Little Sister—an UNDERTALE Fan Fiction, part 3

Summary: extremely overwhelmed, Red begins behaving…unlike herself, and Sans must stop her before she hurts herself, or anyone else.

(My very first fic of this, so please be gentle if I do not get every single detail right. If you are not interested or don't like at all, then don't read)

UNDERTALE © Toby Fox Games

Red © Me


~Little Sister~

"Y-You can…You can glow both of your eyes…?!"

Sans knelt there in the snow, bewildered by the sight of the small skeleton child. Red had a convulsing arm extended outward, twitching fingers, her teeth were sharper and jagged, and both of her sockets glowed bright green, but only the left remained enflamed. She wore a painful expression on her cringing face that was a blend of multiple emotions: fear, sorrow, anguish…and even rage.

"Red…" Sans uttered softly, his brow bones furrowing in a sad manner. He didn't want to make a wrong move, worrying his actions might startle Red and cause her to lash out, so he remained where he was. If he had a stomach, he would feel a cold emptiness inside. What got him really concerned was the fact that both of the child's eyes were glowing brightly. From his own experience, and despite being unable to glow both eyes, he knew that meant she was very, very upset.

Flowey growled menacingly, sneering at the smaller skeleton. "What's this?" he hissed. "You seem to know your magic. Yet you claim to have no knowledge of it." He chuckled darkly, focusing his bulging eyes on Sans now. "Would it somehow be due to the fact," he continued, "that you remember seeing someone use their magic?"

Sans flared his blue eye as he snarled at the horrendous weed. "Leave the kid alone," he demanded. "If you make her condition any worse—!"

"Yes…" came Red's wavering voice, earning both of their attention once more. "I do…I do remember. It's…It's only in bits and pieces, though; t-they don't come out clearly, but…I see it. I see these…black figures…doing stuff with magic. Amazing things…and horrifying things. Blue lights…orange lights…flying everywhere, all around me…" Red now wore a distant look in her eye sockets, like she had become lost in her agonizing memories. "The movements…that controlled the magic…I see those, too. So, that's…That's how I can…"

Sans's eye sockets rounded at what he had been hearing. If Red could remember that much before her…accident…what else could she remember? He tried to hide his troubled feelings by forcing out a chuckle. "T-That's, uh…quite impressive, kiddo," he told her, "being able to do magic based off of a long-gone memory. That takes an awful lot of skill and power. Of course, you still gotta learn from the best. S-So, don't strain yourself, okay, kid?" With the expression on Red's face, it almost seemed like she hadn't heard a single word he said. She appeared to be focused on something else, yet her gaze wasn't fixed on anything. Sans clenched his bony fists as he slowly stood up. He couldn't watch this any longer. He had to do something. Very slowly, he took a step forward, the snow crunching beneath his feet.

CRACK!

Red heard the nerve-wracking sound again when Sans stepped forward. She sharply gasped, her face twisting into a look of fear and rage. "No!" she screamed. "Get away from me!" She turned her head away and swiped her hands through the air, unaware of the attack she had created. Bones with a misty green aura appeared out of thin air and aimed for Sans, yet they missed and landed around him instead of striking him. But it was still enough to stop Sans in his tracks and freeze like a statue. He didn't move a single bone, shivering a little at how close the attack had landed to him. He looked to Red, who now huddled in the snow, hugging her head and crying. Sans knew he had to help. But what could he do without setting Red off again?

He then heard Flowey chuckle sinisterly and raised his skull to him. "I see," he said. "She is off somewhere else. She may be here physically, but her shattered mind is lingering in another place. What she sees or hears is not the same for us, but something different. You might say the little runt isn't home at the moment."

"Will you shut the hell up?" Sans hissed. "It's because of you she is suffering like this."

"Me?" the flower said innocently, then reared his head back in laughter. "It's her own fault! I only gave her what she asked! She is causing her mind to break even more by allowing it to overwhelm her! All she has to do is let go of her trouble, then she can move on." A twisted grin grew on Flowey's ugly face as he laughed again. "But that WON'T happen. I won't ALLOW it to happen!"

Sans gasped and made a move to run to Red, but thorny vines coiled tightly around him and suspended him in the air. No matter how much he struggled, nothing happened. "Red!" he shouted to her. "Get out of here!" But she still wasn't listening.

The demonic weed snickered maniacally and slithered his way to the frightened skeleton child. "Oh, Red~~" he said in a sing-song manner, "Can you hear it? Can you hear the sound of your bones breaking? The sound of your skull splitting open? The sounds of the world around you slowly fading away? Can you see the darkness creeping into your eyes? Can you feel your body run cold as death begins to claim you?"

"No more…" Red wept, gripping the sides of her skull even tighter. "No more…M-Make it stop…!"

"Aw, are you scared?" Flowey mockingly cooed. "Well, you should be. But I know a solution. You can either live on suffering like this, or…you can give me your soul and escape this pain by dying."

"Don't listen, kid!" Sans exclaimed, struggling as much as he could, yet still wouldn't budge free. If he could just get his hand free…

"Trust me, you little brat. This is the only way you can be free from this agony. No more dark memories. No more pain. And no more having to deal with the loud-mouth skeleton, either, or his annoying brother. So…Nyala…What will it be?" Flowey received no reply. His eyes darkened and his grin curled further. "No answer? That's fine. I will use your silence as confirmation!"

The weed prepared to impale the shivering child with jagged pellets, but the pellets veered off course as Flowey was stabbed himself by numerous bones. Making groaning, choking noises, he eerily turned his head towards the skeleton behind him.

Sans's left eye flared furiously as he had a hand extended towards Flowey. His usual grin was no longer there. "You filthy, overgrown weed!" he shouted. "You will not hurt her, you hear me?! Or else you're gonna be in for something far worse than just a bad time!"

"Your threats are meaningless in your current situation, you bumbling numbskull," the flower spat back, lunging close to Sans's face and tightening the vines around his body. "Your attacks alone aren't enough to stop me. Go ahead and throw me a bone. The brat will still die, and you are lucky that I will let you live long enough to watch her turn into a pile of dust!"

Sans let a yelp slip as his arm was pushed further into his injured rib cage, causing them to crack more and more. But he couldn't let his pain show. He had to be strong for Red so she wouldn't be afraid. However, the pain in his side burned more than his flaming eye.

"Ohh, does that hurt?" Flowey taunted. "Well, would you like me to go ahead and put you out of your misery? That way you won't watch the child suffer—AAAUGH!"

Confused as to why the vile flower was suddenly in pain, Sans glanced down to Flowey's writhing stem and widened his sockets to see five jagged bones, enflamed by green fire, had penetrated clean through. His eyes shifted to Red, and just as he had anticipated, there she was, standing stiff in the snow, a firm arm stretched out towards the plant, a fierce look in her eyes. She snarled, baring her jagged teeth. Her hand was surrounded by a flickering green flame; each time her fingers twitched, the flame sparked, indicating a single movement would release a second attack. Sans was afraid it would come to this.

"Put…him…down," Red hissed.

Flowey panted and quivered in pain, but he managed to laugh at her. "That's it! Give in to the magic you feel! It feels good to use it for the wrong purposes, doesn't it?!" He was silenced by another bone impaling him.

"I said, put him DOWN!"

Red was shouting now, not a single ounce of fear, or any other emotion, heard in her voice. There was nothing but hate. Flowey continued twisting and coiling in pain, hissing loudly, but the young skeleton seemed not to bat an eye socket about it. Who would for such a monster like this?

The vines' hold on Sans loosened, and the skeleton slipped through, landing in the snow below. Paying no mind to the pain in his side, he sat up quickly and got to his knees. He watched the flustered young skeleton; her face was contorted into an expression of hate and spite towards Flowey. Her glowing hand trembled with such negative emotions, and she had the look of a killer in her eyes. That look sent shivers crawling down Sans's spine. He couldn't allow this to escalate any further.

Hugging his side, he slowly got to his feet. "Red, listen…" he called out to her. He stopped when she looked straight at him without moving her head. He gulped and forced his usual smile to stay where it was, inching closer and closer to her. "Kid…this isn't you," he said as she looked away again. "I know it isn't. You'd never hurt anyone, no matter what. You're not a killer." A sharp pain surged through his boy when he stumbled, nearly causing the unstable Red to lash out at him. "I know, kid. You've been told things you don't like. You now know things you wish you didn't. You're scared and upset. I know how that feels, believe me. But it's okay. It's all going to be okay…" He reached out and held the hand by her side and squeezed it.

He noticed a reaction from the child. Her expression had softened, like something had interrupted her thoughts. Her extended arm relaxed a little, her hand glowed a little less, and her left eye's flame flickered and slightly diminished. Sans grabbed her hand with both of his and held it tightly. "Come on, kiddo," he continued. "Just let it go. That's all it takes. Just let go, and we can go back home. You can stay with me and Pap. Remember, like we said?"

Red could hear a voice coming through to her; a familiar voice that made her feel…safe, and comfortable. She slowly lowered her arm to her side, the green aura fleeing from her hand, as she looked down to the snow. "H…Home…?"

"Yeah," he said, placing an arm around her shoulders, wincing as it strained his wounded ribs. "We can go home, eat some of Pap's spaghetti, or go pay Grillby's a visit. Or we can just sleep and be lazy. Doesn't that sound good?"

Gradually, Sans noticed a change in Red's behavior. She began to relax under his arm, her eyes ceased glowing, the flame diminished, and all of the magic stopped; any remaining bones lingering dissipated. She had a calm, depressed look on her face, but in an instant, she burst into tears and clung to Sans as though her life depended on it.

"I'm sorry!" she cried. "I'm so sorry!"

Sans wrapped both arms around her, ignoring the pain in his side, and squeezed. "You've got nothing to be sorry for, kiddo." He then heard raspy panting and looked to Flowey, who was shakily returning to his original form as a flower. The plant glared at them, a dark liquid seeping from the corners of his mouth; he trembled with what lingering pains he felt, growling and snarling. But the skeleton wasn't fazed one bit.

His left eye threateningly shone its blue aura. "Get the hell outta here," he demanded calmly, "or you'll soon start begging me to rip you from the ground." Flowey flashed another sneer, and then disappeared into the ground.

Sans sighed and blinked away the magic in his left eye. He looked down to Red and smiled, kneeling down in the snow with her. "You okay?" he asked. Red answered honestly by shaking her head no. Sans laughed softly. "Yeah, probably should have expected that. But, things will be okay. Trust me." He laid her head in his lap, allowing her to calm down before they headed back.

"Are…you hurt?" Red asked tiredly.

"Ah, not too serious," Sans answered. "A bit of rest oughta do the trick."

"Where's Papyrus…?"

"Back home. I told him to stay there and wait while I went to look for you. You really gave us quite the scare, kid."

Red cringed and squirmed a little. "Sorry…I just thought…"

"You'd be a burden?" Sans finished. The smaller skeleton nodded meekly with a sniffle. The older rested a hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Red, you could never be a burden. Believe me, it's no problem having another mouth to feed. Besides, you're a skeleton. Who else are you gonna live with, Blooky?"

But Red didn't laugh; she didn't feel very spirited like Sans. She stirred a little in his lap after a few moments and said, "Sans…Flowey said you knew something about me…Was he telling the truth?" The other skeleton was silent for a moment, looking off in the distance. Red briefly glanced up to him and saw his sockets were pitch-black again. "S-Sans…?"

Sans sighed, closing his sockets for a short while. He then looked down to her, a distant, sad smile on his face. "It's quite a story. Do ya have the patience to hear it?"

Red nodded faintly.

"Okay. Now, where to begin? Well…like Flowey said, you were one of the seven humans who had fallen from Mount Ebott. You were the fourth to have fallen, I think. Your name was Nyala. You were a typical kid: loved to have fun, always curious, and you loved to play."

"I did?"

"Yeah. You came through Snowdin one day and we met at this…gate-thingy my brother made. I pulled the whoopee-cushion-in-the-hand trick on you, and you just busted out laughing, like it was the best thing you had ever heard. Heh, you always got a kick out of my jokes."

Red giggled and shifted into a comfortable position in his lap as he continued.

"You hung out with Papyrus and me for a while. You know, you were one of the very few who actually liked Pap's cooking and still are, apparently. You often called us your big brothers; Papyrus was so flattered that he once dropped a pot of spaghetti. You and I laughed while he yelled and cleaned up the mess. You were fascinated by our magic and constantly wanted us to use it to play with you." He looked down to her and messed with the red ball on top of Red's hat. "You know this hat I gave you? It was actually yours."

"Really…?" Red asked, blinking with interest.

"Yep. You gave it to us as a gift so we would remember you. As much as you loved us all, you said you had to get home…" Sans's voice suddenly trailed off, which began to concern Red. She looked up to him, waiting for him to continue. "The next thing Pap and I know, we hear you've been taken captive, and delivered to Asgore. We thought you had gone home at that point. But…one day, on a walk through the barren parts of Snowdin, I…"

Red gasped, knowing what he was about to say. "It was you…?"

He nodded slowly, clenching his fist in the snow. "Yeah. I found you at the bottom of a cliff. You smashed the back of your head on a rock. I had…never seen so much red. I'll be honest, kid…I was scared. I felt like…like I had lost someone in my family. I…I didn't know what to do, so I just used some of my healing magic on your dying soul. I didn't know the outcome…would be this." Sans glanced down sadly at her delicate skeletal figure, then looked away.

Red blinked, positioned herself so she was facing him, and rested her head against his belly. "You saved me…"

"I took away your…humanness…Can you really forgive me for that?" Sans muttered, his voice continued to falter. But the girl hugged him nonetheless, nuzzling him affectionately. He let out a soft chuckle, rubbing the top of her head. After they sat in the snow a while longer, Sans asked, "Ya ready to head home?" Red nodded sleepily. "Yeah, me, too. Here, hop on." He got onto his knees and allowed her to ride on his back, like how Papyrus would carry him home.

"Won't I hurt your side?" Red asked.

"Nah, I'll be fine. You just rest. I've got your back."

The younger monster let out a giggle. "No, I've got yours."

Sans then started laughing. "So true! I guess I fell into that one."

The two skeletons began the slow, quiet journey back to the house. When they arrived, Papyrus was practically waiting by the door. "OH, MY GOD, SANS! ARE YOU BOTH ALRIGHT?!" he asked frantically.

"Yeah…we're all good, bro," Sans panted, a little exhausted from the trek back home.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR SIDE?! WERE YOU BEING RECKLESS AGAIN?"

"Nope. Just went lookin' for the kid."

"IS SHE HURT?!"

"Nah, just a bit shaken up from the cold. Here, you take her to the couch."

Papyrus led them both to the couch; once they were comfortable, he smothered them both with blankets and served them spaghetti, which Red devoured in an instant; when she asked for more, Sans just gave her his plate. As the plates of pasta were licked clean, Papyrus urged them to rest on the couch for the rest of the night.

"C'mon, Pap, we're fine, really," Sans sighed with a groan. "You can stop worrying."

"SANS, AS YOUR BROTHER, I WILL NEVER STOP WORRYING FOR YOU," Papyrus stated firmly as he picked up the clean plates. "ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU TAKE SO LONG TO COME HOME. ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE NOTHING HAPPENED?"

"For the third time, Papyrus, yes. Everything's fine," Sans repeated.

Papyrus sighed and moved to Red, beginning to ask her all sorts of questions at once. She answered them with one answer: YYYAAAAWWWWNNNN!

"OH, YES, YOU MUST BE VERY TIRED!" Papyrus said, patting her shoulder gently. "BUT WORRY NOT. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL READ YOU A BEDTIME STORY! I SHALL RETURN!" He turned on his boots and raced upstairs to his room.

Sans chuckled. "Probably gettin' the fluffy bunny story." He looked over to Red and noticed she still seemed a little distraught about something. "What's wrong, kid?"

Red looked at her hands, glaring at them. "I don't ever wanna use magic again."

"What?"

"I almost did something bad with it…If it's that dangerous, then I don't wanna use it."

"Aw, Red," Sans groaned a laugh. "It was one little fluke. I'm sure somethin' like that won't happen again."

"…Sans?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you…ever done something bad with your magic?"

Beads of sweat slowly appeared on Sans's forehead. "W-Well," he began softly, "only…if I ever had to. I can't really remember the last time I used my magic except for tonight's shenanigans." Red sighed, sounding like she had proven a point. "But kid, magic is not all bad." But she continued to sulk, hiding her hands under the blankets. The stout skeleton sighed and decided upon saying, "Fine. It's your choice. But you'll change your mind someday."

The conversation ended just as Papyrus came tromping down the stairs, holding a book in his arms. "HERE WE ARE!" he said. "THIS IS MY FAVORITE STORY! IT'S ABOUT THE ADVENTURES OF A LITTLE FLUFFY BUNNY! PREPARE TO EXPERIENCE THRILLS! CHILLS! SILLIES! SADNESS! AND OTHER STUFF. NOW, GET COMFORTABLE SO THAT I MAY TELL YOU THE STORY!"

"Heh. Usually it's me tellin' you the story," Sans said.

"WELL, THIS TIME, IT'S ME TELLING IT TO YOU AND RED, BROTHER," the younger, yet taller brother said proudly, "AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM THE SECOND-GREATEST STORYTELLER IN ALL OF SNOWDIN!"

"Second-greatest?"

"NO ONE IS A BETTER STORYTELLER THAN YOU, SANS!"

"Aw, thanks, bro."

Papyrus cleared his throat and opened to the first page. "THERE ONCE WAS A LITTLE FLUFFY BUNNY…"

By the end of the story, Red was nearly asleep, slouching and bobbing her head. The skeleton brothers giggled at her and helped her settle under the blankets.

"Thanks for the story, Pap," Sans said. "Don't think the kid would've gotten to sleep without it."

"IT WAS MY PLEASURE, BROTHER," Papyrus replied with a beaming smile, even though he was technically always smiling. "NOW, YOU AND RED HAVE A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP."

"Sure thing, bro."

"GOOD NIGHT, SANS."

"Night, Papyrus."

The taller skeleton then knelt down beside Red, who sleepily hugged her pillow, and petted the top of her head. "GOOD NIGHT, RED," he crooned; he headed for the stairs, and suddenly came to a halt when he heard a mumbled whisper.

"Night…big brother…"

Both brothers perked at the tiny voice. Papyrus had an orange flush across his cheek bones and fluttered up and down the stairs, squeaking a long, flattered "NYEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHH!" as he scurried to his room.

Sans grinned with a light chuckle and petted Red's back until he heard the sound of slow breathing that indicated she was fast asleep. Then he rolled onto his good side, facing towards her. "It'll be fun havin' you around again, Nyala…" he whispered.

Then he frowned. No, he thought to himself, not Nyala. Nyala is dead…All that's left is bones and clothes. Sans laid a hand on the sleeping skeleton's side and closed his sockets, slowly drifting off to sleep. But don't worry, kid. We won't let anything happen to ya again. I promise.

It was almost as though she could read his mind, for Red suddenly turned over and faced him, a tiny smile etched on her face. Sans was stirred by her movement, but smiled at the sight of the content look on her face, and fell back into a peaceful sleep.

THE END.


A/N: IT'S DONE! What did you guys think? Was it good?