Frisk's heart pounded in their ears, breaking the silence that surrounded them like the dark, abandoned street. They felt scared still, but knew that they were in no real danger, after all they knew who it was. Briefly they wondered if the image in front of them could hear it as well, but shut down the idea just as quickly. Skeletons didn't have ears, after all. But...they could still hear?

Skeletons were weird.

And this one was no different in their eyes. The short, plump, skeleton mosied on over to their friend, smirking slightly at the scare that Sans had caused. "Hey, kiddo," he greeted with that ever permanent smile. It seemed forced, like it usually did when Frisk saw him. "Did I scare you? You look like you've seen a monster," he joked.

Frisk shook their head, smiling slightly at their, hopefully, friend.

"Good. I don't want ya to jump out of your skin like I did." He sent a wink over to them and laughed. "C'mon, walk and talk with me." Without waiting for their response, he started off in a direction and Frisk followed with no hesitation. Where else could they go?

The city didn't seem as dark as it had before. In fact, now that Frisk was travelling with a friend it seemed to be more peaceful, more welcoming. They didn't know why, but they felt safe with Sans. They seemed to have best friend potential, if not more. He made jokes that erupted laughter from the child, but when he told a joke, somehow Frisk didn't think it was meant for them. The skeleton was odd indeed, why would they make jokes, but then turn around and glare at them for even speaking slightly? They seemed nice to them, but it appeared to be forced. It had confused Frisk. Why did Sans seem so upset at them? They had barely even met them. Maybe he was ambiguous and was one of those people who were two faced?

Despite walking with a (spoiler), soon to be best friend, silence clung to the pair like glue and refused to be ignored. It filled the air with a deep tension that also made Frisk feel awkward. Their shoes scraped against the sidewalk as they walked, horns screamed in the distance where roads were more prominent, and Frisk's breathing seemed like the only thing that was audible anymore. Sans kept his head down, back facing the child, and hands in his pockets. He didn't say anything. Didn't do anything. It seemed like the only possible way that he even acknowledged the presence of the child was by slowing down every once and awhile when Frisk seemed to be having a hard time catching up.

The silence seemed to reign on forever until he abruptly stopped, causing the child to bump into his back with a quiet grunt of surprise.

"I got a question for ya, buddy," he turned his skull slightly, but Frisk wasn't able to see their eye sockets, only more skull. "Why're ya here in the city at this time?"

"D-dinner with my parents," Frisk mumbled with a small voice.

"Then why are you here alone? Where are they?" He kept looking forward.

His voice scared Frisk a little, sending chills up their spine.

When they didn't respond, Sans turned around, fully. His eyes were closed, shutting the child out from seeing his flickering anger. He took a deep breath before re-opening them, keeping his anger in check. For the time being, at least. His eyes weren't glowing, but certainly not calm as usual.

"Where are your parents, Frisk?"

Frisk watched an ant scurry along next to their foot. The ant seemed to be searching for something. Food, perhaps?

"Frisk."

Frisk looked up at Sans's chest. That's as far as they would look. They couldn't look higher.

Sans put a boney hand on their shoulder. It felt light.

"Frisk, kiddo, look at me." Frisk didn't want to. Their eyes felt like lead, they felt like they were being dragged when they moved their eyes up to meet his. Eventually, they made eye contact, but tears were starting to stream down their face by the time that they did. "Kid," Sans sighed and lifted a finger to brush away a tear. "Where are ya folks?"

Frisk shrugged and swallowed a sob.

Sans mentally cursed, ran a hand over his skull, as if pushing his non-existing hair back. "Okay. Well, I'm not about to leave you out here." He wrapped an arm around their friend, pulling them close in a small hug. "Let's just go home, okay? You can...join the rest of the group." He seemed hesitant.

Frisk nodded, not really caring at that point.

They walked in silence for the rest of the way, his arm wrapped around their shoulders like a blanket. His jacket sleeve seemed warmer than the stingy suit coat that they were still wearing. The jacket made them feel worse, just the mere thought of it had made them feel like they were drowning in pressure. Sans had kept glancing over, bringing them over every now and then for a quick hug, but it had seemed forced and dubious .

"Hey, Sans?" The child looked over at the skeleton. "Can I ask something?"

"Shoot, kid." His eyes were kept forward again.

"Are you mad at me?"

The footsteps slowed at the question.

"Did I do something?"

"What makes you think that?" His voice was deeper, yet softer. As if they were approaching a dangerous territory.

"You seem kinda mad at me for some reason," they shrugged. "I thought you were, but if you're not-"

"I never said I wasn't." He cut in, voice sharp like a blade. "Gotta say, I'm ticked off with you, kid."

The footsteps stopped. There was a pause in time at that moment for Frisk. All of their senses were working overtime in that small moment, making every detail known. The air smelled kinda musky, thick with more than tension. In the distance, innocent cars drove around. A horn beeped, signaling that somebody was no longer all that innocent, now they had made a mistake for something that they didn't realize at the time. It seemed familiar to Frisk.

Sans quickly turned and stared deeply into Frisk's eyes, theirs returning the gesture. The sockets were like deep holes in the side of a wall, not able to see the other side. It astonished the child, shouldn't there be light in there somewhere? It had made them want to shudder with amazement, but with Sans up in their face like this, fear was the only thing that made Frisk shutter. The rest of the world didn't matter to them in that small moment. His arm started to shake before he ripped it off the kid's shoulders and turned away.

"What did I-"

"What'd you do? Frisk, you did everything!" He turned to them with a mask of fury on, entire body shaking slightly. "You're the entire reason everything happened and you don't even remember half of it!"

They flinched at the sudden explosion. Something told them that this wasn't normal for Sans. Something told them that this is scary even for them.

"You've hurt me so many times that I just don't care anymore! I'm expecting you to hurt me again and again, but this is a new low, even for you." His eyes seemed to spark with fury. "How can you hurt me like that, just appear again, and then claim you don't remember!?"

"I...I don't k-know what you're talking about." Frisk took a step back, worry creasing their face. "You're scaring me."

"You think I'm scaring you?" He barked a laugh. "Kid, you don't even know what fear is now. Frisk, listen, you have done something awful, and now you got to escape it. Toriel told everybody that you're back. They're ecstatic that you're back. They're so happy. But not me, no. I won't let you hurt them again."

He took a step forward, eye alight with blue flames.

Frisk kept taking steps back. Their frame was shaking from fear as adrenaline quickly set in. It was fight or flight instinct, and they chose flight. With a quick turn of the heel, they sprinted off in the other direction, feet barely touching the ground as they kept running. They tried to ignore the whining that started in their throat as they sprinted faster than they could recall. It had hurt to run, hurt to be moving this quickly, especially in their suit.

But it compared nothing to the hand that grabbed their heart. Well, it felt like a hand and it was thought of their heart. Instead, in reality, it was Sans's blue magic wrapping around their soul itself and dragged them back towards the skeleton. In the back of their throat, they could barely taste the lick of the magic as it pulled them back. It was spicy and hot, almost as if it tasted like-

Oh.

Like it tasted like fire.

Frisk shuddered and closed their eyes, awaiting what death would bring. They tried to ignore the shaking their knees did as they were dragged back, or how they couldn't open their eyes without forcing them to. And they definitely tried to put it out of their mind how much their chest hurt, all from their heart beating so fast, lungs burning, and the fear that had made a nest inside. They continued to be paralyzed for a few seconds before they felt themselves be thrown to the ground. It took another few seconds to unlock their muscles and move again. By the time they did, they could hear sobs coming from across the street.

Careful eyes zoomed around, trying to find the source of the sobbing sounds. When they finally found it, and they were surprised to see the skeleton kneeling on the ground, eyes covered by the bony hands. Sans's back moved up and down with each sob and his body seemed to be shaking from a deeper emotion than anger now. It had hurt Frisk more than his attack seemed to.

Once again, skeletons were very weird. How could they cry without eyes to produce tears?

They slowly approached the monster, feet making a small smoosh sound as they stepped on the melting snow. When they were close enough, Frisk kneeled down next to him. Without knowing really how to comfort him, they simply placed a hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed it, showing sympathy for him. He looked up with blue tinted tears on his face. He seemed to be able to express his face like he would've done with muscles, giving Frisk a hurt look.

"Why do ya do that? Why do you keep doing that?" He sobbed again and grabbed them. For a second, the human was scared that the monster would attack them again, but was pleasantly surprised when he instead gave them a big hug. He latched his fingers into their suit jacket and simply clung.

His heart wrenched sobs filled the air and he buried his face in the jacket, holding Frisk closely to them.

After a few minutes of this, of them clinging onto each other, the sobs slowed and he stilled. They didn't say anything, but the moment soon faded and it became that awkward moment of facing the person that let you cry on them. Even if it was your best friend, it was still weird to just cry on them, soaking their suit coat.

Sans cleared his throat, being that person this time.

He looked up at Frisk.

They looked back, worry etched into their face. "Sans?"

He nodded in reply.

"Why did you cry?"

He didn't say anything to them for a second. It was his turn to watch an ant nearby, or hear the cars ages away honking at each other for stupid reasons. But in the end, after a brief moment, he eventually turned to Frisk and studied them.

"Ya gotta realize, I don't do that often. I don't show my feelings if I can help it. But you, Frisk, you always drag them out of me somehow." He looked away again. "I don't know if that's good or not."

Frisk turned to study a wall nearby, giving that space that Sans seemed to need.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Frisk. I'm just not being very fair to you." He took a deep breath. "When the monsters were freed, Frisk, you were the one that freed us. You were our hero, but…" He trailed off for a second to swallow something in his throat that didn't at all seem like another sob. (Frisk definitely didn't see any tears leak out, they won't ever confirm or deny it.) "You did something. And you left. I thought it was for good. And then you come back, here, and don't remember us."

He broke out into another sob. "I thought that you were gone for good, buddy. And now that you are here, I was hoping that we could have what we once did, ya know?" He shook his head violently. "But nope! You don't even fucking remember us," he trembled. "You don't remember Pap, or Aphys, not even Tori," he turned to Frisk, grabbed their shoulders and turned them to face him. "You don't remember me!"

He was springing tears and was trembling all over, it filled their heart with despair and empathy. Wasn't there anything that they could do? All that came to mind was a cheesy move from movies and such that would probably cause the audience to gag or laugh. It was worth a shot, Frisk guessed.

They jumped up and wrapped their arms around Sans, squeezing them tightly. They dug their head into the crook of his bony neck and sighed. "I'm sorry." His arms wrapped around the human and squeezed, sobbing openly again. "We can still try to be friends, if you give me a chance." They whispered it quietly, in case they didn't want to be friends, that way both of them could pretend that he didn't hear it. If that was the case, they could just not be friends. Go their separate ways.

When he nodded, Frisk sighed in relief. They didn't want to leave the monster world just quite yet.

Another ten minutes later, they were walking again.

"Kid, you gotta promise you won't say anything about this to anybody," Sans quietly said. "I don't want the others knowing that I was crying." Frisk turned their head to give them a questioning look. "Like I said, I don't show my emotions enough. If they knew that I did in front of you, I would get them all concerned."

"But I got you to open up," Frisk stated.

"Yeah, but you're the exception."

"Why's that?"

"You're my best friend, aren't you?" He smirked at them and winked at their expression. "Well, soon to be. I need to start pranking you now."

Frisk laughed and continued to walk in silence with them. Well, silence isn't the right word. Sans talked for a while, with a rare comment from their human companion every now and then. He spoke about what he did in the human world, which was a comedian over at the bar. That's why he was over that when he stumbled upon Frisk once more. He had finished his act, got paid, and was on his way. "Usually I would be much earlier, but the guy wanted more acts and signed me up for a few in the future." When Frisk had asked to hear a few of his jokes, he obliged and made them laugh all over again.

Oh yes, Frisk could now see why they were feeling so close with Sans when they first re-met.

But the question was, were they close because of the friendship or more than that? They stopped and asked Sans the question. He chuckled lightly, blushing a tint of blue on his cheekbones, and told them that they weren't dating. "I took you out a few times, just for dinner and the like, but no. We're just good buddies." He smiled at Frisk. "Besides, you're way too young for me."

Frisk stuck their tongue out at the skeleton and gave him a slight push.

Eventually, the two of them had arrived at the village that Sans lived at. Well, it must've been where he lived. There weren't many neighbors around the place. It was closer to the forest, and the dangerous mountain, and most people didn't want to be anywhere near there, especially with the monsters now living there. It was a small village of monsters, except that the city was less than a mile from the city, making it technically a part of the city. Frisk briefly wondered how they had gotten there so quickly, especially with the restaurant they were being miles away.

They dismissed it quickly, just accepting that Sans must've done something. Sans looked smug about something, and Frisk simply agreed with the voice in their head, telling them to dismiss it and continue on.

"When all the monsters came up to the surface, we rebuilt all of our houses. It was a skeleton of work," he cracked a less forced smile at Frisk, smiling more naturally with their laughter. "But we got it done. Papyrus, my bro, and I rebuilt our house like the one we had down there. It looks exactly the same, even the pet rock came along."

Frisk tilted their head. "Yeah, we do have a pet rocky. Pap keeps saying that I need to feed him, but I think sprinkles have enough minerals." Cue the laughter. "His name is Bob. Aw, don't give me that look, kid, it's hard to name a rock." The smile he wore was no longer forced, it seemed to be all natural now. The kid did make him happy, he forgot how much he needed them. It was nice.

Earlier when he broke like that, it was really the first time he had cried over Frisk's death. Yeah, sure, they had a funeral and the like, but only the monsters did. The humans were still scared of the humans at that point, plus, if they had asked for them to accompany them for the funeral, they would've thought the monsters had murdered Frisk or something. And that would have been a great way to start of the relationship they needed to move into their city with.

But anyway, he had really let his emotions run free. He got mad at the kid for being there, being oblivious to what had happened before. He was furious with them for jumping off that damned cliff, for killing themselves so the monsters could be happy. As if they could be anything but happy without Frisk. Sure, they were fine before. But that was...before. It didn't make sense without them being there to see their accomplishments. Frisk was needed. It had angered him that the human parents abandoned Frisk, and that just added fuel to the fire, dragged up haunting memories.

He lost himself. And when he did finally see what he was doing, it broke his heart. How could he have ruined that chance with the human once more? How could he do that? Sure, the kid broke his heart once by doing...that, and broke it again when they didn't remember, but maybe now it would be okay?

Frisk had forgiven them for attacking, now he just had to forgive himself. That would take time, but he'd make it up to them. Maybe he could do something extra fun with them, take them out on one of his breaks or something.

Yeah. That kid would like it. Well, then again, the kid liked anything that they did together, really No, he didn't like them like that, it was weird to think that he ever did. Besides, there was somebody else that was grabbing his attention in that area. But regardless, the human and himself were the best duo, the terrible two, the partners in crime. Nothing came in between them.

He lost attention to what he was doing, but it was quickly brought back when Frisk had nudged him. "What is it, Frisk?" In their hands, was a rock. It was kinda lame looking. Only a gardening rock, nothing special about it. The edges were smooth and soft to the touch. It was a bit wet from the snow, giving it a gleam in the moonlight. "And this is for..what, exactly?"

"A companion for Bob." They smiled. "You can feed them sprinkles too, if you want."

Sans smiled gratefully at the kid, took the rock, and put it in their jacket's pocket. "Thanks, kid. You wanna name it?"

Frisk thought for a second before snapping their fingers. "Shelly."

"Shelly? What kind of name is that?" Sans shrugged and continued walking when he heard Frisk saying that it was a shelly name and they liked it. "Oh, god, kid, I'm already getting my sense of humor rubbed onto ya." He laughed.

"Is that your house?" A small hand pointed up at the house with Christmas lights flashing.

"Yup. That's the place." Sans walked up to the door, turned to the human and grinned. "Ready to meet everybody?"