Here she was. The finale. The grand finish. The endgame.
Frisk walked up to the sleeping skeleton, knife in pale, dusty hand. She swung.
He was faking.
Sans darted out of the path of the weapon, but tripped. He laid on the floor and looked up at Frisk.
She looked at his smile. She hadn't realized just how forced it seemed. How much pain was in it.
"well. good game. it's your move, you dirty brother killer." He said, voice oversaturated with unhidden spite and hate.
Dirty brother killer. Why did those words resonate with her so much? What about them made her...Think?
Then she felt it. A twinge of guilt. Normally this would have done nothing. She'd felt guilt when she killed Mettaton. Just a bit. He went down so easily.
It was a nice performance though. He was probably just stalling for time for his maker to escape.
She'd felt guilt when she killed Undyne. Barely any. Not because of her dying speech about how she was giving her all, about all the hearts beating as one to strike her down. Just seven words from a distant memory, from another place. Another path of time.
"This is why I never told you..."
Undyne had shown that maybe they weren't so different, just before leaving her alone as she was once again.
But that path had run it's course.
Her mind reached back farther. Papyrus. Poor, sweet, innocent Papyrus. He went down without even putting up a real fight. He...
He believed she could change.
She kept thinking.
She knew something was changing when she thought "Mom" first, and then had to correct herself. Not "mom". Toriel. She thought about the shock on her face. The tone of voice.
Those last words. She hadn't even given the woman a chance.
"You really hate me that much?"
That was it. The breaking point.
No. She didn't hate Toriel. But Toriel had died thinking she did. And then came the full realization of what she'd become. Her hands were literally stained with the blood of her victims-always covered in that dust. Her hatred turned inward, slowly being replaced by horror and shame, the crushing weight of what she had done almost too much to shoulder.
Sans was standing again, and had turned away from her. "well? what's taking you so long? wanna savor your victory, rub it in, huh?"
She smiled faintly. She could fix this. The only way she knew how to solve her problems.
"Sans...That wasn't me."
Sans glared at her out of the corner of his eyes. "you think that makes it ok?"
She forced a smile. "Come on Sans. Is that any way to greet an old friend? Just turn around and shake my hand. I know you don't care. But could you just pretend? Just put on that big happy grin, and just a short handshake?"
He turned around cautiously, and shook her extended hand. He sighed. He remembered dunking on Frisk. She was probably gonna do the same to him.
"I'm sorry it has to end like this Sans."
She raised her knife...
And brought it down.
Sans opened his eyes. He was still holding Frisk's hand. He was...Still alive.
Frisk still had that forced smile on her face. He looked down a bit and saw the knife embedded in her chest.
That was a new one. He'd never seen that one before, he had to admit. She fell backwards into the ground.
Then it hit him. She knew Sans couldn't muster the energy or willingness to dodge another attack. This was an endgame on her own terms.
And as the realization that this human might still be, well, human, began to dawn on him, the realization that this was her last, desperate attempt to atone for what she had done, something happened. Something strange.
For the first time in god knows how long, Sans found himself caring about something other than Papyrus.
He sat by her. It was his turn. Check.
*Frisk
*.0001 HP
*Not gonna last much longer, but she seems to be holding on for a reason.
Then she spoke.
"Hey Sans..." She coughed, spitting blood onto her shirt. Sans turned to her. For some reason, he felt something important was about to happen.
"yeah?"
She smiled, tears in her eyes. "Look...I didn't do a violence...Are you proud of me?"
His smile faltered for a moment. That was something Papyrus would say. Whenever he'd talked Frisk out of going through with this course of action.
"yeah. granted, you did some awful stuff to get to this point... but yeah, i'm proud."
Her smile seemed a bit more sincere. "What about Papyrus? Would he be proud?"
Another falter. "i'm sure he would."
A bit more sincerity. "Would he forgive me?"
Sans thought for a moment. He wanted to say no, to tell her that he'd hate her.
But he knew the truth.
"it's papyrus. of course he'd forgive you."
She started to chuckle, but it quickly devolved into a coughing fit, spraying blood on both her and Sans.
"hey. careful. don't want you dying before you've said all you wanna say."
She sighed. "Sans, do you forgive me?"
"not really."
"Figured. I didn't expect you would."
He Checked her again.
*Frisk
*X/X HP
*There's nothing you can do now.
"Hey, Sans? I was thinking after this is over..." She coughed up more blood. "We could go get something at Grillby's."
"...sure."
"Thanks...I think I'll have the fries..."
He Checked again.
*She's gone.
Sans sighed. "do the right thing, kiddo."
The familiar feeling of a reset washed over him.
For once, he was eager to see what the next run would bring.
Frisk stood in the black void. She saw the doors. One of them would lead right back to Sans. That door...She knew she would have to fight him again. She knew eventually, she'd be forced to win by-
"Friiiisk."
...Chara.
The spirit was there, holding a knife. A real knife. She smirked at her host. "You know, me and you, we make a pretty good team."
Chara walked up to Frisk, red eyes gleaming maliciously, that confident smirk still on her face. "Waaaaay better than Asriel..." She grabbed Frisk's shirt and pulled her close. "And better looking too." She bit Frisk's ear.
Needless to say, Frisk was uncomfortable.
"Chara, stop."
The spirit let go and giggled, circling her like a human wolf. "Oh, alright. It's okay. I know you love me, Frisky." She said, wrapping her arms around Frisk from behind and rubbing her chest. "But much as I'd like, you aren't here to chat or spend time with me. You're here because you insisted on finishing Sans off alllll by yourself like a big girl, and your sweet, sorry ass got dunked on, aren't you?"
Chara slid her hands down to said ass, still laughing. "You see what happens when you do things without me?"
Frisk gently shoved Chara away and walked towards the other door. The one that would reset everything.
"Excuse me, Frisky, but..."
Chara grabbed her host.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Taking back control. I'm going to set things right."
Chara was suddenly furious. "Control? CONTROL?! YOU WERE NEVER IN CONTROL!" She screeched, raising the knife and stabbing down, only for Frisk to grab her wrist.
"Yes...I...Was!" She said, trying to keep the spirit off of her.
It was no use. Frisk no longer had the strength given by LOVE. Chara was the one who truly possessed it. Soon, Chara had forced Frisk to the ground, sitting on her waist, the knife's edge growing closer to it's target with each time Frisk's strength faltered.
"I'm going to kill you, Frisky. Then I'm gonna use your body, and your SOUL, to become a living God!"
A familiar laugh distracted the fighting pair.
"Not if I can help it, Chara!"
The two slowly looked towards a cackling golden flower.
"Asriel?"
"Flowey?"
The flower wasted no time in bombarding the pair with "friendliness pellets". Or rather, bombarding Chara. With Frisk flat on the ground and Chara on top of her, the murderous spirit had unknowingly turned herself into a human shield. Frisk took the opportunity to scamper away to the reset door.
"I'M STILL GOING TO BE THERE YOU BIT-"
Chara's voice was cut off as Frisk found herself once again face to face with a certain yellow flower.
Sans saw Frisk walking past his station. No dust on her. That was a good sign. He slipped out and followed her, using his shortcuts to stay in the shadows while keeping an eye on her. She reached the gate. He walked up behind her.
"human. don't you know how to greet a new pal? turn around and shake my hand."
He tried not to giggle. Usually he had a handheld whoopee cushion he wore for this part, but this time, he decided he'd mix it up a little and offer her some gag shock gum instead. He extended his hand to the girl.
She took his hand.
Right on cue, a loud farting sound lasting about ten seconds.
Frisk blushed intensely. "Heh. Excuse me. Guess the butterscotch doesn't really agree with my tummy."
Sans just looked at her for a moment before failing to suppress a laugh.
Frisk started laughing too. Before either of them knew it, they were on the ground laughing their asses off. They almost settled down a couple of times, only for Frisk to fart again and get them laughing all over again.
"I didn't do the violence, Sans. It felt good. Toriel gave me a hug and some pie." She said.
Sans genuinely smiled again. "nice job, frisk. you did good." He patted her on the head. He was reminded that for all her strength or weakness, her capacity for LOVE and capacity for love, for her SAVING and DETERMINATION, she was still just a human child.
"So, do I gotta fight Papyrus again?" She asked.
"yeah."
"I won't kill him this time." She said, with a somber note to her voice. "This time, I wanna make friends with everyone." She said, switching to a happy and optimistic tone.
It reminded him of Papyrus.
"SANS! WHERE ARE YOU YOU LAZYBONES!?"
Speak of the devil.
Frisk stood up, stick in hand, and giggled. "Yaargh!" She yelled playfully, running forward, ready to engage Papyrus in order to impress him.
Sans had to admit he took immense satisfaction in watching the child being...How did he want to put it? Thoroughly beaten? Nah, that sounded kinda mean, even for what she'd done in her childish ignorance. Utterly rekt? Nah, that phrase was for when someone got dunked on.
He settled on soundly thrashed. So from the top:
Sans had to admit that he took immense pleasure in watching Frisk be soundly thrashed by his little brother.
"SANS! LOOK! I CAPTURED A HUMAN! SHE WAS NO MATCH FOR ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"
"yeah. hey papyrus. i'm going to grillby's. You want anything?"
It was so refreshing to say that without a massive gash in his chest and his life flashing before his eyes.
"NORMALLY I WOULD SAY NO, BUT I FEEL THAT, SINCE I HAVE CAPTURED A HUMAN, I DESERVE TO INDULGE IN SUCH UNHEALTHILY DELICIOUS FOOD. GRANTED, IT'S NO PLATE OF MY ARTISAN SPAGHETTI, BUT IT JUST WOULDN'T FEEL LIKE A TREAT IF I HAVE TO DO THE WORK. LET'S GO!"
"hey, papyrus?"
"YES SANS?"
"you know how you believe anyone can change? i think you might be right."