Several hours had passed before I returned to the house. Sans's door had opened. Papyrus was still not back.
"welcome home, kid," Sans said. I wondered how he knew it was me. Or maybe he just called Papyrus 'kid', too.
Sans seemed to know a lot, I thought. I disagree with Papyrus's notion that he was an idiot. "Can... can we talk?" I asked, walking up the stairs and lingering in Sans's doorway.
"sure, kid. ome in," he said. I did.
His room was a mess. A treadmill was placed in the center for whatever reason, and several socks had managed to generate a tornado in one corner. Sans was laying on his bed, staring at the wall. He did not seem to have anything else occupying his attention. Just a plain, solidly colored wall.
"what do you-" he began, then cut off as his phone started ringing. "hold on just a minute, kid," he said, fishing in his hoodie pocket. "sans the skelet-" His face seemed to grow even paler, if that was possible for a skeleton. "y-you... hold on." he stood up, shoving his feet into a pair of slippers. "excuse me for a minute kid," he said, slipping past me and out the door. "why have you never called back?" I heard him say to the person on the other side of the phone. "i missed you, kid."
His phone volume was loud enough for me to hear what was going on on the other side of the phone. "I'm not a kid anymore," they were laughing. "You, however, don't sound like you've aged a day."
"guess your memory must be going, kid."
"Sans!" the person on the other side of the phone said. The word was said admonishingly, but they seemed happy. "I'm sixty three!"
"your point? back when you were a little kid your kind was expected to live to when they were eighty." My eyes widened. Sans was talking to a human, I realized. The human who left fifty-some years ago, probably.
"Recent developments in technology are a blessing, old friend. That's why I'm able to call you now," they added brightly. "They finally have good enough cell service to sponsor this call. I had to get this phone as soon as it came out. Meant I had to drop a couple thousand on it, but it's worth it. You have no idea how long I waited to hear your voice." They were choking up now.
"fifty six years, actually," the skeleton said. I only got a one-quarter profile of his face, but tears seemed to be welling up in his eyes, although how exactly a skeleton can cry, I have no idea.
"Figures that you would keep track," the person on the other side of the phone said.
"it was paps, actually. he throws a massive party every year on the day you fell, and a another one on the day you leave. the queen made it a nationally recognized holiday."
The phone fell silent for a moment. "Listen, old friend, I've got an idea to smash the barrier." Sans eyes widened, and he waited for his friend to continue. "I studied biochemistry in science. Thanks for that, by the way. Thanks to you and Alphys... It's because of you two that I have an interest in science. Anyways... I made it my life's work to try to come up with a way of producing DETERMINATION artificially. To try and gather enough to break the barrier, you know? Kind of like with Alphys's experiments, only without a flower test subject who goes all psycho-murderer on everyone. Unfortunately, the god damn government wouldn't let me just extract the DETERMINATION from the deceased. Apparently it disturbs the body. And even those who choose to donate their body to science I can't work with because apparently DETERMINATION doesn't exist. I don't believe the fu-"
"hey, kid, careful, i have another human child here who might be able to hear you," Sans interrupted.
"O-oh! Sorry. How long have they been down there for?"
"i dunno, like a day?"
The person on the other side of the phone fell silent. "Their timing couldn't be better," they said. They sounded like they were having trouble talking, like what happens when you're crying. "A-anyways... I don't believe the government, I've seen the effects of DETERMINATION with my own two eyes. None of them... none of them believe in monsters anymore, either. If they knew what my research was really about, they'd... they'd stick me in a mental institution. Th-there are days when I hardly believe that it happened myself. Maybe I was just a confused seven year old kid who liked to dream. But still, I continued with my research, and... eventually, today, I was finally able to call you. I... I missed you. I'm so glad to hear you're alright."
"h-hey, kid, don't start crying on me," Sans said "everything's fine. tell me more about this plan of yours."
"Anyways, so I came so, so, so close to being able to recreate DETERMINATION artificially. The flaws in my experiment were barely existent. So, when I realized I could use this phone to... finally call back the number that's been leaving messages on my voicemail at least once a week for fifty six years-I still have that phone, by the way. And it works just as well now as it did fifty six years ago-I snapped up the opportunity. I need your and Alphys's help. Will you help me?"
"what kind of a question is that?" Sans asked. "one thing, though. how exactly do you plan on getting us in the same room to work on this experiment of yours?"
"I plan on throwing myself down Mt. Ebott again," they said ominously. "That's where I am right now. I have all of my equipment. So here goes, old friend."
"w-wait! kid, hold up! don't just- no! wait!" A loud crash could be heard on the other side of the phone. "oh my god," Sans said, his eyes widening. He turned and looked back at me. He looked... scared. "k-kid, are... are you okay?! Talk to me, buddy."
"Heh... hahaha... I... I'm fine," they said. "A bit... a bit dizzy... but other than that..."
"JESUS CHRIST WHY WOULD YOU EVER DO THAT?!" Sans yelled. That was the first and only time I ever heard him raise his voice.
"H-hey, it's fine, old friend," the voice said. "I forgot to mention... that some company invented these things called long-fall boots... They're pretty cool. And very useful. Not sure I agree much with the company's practices, though," they added.
"why the hell would you scare me like that?" Sans demanded. "you're over sixty! In human perspective, you're frail! this was the first time i've talked to you in fifty six years and then I thought you DIED!"
"Sorry, Sans," they said. "I'll try to give you a warning next time."
"there isn't going to be a 'next time,'" the skeleton grumbled. "from now on, you're not allowed to go jumping off any more cliffs. understand?"
"Oh, do lighten up," they said. "Do you think you're my mother?"
"i do if it will stop you from jumping off any more cliffs," Sans said in response. The voice on the other side of the phone laughed.
"Fine, mom," they grumbled mockingly. "Hey, is there anybody still in the Ruins? I... I am not sure how well my memory is working about these damn puzzles."
Sans glanced at me. "no, but we'll meet you there," he said.
"We?" they inquired.
"me and this human child. they just got here, so i probably shouldn't leave them alone for long."
"I'm fourteen," I told him. "That's old enough to stay home alone. Even if you're not particularly familiar with the home."
"not by monster standards," Sans told me. He grabbed my sweater sleeve. "come on. we'll be right there, kid. i missed you."
"Haha... missed you too, skeleton. Try to hurry. The last time I was left alone in the pit in Mt. Ebott a demon flower tried attacking me."
Sans chuckled. "we'll be there soon, kid," he said. "see ya then."
"So why exactly did you decide to bring me along?" I asked. We were heading through the Ruins (which I guess was the name of that first place I ventured through). Apparently there was a way across the spike bridge without leaping in the water and nearly drowning yourself. The more you know.
"the other human wants to meet you," he said. He had led me through several 'shortcuts' which made absolutely no sense in the normal continuum of space, yet he did not seem bothered by it at all.
"So why didn't you just say so?" I asked.
Sans shrugged. "because I was talking to a sixty-some year old person at the time who is trying to maintain a professional veneer which would have been shattered by that statement."
I narrowed my eyes. "Why would they care?" I asked. Sans looked at me, licked his 'lips,' (his tongue was cyan blue, in case you were wondering. I have no idea how skeletons have tongues, for the record,) and shrugged.
"humans are weird," he suggested eventually.
"I am unimpressed by that explanation."
"too bad."
We arrive at the entrance a few minutes later. A tall man wearing a lab coat and dark brown pants ran over to Sans as he entered and swept him off the ground in a hug. "h-hey, kid, take it easy. not so bonecrushing." He winked as he said the last word, despite the fact that he appeared to be extremely uncomfortable and was having trouble breathing, despite his lack of lungs.
"Sorry," the man said, and released the skeleton immediately. He had to kneel to be eye level with him.
"you've grown, kid," Sans said. He stood on his tiptoes and rapped his knuckles against the man's skull. "i missed you," he said.
"Missed you too," the man replied. Looking up, he saw me hiding in the shadows and smiled. "Hey," he said. "I'm Frisk. Who are you?" I blinked twice, and Sans said something quietly to Frisk.
"There's no need to whisper, skeleton," I grumbled. "It's not like I'm going to get mad at you for stating facts."
"sorry," he said sheepishly. "she doesn't remember her name," he repeated louder.
"Sans," Frisk began.
"yeah, kid?"
"You just told me that." Sans smiled at him, and Frisk swooped him off the ground again. "Has it occurred to you that I could give you a piggy back ride now even though you're a few centuries older than I am?"
"as a matter of fact, it did not," Sans said. "given that i had no idea how tall you were until a few minutes ago." Frisk grinned.
"C'mon," he said. "Now that it's been brought up, it must happen."
"must it?" sans asked reluctantly.
"It must," Frisk said. He swung Sans onto his back. The image of the sixty-some year old giving a piggy back ride to a skeleton half his size was oddly adorable.
"giddy up," Sans said. "you better not drop me."
"I'll do my best," Frisk said.
"that doesn't make me feel very secure."
"Sounds like a personal problem," he said, trotting off into the Ruins. I ran behind them, struggling to make it through the puzzles before they reset and I would be forced to leap over spikes once more. Fortunately, this only happened once.
"Still got any of those shortcuts of yours, Sans?" Frisk asked.
"naturally," Sans replied.
"Yet you never used them to slip inside the Ruins and meet Tori in person?" Frisk teased. I did not know who Tori was, but the snide remark seemed to annoy Sans.
"with comments like that, i'm not going to bother helping you out," he said.
"You sure it's not because you like me giving you a piggy back ride?"
"no."
"No, you're not sure?"
"that is correct," Sans said. He had spread himself across Frisk's back like an octopus, his limbs splaying outwards and his body flattened against Frisk's back. I wondered how he managed to do that without temporarily turning his body into fluid. "can you at least move a little faster?"
Frisk swiveled his head to grin at the parasite clinging to his back. "If you insist," he said, and began sprinting down the hall. I took off after them, cursing both of them as I did so.
"i didn't mean quite that fast!" I heard Sans snarl.
It was dark by the time we arrived back in Snowdin. Frisk had spent the majority of the journey looking around him wondrously, which I suppose he has the right to do, given that it had been fifty six years (apparently) since he had last seen the place.
"do you still live in the same house?" Frisk asked.
Sans blinked sleepily. "realize, kid, that fifty six years isn't that long for monsters. yes, we still live in the same house."
"Still have that weird underground la-"
"let's keep that between you and me," Sans interrupted. Frisk nodded acquiescence.
"Do you have a place for me to stay, perchance, old friend? Or shall I get a place at the Inn? I still have 348G that I saved in a pouch from when I was down here."
Sans blinked. "man kid, you missed us, huh."
Frisk said nothing for a minute. "More than you could have possibly imagined," he whispered. "If there's one thing I learned from being down here… it's… that humans are the true monsters. To see this societal utopia but be forced to reintegrate myself into the commonalities of the human world-"
"woah, buddy, slow down so the kid can understand."
"I'm fourteen," I said defensively. "I could understand everything that he said."
"Hah…" Frisk half-laughed, half-choked. "I missed you… and Paps… Undyne, Alphys, Toriel… even Asgore."
"i know, buddy. we'll make it out of here eventually. i'm eager to see that plan of yours, by the way," Sans said. He seemed to have a deep affection for the human. I wondered how long Frisk was trapped down here for.
"Oh! Right. C'mon guys, we have no time to lose. Let's head to Alphys's lab." He took off at a long-legged stride, swooping up Sans as he did so and tossing the skeleton over his shoulder. Sans looked like he had the wind knocked out of him as he did so, but at the same time his face erupted with a massive grin. I saw cyan tears form in the corner of his eyes as I took off after the two of them.
A/N:
*stare helplessly at reader*
This was not the plan.