didn't break into pieces. Then he stopped. He smiled. That wasn't possible. He couldn't stop the smile that only grew when he noticed that this park had a special swing for kids who weren't able to support themselves/walk. Arial pointed eagerly to the blue swing that kind of looked like a car seat that was being supported by thick metal chains. Though, the swing was wider then a normal car seat. "Daddy, can you swing me, please?!" She asked ecstatically.

Sans laughed with a shake of his head. A genuine laugh. "Sure, kiddo. Let's go!" Sans took the wheelchair from Frisk, Sans pushing Arial towards the special needs swing. For once, Sans forgot that anything was wrong. He could've sworn that he was just pushing his four-year-old daughter in a stroller. And for a moment, Arial thought the same thing. That when she went home she wouldn't have to take seven different types of pills, along with sleeping with a breathing mask. But she could get through it. She knew she could.

OoOoOoO

She breathed harshly as she lied on Sans's bed. She was wearing her breathing mask, Sans's oversized jacket slipped on her. Her eyes stared up at the ceiling as she could hear Sans's muffled voice talking on the phone to someone. To her it sounded more like a one sided conversation.

Sweat dripped down her forehead as she shook from pain. She had just taken her meds and was waiting for them to kick in. Tears fell from her eye sockets and down her cheekbones. Right now, all she could ever want was sleep. But the pain that was spreading all about her wasn't going to let her do anything of the sort. Her hands had a death grip on the teal scarf and the comforter of Sans's bed. She sobbed and cried. Why weren't the medicines working?

She heard heavy footsteps on the stairs and held her breath. Honestly, it hurt to breathe as well, and the fact that the breathing mask practically forced oxygen into her mouth didn't help either. Slowly, and quietly-as if to not wake someone-the door slowly opened, the light from the hallways streaming into the room. Sans peeked in, eye sockets looking towards Arial on the bed, scanning her to see if she was asleep. But he felt that he knew better. There was no way that she was asleep.

"Baby bones?" He asked gently and quietly. Arial wanted to sit up and look at her father, but doing so would leave her in even more endless pain. She had learned this factor a long time ago the hard way. Quite honestly, she wanted to rip the breathing mask off of her face. It was causing her more pain than good.

"D-D-Daddy?" She asked through pained words. Sans's smile faltered when he heard his daughter's voice. It was so…weak. So…pained. So…broken. He walked over towards the bed and sat on his side, the bed sinking a bit when his weight was put on to the comfortable mattress.

"Does it still hurt, kiddo?" All Arial could do was nod weakly, sweat still falling from her forehead. Sans sighed. "The docs said that if the pain hasn't been relieve within twenty minutes after taking your pills to take another pain pill. You may need a higher dosage on some of the pills," Sans said as he grabbed Arial's pain medicine off of the nightstand, reading the label first so as not to mix the medication up with the other six bottles on the table. He popped out a pill and placed it on the nightstand next to the glass of water. "Think you can sit up if I help you?"

Arial's eyes widened, tears still slipping out of their sockets. She didn't want to even think about sitting up. She knew it would hurt beyond compare, but she also knew that she'd have to try. She nodded slowly and Sans knew that she was lying. But she'd have to try in order to take her pill. Sans placed a gentle hand on Arial's shoulder. "Tell me when you're ready. We'll go slow so it doesn't hurt as much." Arial nodded and took in a few deep breaths. She gripped her scarf tighter before letting out a very shaky breath.

"O-Ok," She said shakily with a pained smile, "I'm ready," Slowly, Sans moved his hand to her back, her groaning in pain when her back was slightly elevated to allow Sans's hand to slip to her back. She took in some more shaky breaths, the slight movement already emitting pain. It took her a while before she nodded again, her eyes shut and her body trembling. Slowly and carefully, Sans began to sit Arial up. Arial's trembling increased, and Sans stopped moving her when she let out a cry of pain. "Ah!"

Sans was immediately concerned and worried for his daughter. She was shaking so badly that Sans didn't know if there was an earthquake taking place or not. "Let's take a break, yeah?" Arial nodded painfully with clenched eye sockets that were leaking with pastel purple tears.

"I-It hurts, d-d-daddy." Arial sobbed roughly, her hand having a tight grasp on her scarf.

Sans could feel tears pool up in his eye sockets, but he quickly blinked them away. He couldn't let Arial see him cry. That would only freak her out. So instead, he carefully wrapped his arms around her, placing his chin on top of her head. "I know, baby bones. But we can get through it. We always do. Don't we?" Arial wanted to respond, but she was shaking too much to say anything. Doing anything anymore hurt too much. At times she'd find herself holding her breath to refrain herself from breathing for as long as she could. That's how much it hurt. Too much for breathing.

After a ten minute break, Sans was finally able to get Arial to sit up all the way to take her pill. She was so relieved when she was finally able to lie back down. She hated it, however, when the breathing mask was replaced back over her mouth. She hated the breathing mask in general, but she knew it was necessary. She just wished it wasn't. Not that anybody did. For once in her life she wished to not be hooked up to some machine or confined to her wheelchair. But she knew that that wasn't happening any time soon. She had heard the doctors call her condition something. Terminal…was it? She didn't ask what it meant because she knew that no one would give her an answer.

She had made a mental note to look up what the word meant in a dictionary the day she heard the word. And sure, she was only four years old, but when you've spent those four years in and out of the hospital, you learn new things rather quickly. But as she felt her eye sockets droop, she began to care less and less about the word terminal.

Besides, she had her entire life ahead of her to learn what terminal meant, right?

This is My Own AU! The character Arial does belong to me as well as the story line. Sans and Frisk belong to Toby Fox and the song Everything's Alright belongs to Laura Shigihara. The full story is still a work in progress, so if you would like to see more of it, stay tuned because I am hoping to get the first chapters up and ready soon. And for anyone who wants a more descriptive look to Arial, she basically looks like Sans, though she is way shorter than him maybe about three foot two. She is skinnier than him and her eyes glow a pastel purple in color, both eyes work. She wears a purple nightgown with a pink heart in the center and orange flames coming down the sides of the sleeves and to the heart. She wears a teal scarf similar to Papyrus's that goes about to her ankles in length when it's wrapped around her neck. Did you guys like it, love it, hate it? Let me know! I love hearing from you guys!