Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter y'all. Business and writers block are terrible combinations!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. It took a few times to write, and I'm still not 100% happy with it, but that could take years and I won't make anybody wait that long! I've already got my ideas for the next chapter, so hopefully it will come along a bit faster and more efficiently.

Thanks to those who are leaving reviews to help me with some mistakes, and to all of those who are reading this!

Loviieeesss!~

He sighed. The action was something that nobody ever really noticed, and yet a great way to express yourself. To relieve emotions. Even on the rare occasion that someone did notice, there was no way they could narrow down what it meant when there were thousands of possibilities for the simple thing.

That was why he sighed a lot, to be honest. Nobody noticed anyways, but this time even he didn't know what it meant. Boredom maybe, but listening to the monsters argue over how to celebrate was rather humorous. Most likely to relieve unknown emotions. Or maybe out of irritation over how much they were violently discussing this matter.

Arguing over a celebration? For what? Because Frisk was feeling better? For lies. They were debating how to celebrate the fact that Frisk wasn't injured from her great fall. Nobody else seemed to mind, but even though it was funny Sans still found himself annoyed.

He knew it was all lies, of course. He had seen the door handle shake wildly as the person on the other side tried to pry it open. He had seen her dash out of the room and blindly throw herself down the stairs. It was wise that he stepped back, or else Frisk would have barreled right into him. There was an odd sense of amusement there that caused him to chuckle.

Papyrus, who had ceased talking for a moment, heard the strange noise. The tall skeleton turned to his brother, arching a bone. Or a brow, if he could have. He made an expression that looked like he would have been raising an eyebrow. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY, BROTHER?"

Now Sans was even more amused, and his permanent grin widened. Papyrus's inquisitive gaze quickly morphed into a glare. He was about to speak before Sans let it fly. "i was thinking of a pun...but it's not very humorous."

Papyrus knew it was coming. There was a moment of silence and then he groaned, his ultimate hate for the puns growing yet again. There had been a time when he appreciated them in secret, but eventually he figured out that it was Sans' way of still being relatively okay. It was the only thing Sans confessed when Papyrus found him that night after a nightmare. Papyrus recalled his own nightmare the evening before and momentarily wondered if he would be reduced to puns.

Undyne had already groaned and screamed enough that day, even though the chill air was just barely warming to the sun, so she just sent a glare strong enough to fry a fish. She was sitting on the opposing couch with Alphys, who leaned her head on Undyne's arm, which tensed at the pun.

"gee Undyne...stop burning holes in my skull." He pointed to his eyes and then winked, but she wasn't looking at him anymore. That wasn't very funny anyways.

Toriel was chuckling despite the annoyed others, and the immensely stupid joke, but eventually she too noticed the direction of Undyne's gaze, which went right over San's head and to the staircase behind.

Everybody shared the same thought in that moment, though Asgore was quicker to say it out loud. "She is taking a while...I will go make sure she is coming." He stood, prepared to move, when the most unexpected interruption had him staring directly at the cause.

Sans jumped up and surprised everyone, including himself. "i'll go check on her." He offered to actually do something, and to say people were startled might be a minor understatement. It looked like Papy's jaw might fall right off.

As much as Sans did hate the idea of expending what little energy he had, and absolutely loathed spending it on Frisk, there was reason.

Toriel grabbed Asgore's hand and dragged him back down next to her. They gripped paws tightly. There was no was she was going to pass up this opportunity. She smiled at her husband, who didn't want the opportunity to slide either, then turned to look at the skeleton.

No way Sans was backing down anyway so he turned to head up the stairs. Everybody decided to resume chatting about celebration. No sense in having an awkward silence.

They were enjoying their day so far. The world was just waking up, as it was still slightly early, and once they decided on something to do for Frisk they would each go about their days, not sparing much more thought on the matter.

Sans wasn't having as much fun.

Each step seemed closer to death for he hated walking, even moving at all. It took a toll, and when Frisk was in proximity it took all of his effort to stop his bones from shaking out of their sockets. The kid seriously rattled him. And honestly, it wasn't like he hadn't given them a chance to be good. For a while there had always been hope for the kid. He could see the lost soul behind the knife, which was simply held to protect. They had never killed his brother at one point, and that had made Frisk worthy of a chance. Eventually time runs out however, and in that case it did. That first time, seeing Papyrus turn into dust after thinking that maybe the child, who had been more powerful than ever would stop, was hell.

After that the killing didn't stop. Not like he hoped.

He went through timeline after timeline, watching his brother die each time with no way to stop it. His life became meaningless, and the only difference was the child's fear, which seemed to grow each time he fought them.

It was crazy. They never once defeated him, always resetting and giving up, until finally the fear became tears that poured down her face and rolled over her faltering, wicked grin. Something happened after that, after he died, and the next time he saw Frisk she looked like a child, and there was not even a hint of dust in her hair.

But here he was with the inability to trust her. Not when each time he looked those eyes seemed redder, and that smile burned itself into his eyes.

He nearer the top of the stairs and paused for a moment in surprise.

He had heard Frisk sobbing through the wall before, but he had never actually seen her cry other than that one time in the last genocide, and he wasn't sure whether to call that crying or not.

No matter how many times they had nightmares and heard each other's silent screams, neither had heard the other simply die on the outside like they were on the inside.

And Sans heard that heartbreaking noise as he approached her door. His idea would have to wait for later.

It wasn't like each time he watched the bones pierce through her soul and when she drowned in her own blood, but it was painful to listen to. Sure the piercing screams of a murdered child were painful, but this was just pitiful.

Her sobs were just so...broken. Like there were a thousand breaking hearts poured into each sob. She couldn't even breathe it sounded like, and hiccuping was the only way she managed to get air. There was a morphed version of laughter mixed in coming from her too, that followed each hiccup with an indescribable crack.

His heart broke a little, but last time he tried to forgive her it did not end well.

Sans knocked on the door, and silence followed.

Her soft gasping was barely muffled, and he imagined both hands covering her face with the tears freely flowing. It morphed into that picture that haunted him, with the wicked smile behind splayed out, dusty fingers.

Frisk was panicking on the other side, with Chara trying to frantically calm her. It wasn't working and eventually she started panicking to.

Sans' smile faded and he tapped his forehead against the door, chuckling. He always smiled, but Frisk was never worthy of that permanent grin. His spine began to tingle.

"its a beautiful day outside…" There was a pause in his speech, and he heard Frisk shuffling around. "birds are singing...flowers are blooming...and on days like these, kids like you, should be burning in hell."

The words brought back a familiar fire. Something welcome. A burning revenge that had fueled him not so long ago. He laughed, and it was even darker than the quote for he heard Frisk begin to hyperventilate.

They were like that for a while. He had felt Frisk lean against the door and heard a small click as she locked it. She was shivering intensely, he could feel it through the door, and it gave him psychotic pleasure.

Eventually he got bored."welp, people are downstairs you know. i'll tell them you want to go for ice cream tomorrow, and you fell asleep." He paused, turning away from the door. "and don't run down the stairs this time during an attack. we don't want another scene. and whatever you're doing to make the others uncomfortable...stop."

The mental image of Frisk leaning on her door, shaking uncontrollably, sent wicked shivers down his spine.

He grinned, wider than he had in a while, and headed down the stairs. Undyne was watching him closely as soon as he appeared around the corner. Frisk wasn't with him.

He shrugged, reaching the bottom.

"kiddo was sleeping. I managed to ask though and she said she wanted to go for ice cream tomorrow." He sighed. "she is an awfully cute sleeper."

Toriel chuckled. If she wasn't cuddled against her husband, and obviously in love with him, most people would assume she had a 'schoolgirl' crush on Sans. She thought almost everything he did was funny, other than his and Frisk's constant bickering, but their friendship was just that. A friendship. It wasn't a very deep one, but in the past, when Sans would knock on the door and they would tell each other jokes for ages, something was formed then.

It was still there now, but more of a silent relationship.

Just a friendship.

Sans was friends with everybody else too, of course. He really didn't like Mettaton, but they both loved Papyrus, in different ways of course, but as long as the robot would watch his skeleton brother with his life it would be perfect. Sans wasn't really in a position to judge him however, for he had never been able to protect Papyrus.

If he had lips he might have bit them clean off. It was a good thing he didn't, then, but he ground his teeth together, sitting down next to Papyrus.

"I-I have to head to the lab…" Alphys stood, brushing off her cute dress. It was probably from some anime, knowing her. Undyne stood up as well, grabbing her wife's hand. She looked down at Alphys and kissed her on the nose, which elicited a blush.

"U-U-uhh….I-I...have some e-experiments...t-t-tooo…." She fidgeted, her fingers frantically pulling at her dress. Her face seemed to get redder by the second, and eventually Undyne saved her.

"Yup! See y'all. We got work to do. Let us know when you decide on a time for ice cream! We'll be there!" She reached out and grabbed the dinosaur, hurrying through the living room past everybody. They disappeared around the corner, and shortly after you could hear the door open and slam shut. Undyne undoubtedly took care of that.

Mettaton and Papyrus soon followed. They had some production stuff to work on. Mettaton was meeting with Nabstablook to discuss new music for their next production, and Papryus would need to prepare food for having their ghost friend over for dinner. He was very excited, and after bidding everyone a hasty farewell, practically exploded out the house.

Mettaton thought it was hilarious.

Sans headed up to his room, and Toriel and Asgore did whatever they usually did in the kitchen. It usually included lots of groaning from Asgore who still couldn't stand Toriel's overused food puns. Mettaton and Papyrus went to meet with Blooky, and Undyne and Alphys were at home, curled up and watching anime.

Sans's room seemed very bland at the moment. When he opened the door, there was this off sense that sent him shuddering. He never closed the door behind him, turning around and leaving the eyesore that he called 'organization.' It was a literate definition of his life.

He didn't know why he was leaving it to head to the little devil's room. He didn't know what possessed him to use his blue magic to unlock the door and open it, as well as move the child sitting behind it, who let out a scream. He didn't know why he stopped it by, once again, using his blue magic to seal her mouth shut before the cry could reach her oblivious parents.

Sans didn't know why he had done any of that until he basically dropped Frisk on the floor, sat down in front of her and spoke, making sure to lock the door behind him. "we need to talk."

The terror that morphed onto her face was priceless, and he held up his hand, snapping his fingers as soon as she opened her pretty little mouth.

Frisk screamed, Sans smiled, Chara cursed, and soon the two were gone. Chara was left behind, temporarily blinded by the powerful blast of blue light.

"Damn shortcuts!" She hissed, trying to contact Frisk.

But nobody came.