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

Undertale belongs to Toby Fox. I own nothing.

A/N: Post game; Pacifist Route.

A King's Atonement

Sans had just finished his shift at the hot dog stand and closed up when his cellphone rang and he recognized Frisk's number. Smiling, he answered. "Hey, kiddo," he greeted.

But before he could tell Frisk he had finished his shift, he heard Frisk sniffle and his protective side took over. "Frisk, are you okay?" He asked. She sniffled again and he could hear her tears on the other end of the line. "What happened, baby bones?"

The nickname did the trick to help the young girl calm down. "I went to see Asgore today," she said. "But, he just avoided me and he couldn't even bring himself to look at me."

Sans turned her words over in his skull. That didn't sound right to him. "He wouldn't even speak to you?" He asked.

"No," said Frisk sadly.

The joke-loving skeleton made up his mind. "I'll go talk to him and find out why, kiddo," he promised her and after telling her to be good and that he'd see her later, he headed towards the house Asgore had purchased when the monsters had come up on the surface. Frisk had been visiting him to try and get Asgore and Toriel to reconcile and the former king's earlier behavior didn't sound like him at all. Why would he suddenly avoid Frisk, the ten-year-old heroine that freed them all?

He soon arrived and knocked on the door, but heard no response and moved to the garden in the side yard and found Asgore there, but the former king's expression stopped the skeleton cold.

Asgore looked very sad, which Sans was finding hard to believe what he was seeing. Why would the former king be saddened? This question changed the skeleton's whole idea of having a chat with Asgore about why he had upset Frisk and so he quietly approached.

"Hey, Asgore, you seem to be missing some spring in your step," he said, considering that it was springtime on the surface. "Why so down in the dumps?"

The male goat didn't even respond, except to lower his head, which surprised Sans. "Hey, come on. I was trying to lift your spirits," he said. "Don't tell me I'm losing my touch."

The former king slowly turned around. "Asriel would have laughed at that one," he said softly. "A child's laughter."

The joke-loving skeleton stopped cold and just listened to his friend, sensing something about that statement. "Asgore?" He asked softly.

He saw his friend sit down on a nearby bench and sigh. "Sans, those children have been running through my mind," he said. "They were innocent, too young to die."

He put his face in his hands. "I hurt them," he said. "I…I can't forgive myself for hurting them."

Sans was quiet, knowing Asgore was talking about the other six children before Frisk. After a moment, he took a deep breath. "Frisk called me," he said. "She told me that you avoided her and couldn't make yourself look at her. It really upset her."

The former king hung his head more. "Being near her…it makes my soul ache," he said. "She reminds me of the other children. Each one had the same innocent look in their eyes when I…,"

The skeleton looked up at his friend and saw him crying for the six innocent children. "I truly am a monster for harming them," he said as he continued weeping.

Sans went up to Asgore and placed a hand on his arm. "Asgore, you've changed," he said gently. "And when Frisk freed us, those six souls were released and they're now at peace. We're no longer the close-minded race that we once were."

The male goat monster didn't lift his head up. "I should face some sort of punishment for my actions," he said.

The joke-loving skeleton could see that his attempt to cheer his friend up wasn't working and Asgore's last sentence gave Sans the perfect idea. He needed to persuade the former king to forgive himself. And what better persuasion than a tickle torture?

Backing up a couple steps, Sans snapped his fingers. Asgore felt Sans' telekinesis surround him and he didn't have time to counter with his powers as the skeleton used the telekinesis to pin the larger monster down. "Sans?" He said. "What are you doing?"

"Just what you said," said the shorter monster. "Punishment."

He gave his friend no time to ponder as he set to work tickling Asgore's stomach, to which the former king roared with laughter, guffaws coming out of him every so often before laughter took over again.

Sans grinned hugely, noting that the male goat was laughing too hard to even plead, although he did try. Suddenly, the skeleton's grin grew even wider as he remembered Toriel once saying that when Asriel was little, his ears were very ticklish.

Skeletal fingers moved up to Asgore's ears and began tickling them. Surprised, the male goat let out a shriek that echoed through the air, a shriek that was rapidly followed by squeals. "Well, looks like this has got your goat," Sans said teasingly as he used both hands to tickle his friend's ears.

Turned out that teasing was the breaking point for Asgore, who literally began to bleat in between his laughs as the skeleton continued tickling him until he heard his friend's laughter going quiet. Pulling his hands away gently from the ticklish ears, Sans snapped his fingers to dispel his telekinesis and helped Asgore to sit on the bench again. As he took a few deep breaths, he looked up at the hoodie-wearing skeleton. "Not the punishment I was thinking, but effective," he said honestly.

Sans nodded and Asgore stood up. "I'll try my best to forgive myself," he said. "After all, Frisk forgave me."

The shorter monster smiled. "That's our Frisk," he said as they began heading towards the skeleton brothers' home. "She's one special kid."

"Yes, she is," Asgore agreed, feeling less burdened now, knowing it would take a bit to atone, but forgiving himself was a step that would make that possible.

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418