Quick author's note:

I'll say more later, but for now, hello. This is my first fic in a while, but I am happy to finally be back!

I will post any warnings, if necessary, before every chapter. First: Vomit. Sorry, but it won't happen again for a while. Promise. Now, the story!


"Sans, you lazybones, get your bony butt out here! I swear, if you make us late again I'll-" Sans stopped listening and teleported, landing directly behind Undyne, who was still yelling profanities through his door.

"Uh, heya. ready whenever you guys are." Sans smirked as Undyne jumped then turned around, cursing some more creative words under her breath.

"Yeah, whatever, Pap and them are waiting outside. Come on," Undyne grumbled, fixing her ponytail and stomping the whole way down the stairs and through the front door.

As they walked outside, Sans sighed, enjoying the view of the setting sun. He would never get used to it. The underground never offered such a view. He remembered their first sunset together, only a few months back. A smile beyond his permanent one crept across his face.

"What are you thinking about, brother?" Papyrus had, at some point during their walk, made his way next to Sans. He leaned down and whispered, in all innocence and sincerity, "Are you thinking of the queen again? Undyne has been telling me-"

"N-n-no! Pap, I don't think of her like that," Sans sputtered out, keeping his voice low, staring over at the queen walking on the other side of their group. "I mean, I like her, but, not like, you know. I just wanna be friends. It's not…"

"Why are you blushing brother? Are you feeling alright? Is it your magic again?" Papyrus leaned in closer to Sans and took off his glove, feeling the side of his brother's skull.

"No, Pap, I'm fine. Let's just drop it, okay?" Sans huffed, gently pushing his brother's hand away and pulling up his hood.

"Well, alright, if you insist," Papyrus pulled his glove back on and stared at his brother questioningly for a moment, then turned to Undyne to continue a previous conversation.

The group slowly made their way to the edge of town, where there was a concert tonight. The star, of course, was Mettaton. Sans was only going because of his brother, who idolized the robot, and not because of any other reason. He was not nervous about anything else, of course. It just so happened to be a concert set as a celebration for the finality of shutting down the Core.

After the majority of the monsters had moved above ground a few months back, the first priority, after stabilizing a loose society above ground, was to get generators to the monsters who decided to stay in the underground. The Core, although it had given the underground its power mostly unhindered for majority of their time down there, had become a burden on the monsters who needed to keep it running. And, with the scientists who had kept it running now above ground or gone, they had no reason to keep it going. Thus the concert. The monsters had finally powered the small parts of the underground that needed it. Tonight, they would power it down once and for all.

Sans, after hearing this the first time, had at first been nervous about it. He remembered broken chunks of his time as a royal assistant, but his memory has been getting fuzzy with all the resets. Along with the memories, however, came an overwhelming sense of unease. He could not explain it, and his notes that had made it through the accident did not tell him anything significant, so he shrugged it off. This did not stop his intuition from telling him something bad might happen.

Alphys, being the last royal scientist, had assured Sans against his worries when he had brought it up. The Core has been running for years without interference, and she could not see anything that would harm anyone if it were to be shut down now. Of course she had also asked why he seemed so nervous about it, but he shrugged it off as a gut feeling, then proceeded to make a bad pun.

However, even with reassurances, he still felt something was off. Perhaps it was a memory he had lost. Sans knew that his memory was not all there anymore. Years ago, after the accident at the lab, he suddenly could not remember what exactly he had done there. He remembered the Core, and various other experiments. Vague shapes and other images came from the back of his mind every so often, but they were blurry and he could never quite focus on them. The other monsters could never really explain to him what had happened, either. With his nonchalant attitude, however, Sans did not let anyone know just how much this bothered him. He eventually got use to the constant nagging at the edge of his memories when he thought he saw something familiar. All he had left were his notes and a few pictures…

"Wowie! Everyone from the underground is here! How exciting!" Sans was snapped from his thoughts as Papyrus ran forward and gushed about the concert. The small skeleton smiled at his brother's antics. Sans loved Papyrus more than life itself. Without his constant enthusiasm and gentle coaxing and help, Sans would not have made it during the first few years after the accident, or even during the resets.

"Hey, you big lug, slow down! We're gonna lose you in this crowd!" Undyne yelled.

"Your brother is quite enthusiastic, isn't he Sans?" Toriel had made her way over to Sans. He pulled down his hood and let his eyes wander up to the taller monster.

"Yeah. He's the coolest, isn't he?" Sans said, in all honesty, and Toriel answered in a giggle. Then, she turned to her other side, and signed a few words to Frisk, who had tugged on her hand to get her attention.

"Frisk would like to know if you would lift them up," Toriel turned back to Sans, a knowing grin on her face. Sans sighed and leaned forward, catching the eyes of the human. He smirked, then moved his hand, easily lifting Frisk off of the ground. They let out a delighted squeal, then gasped as the whole stage for the concert came into view. Mettaton took his job seriously, and that meant everything was set up perfectly, and was as spectacular as him and Alphys could make it.

"See a good spot up there for us?" Sans yelled into the air. Frisk nodded from their precarious height, then pointed to the right of them and signed 'Undyne and Papyrus'. Sans nodded in response, then brought them back down gently. Toriel caught them in her arms and gave Frisk a quick hug before putting them on the ground and following behind them as they made their way through the crowd.

"Hey, Sans?" Alphys had made her way over to the skeleton and now walked beside him, weaving through the crowd nervously and apologizing when she ran into anyone. "I, um, have to get to the back of the stage, for last minute thi-things. Would yo-you like to come with me? I have a li-live video feed of th-the Core. It might help…" Alphys suggested, aware of Sans' unease about the Core, and also understanding vaguely that he knew a bit more than the average monster on how the Core worked. Sans just shook his head.

"Nah. I'll just stick with the group. I trust you guys. If anything funny happens, though, text me. I'll take a shortcut up and see if I can help." Alphys nodded and made her way through the crowd, apologies still nervously streaming from her as she went.

"This is the perfect spot!" Sans heard Undyne yell over the crowd as they came into view. Papyrus was staring dreamily at the stage, and did not notice his brother come behind him until there was a tug on his scarf. Papyrus tore his eyes from the concert and leaned down.

"Hey, bro, which way is the stage? I, uh, can't really see it," Sans shrugged, then let out a small grunt as his brother picked him up and put him on his shoulders.

"It will be starting soon, brother!" Papyrus yelled over the raucous crowd. "When you want down, just tug on my scarf again!" Sans nodded down, then looked over at Frisk, who was jumping up and down, trying to get his attention. They quickly signed 'up', then smiled when they felt their soul tug with Sans' magic.

Sans lifted Frisk from the ground, bringing them a few feet above Toriel, then turned back to the concert as the lights suddenly dimmed.

"Monsters and humans, are you ready for the fabulous Mettaton?" An announcer yelled from the stage and, as the crowd screamed their answer, the lights turned back on and music came from the speakers surrounding the stage. Sans could hear his brother yelling, and he sighed, content as long as his brother was happy.

The concert went as normal, the crowd of monsters and a few visiting humans screaming at the right intervals and singing along when necessary. Sans, for his part, kept Frisk suspended in the air, keeping the gravity around them steady. He checked his phone every so often, getting an update from Alphys. They were almost ready to shut down the Core. Sans stared at the last message, then put his phone away. He could feel himself tensing in anticipation. He could not explain why, but the bad feeling from before had come back tenfold. He turned his attention to the concert, trying to distract himself. Nothing would go wrong, surely. It was just him being his nervous self.

Sans watched the robot and other stage performers, letting the music and screaming from the crowd drown out his thoughts. There was a strategic pause in the music, then the lights burst forth again.

Suddenly, the music seemed to hush. Sans let his content smile fall as a low buzzing began to fill the air. He scanned over the crowd, then turned back to the stage. Nothing seemed to have changed. Everyone looked like they were still shouting and, vaguely, Sans could still hear his brother below him. But he could barely hear any of it. The buzzing began to replace all sound and drown out Sans' thoughts. It replaced everything that he had ever known. Time became irrelevant, and seemed to pass at a much slower rate than before.

Sans stared out over the crowd again, trying to find the source of the noise. His head and eye began to throb, and he lifted a hand up to rub at his eye sockets. He paused as his hand felt his eye, then he pulled it back and stared down at the blue liquid that his fingers were lightly coated in.

The buzzing grew louder, turning into a static.

The pain in his head increased, and Sans hissed in a quick breath, trying to drown out all the noise and confusion. He shut his eye sockets, then felt himself falling. The world stopped and everything went dark.


Muffled shouting, and an immense need to vomit. Sans gagged then forced himself to roll weakly onto his side. A hand on his back helped him over just as he vomited clumsily. It tasted like rust and used magic. The hand on his back held him in place, then another rubbed gently on his spine. Another wave came and he felt tears come to his eyes as he tried to control it. He gagged again and just let it happen, resigned to his fate. A few minutes passed in relative silence, the muffled music and a few whispers filtering through. He breathed in, expanding his ribcage slowly, then exhaled and slumped heavily back against the familiar hand on his back.

"Sans?" Papyrus' voice cut through the fog that took over Sans' mind as he was laid back against whatever he was lying on. He grunted in acknowledgement, then tried opening his eyes, but could not get very far, and simply let them fall shut again. He felt a wet rag wiping at his skull.

"Brother," Papyrus urged again, this time his voice filled with relief, with hints of worry. "Alphys, he's awake," Papyrus called. Sans heard scuffling along a hard floor.

"Let me see," Alphys said, her voice right above Sans. For a moment Sans panicked, afraid of his brother moving away, but was relieved when the hold on his shoulder did not let up. The cool cloth, however, was taken away.

A bright light caused the small skeleton to flinch away, then suck in a deep breath as another wave of nausea threatened to hit him. He held it back as the light was quickly turned off and a soft beeping began next to him instead.

"His soul seems m-mostly okay. High levels of ma-magic seem to be leaking out," Alphys mumbled the last part to herself. "I'll have to do s-some more scans back at the l-lab," She continued, her voice turning away from Sans.

"I will join you," Toriel said, somewhere off to the left.

"That would be helpful, thank you."

"I'm coming, too," Papyrus cut in.

"O-of course. Undyne, you're needed for crowd control, right?"

"Yeah yeah. I'll be down after everything is wrapped up here," Undyne sighed.

Sans listened, not quite understanding what was going on, but being content with ignorance for the moment as his head began to throb from an oncoming migraine.

He felt a pair of small hands cover one of his, then there were a few movements. He recognized them as 'Are you alright?', then he answered back, clumsily, 'I don't know.' He heard a sharp intake of breath next to him, then the hand on his shoulder moved.

"Frisk, when did you get over there?" Papyrus asked, sounding confused, but not surprised. He felt the small hands leave his own and he tried to open his eyes once more. He was a little more successful this time.

"pap…" Sans forced out, the rusty taste still coating the inside of his mouth making him cringe.

"Sans!" Papyrus turned away from Frisk, who was now standing in front of him, and met his brother's dark eye sockets. "Brother, how are you feeling? Is it your magic again? I should have known earlier when I asked you the first time. I'm such a terrible brother! You scared everyone so much! Frisk just fell down, then you, and there was this stuff coming from your eye and-"

"Woah, Paps, slow down," Sans grabbed his brother's other hand, which was lying on the cot Sans figured out he was lying on. Papyrus clacked his teeth together, then squeezed his brother's hand back. The taller skeleton opened his mouth again, ready to say something, when Alphys walked up behind him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Papyrus, c-can I talk to Sans really q-quick?" After a nod from Papyrus, Alphys continued, "Sans? Can you tell me h-how you are feeling?" Alphys looked down at her cell phone, then brought it up to Sans' chest.

"Uh, well, I feel like a used dish towel," Sans said, his voice weak, and he closed his eyes again, "I guess you can say I'm wrung out." A sigh came from Papyrus.

"Yes. We're going to t-take you to my new l-lab. I need to g-get more accurate readings on y-your soul. Your magic seems to be fl-fluctuating rather dramat-tically."

A handful of seconds passed before Sans felt a tap on his cheek bone, but it did not quite rouse him out of the numb trance he was letting his mind fall into.

"Sounds like a plan," Sans answered, his energy quickly failing him. He felt his surroundings begin to fade out for a few seconds.


"Alphys, what does this machine do?"

"It records magical energies."

"Oh...Frisk wants to know how it does that."

Sans listened to his brother, his voice comforting and calming. Then, he noticed something. Or, lack thereof. They had changed settings. He could no longer hear the muffled concert.

"Does everything look alright?" Papyrus asked, after Alphys had finished explaining the machine.

"Papyrus, I need time. I need to look over all of the information before I can come to an accurate conclusion," Alphys huffed, sounding a bit annoyed. Sans heard movement.

"Papyrus, can you come help me in the kitchen please?" Toriel asked, "You too Frisk. I need a hand in cleaning the vegetables."

"But, what if Sans wakes up?" Papyrus objected.

"I'll call you if there's a-any changes," Alphys assured, then sighed in relief as everyone else left the room.

"He can be a little overwhelming, huh?" Sans said, then let out a low chuckle when he heard Alphys jump.

"Oh, S-Sans, you're awake! I-I was just checking your, uh, your stats. Your soul seems to be, um, mostly n-normal, well, usual for y-you," she mumbled, keeping her voice low to not get anyone's attention. Sans opened his eyes, slowly, and was grateful for the lack of light in the room.

"S-so, um, do you feel any different?" Alphys asked, tapping on her phone, then glancing back up to meet Sans' dim eyes.

"What happened?" He asked, not willing to give the energy to list off everything that felt wrong.

"W-well, we were at the concert. I, um, texted you that the C-Core was shut down, th-then I got a call from Undyne t-telling me to meet them at the m-medical tent. When I got there, th-they told me you had passed out, dropping Frisk as well. Th-they're unhurt. Toriel caught them," Alphys quickly added in, noticing Sans about to ask, "They also said that magic was coming from your eye. When you, um, threw up earlier, I th-think that was also excess magic. P-Papyrus explained your, um, condition," Alphys turned away sheepishly.

"It's alright. You were gonna find out eventually."

"Do you remember anything?"

"None of that, no. I… think I remember somethin' else, though…" Sans let his words trail off as he tried hard to remember right before he passed out. The throbbing headache from before came back, and Sans stopped. "I don't know…" He finished.

"W-well," Alphys continued after a minute of silence, "I've been running tests. I might have to do an extraction if your magic levels do not d-decrease soon. I-I wish I knew what had caused it. P-Papyrus said you have not had any problems since leaving th-the u-underground."

"Yeah. I could never pinpoint where all of that magic was coming from. I think it was an accident when I was younger…" Again, Sans tried to remember, but the memories were vague. He shrugged, the movement coming off awkward in his position on the bed.

"W-well, if you're willing, I w-would like to know about...about your past. It sounds like you were, um, directly involved in the a-accident that happened seven years ago. I have read over some of the r-reports, and they mention someone named… Gaster?" Alphys had turned to her phone again, typing away while speaking. She missed Sans' sockets dim and his body tense at the name. "Have you heard of him b-before?"

"No," Sans said, his voice suddenly tight and rough. Alphys glanced up at that, and watched Sans curiously. "Maybe he just worked at the lab before the accident."

Sans was well aware that, for whatever reason, everyone who had been at the explosion had been generally forgotten, although little reminders were still found around the underground. It just so happened that everyone in the lab was there that day for the finishing of the Core. Sans was simply lucky to have teleported out just in time. That did not leave him unscathed, though. If he were given the chance over again, he would have done it differently. He would have saved-

Sans felt a light tapping on his cheek and he opened his eyes again to find Alphys staring at him.

"I'm sorry. Just, um, making sure you were still awake," Alphys apologized then turned back to her phone.

"O-oh! I forgot to tell you! I made this new app that can scan souls and take stats for any monster. You need to be registered, so the phone can recognize your magic, of course. It's like taking a fingerprint. I'm also working on having magical signatures be used in place of a password, so the monster can never worry about anyone else using their phones or other personal devices. This will be revolutionary! I think, anyways. I mean, I have it working great on my phone, and I just put in your magical signatures into this prototype. The, um, the humans are interested in what I can do, and they are hoping I can do the same thing for them, but it will be a lot harder, considering their magic is less and the phone would have to be more sensitive to...um… sorry," Alphys finished clumsily, suddenly realizing she had been rambling.

Sans had moved his hand over his face at some point and began rubbing at his temples. The migraine had intensified and he wanted nothing more than to sleep. "Yeah, that's really cool Alphys. You should show me more after… after this," Sans tried to sound positive, but he certainly did not feel it.

Alphys perked back up and nodded enthusiastically, "Of course! After…" She let her words be finished silently, then turned back to her phone. A puzzled expression took over as she read over the screen.

"This can't be right…" She mumbled, tapping the screen a few times then doing another quick scan. When the same results came up, her leg began to shake. As she began typing in new commands, a notification popped up on her phone, telling her something unusual was caught on one of her sensors in the underground.

After mostly everyone had left, Alphys made sure to keep her cameras and sensors running, so she could make sure no one would desecrate the remains down there. The monsters still underground deserved to live peacefully, and the underground was part of their history now and deserved to be preserved for future generations.

She tapped on the notification, then jumped in surprise and dropped her phone when Papyrus yelled from around the corner that dinner was ready.

"Okay! Be there in a minute! Sans, a-are you feeling well enough to eat?" Alphys asked, but frowned when the answer was a low groan.

"That'd probably be a bad idea right now," Sans rolled over on the bed and buried his face in the pillow. "Go on without me. I'll find a way to pasta the time alone. And I think it'll involve sleeping."

Alphys calmly ignored the pun."Well, if you say so. I'll c-come check up on you in a bit then. I'll leave the phone. I-If you need anything, the phone h-has already been programmed to r-read touch w-without heat signatures so you-"

"Got it," Sans cut her off, his only desire at that moment to get to sleep. Alphys nodded, then left the room, leaving the phone on a side table next to the bed. After the clicking of claws on the hard floor could no longer be heard did Sans let himself slip into a deep sleep.