Note: Listen to the song, it's a lot of fun. But not mandatory for this chapter. Infact, I don't think it has anything in common with this chapter other than the question

Chapter 7: What is L.O.V.E.? (Baby don't hurt me)

"Faith... I don't want you to encourage that little girl to play with you. It's best for both of you to have no contact. With your heart cond-"

"I have every right to know my twin! I know what you are doing. She told me everything. She is a kid, and instead of living a life you keep her locked up in a sterile room, using her as spare parts. Every day I get blood and that same day hers gets drawn. You're vile." Faith practically snarled at the doctor, her normally kind brown eyes cold as stone.

"She's a bit young to be a twin. Eleven years is a huge age gap." The doctor didn't deny the charge of Frisk being Faith's blood source.

"She looks just like me. I don't know how but she is my twin. I demand that you at least transfer her to my room! I'm her big sister and I want her here!" Faith's anger sent her heartbeat into a range where the machines started beeping loudly in warning. "I want her where I can protect her!"

"It's not a twin. It was designed in a lab, a perfect match for you, but healthy. It has been helping keep you alive. It's purpose in life is to give it to you. The heart will be big enough to donate to you in a few months, maybe a year." Faith turned to see her mother standing in the door of her room, and Faith felt like the world had been drained of all color and sound. Her mother walked into the room, expensive fur coat being hung up on the hook, brand name purse left on the chair as heels clicked in measured steps towards the closet.

"Its job is to save you. I didn't want you to meet it because I knew you wouldn't understand." Her mother snapped her fingers, pointing at the closet door and the doctor opened it. With a graceful motion the small box of children's coloring books and supplies were slipped out from under the hiding place and into the center of the room.

"I refuse the transplant. I won't take her life. If she's the healthy child then she should be the one to have a life." Faith held her head high, shoulders squared back with as much authority as she could muster. "I won't let you kill my sister."

"Faith, it isn't a person. It may have your DNA, but it wasn't born, it came from a machine. You are my only child, my everything. You are a part of me. You are real. It is simply a means to an end." Faith watched powerless as the few things she had managed to get for Frisk were dumped into the trash bin. "Besides, you're not legally old enough to refuse the transplant. And the transplant will happen before you turn of age. If you want to get to know that thing be my guest. Break your heart all you want, you'll have a new one soon enough." Her mother smiled in a sickening way, Faith's heart literally skipping a beat, the monitor buzzing dully in the background of her mind as the only thing she could see was a cold emptiness of her mother's black eyes.

"Dad wouldn't do this. He wouldn't let you do this. You're a monster!" Faith held back her tears, hands fisted with unknown levels of hatred. No, this wasn't hatred, it was so much deeper, so much blacker, the same kind of blackness in her mother's eyes trying to take root in her own heart.

"Your father had a bleeding heart too. He gave so much of himself to helping others and that kindness got him killed. If he had just listened to me he might have been here to take your side. But he's not, that vagrant he was trying to save saw to that." Faith flinched at her mother's words. "See, when you try and care for others it just ends up hurting you. It got your father killed." Her mother walked closer, running perfectly manicured nails along Faith's cheek. Faith flinched back at the touch, the nails leaving red lines on her skin."I try and care for you and you accuse me of being a monster. That thing is physical proof of my love for you."

"You don't love me...you own me...you don't want me to die because it would make you look bad in front of the whole city." Faith hissed out, finally seeing her mother for what she was. "You only care about me living so all your hard work teaching me to be your successor won't be in vain. Well guess what, I won't ever be like you! I'll escape from here and expose you for what you are." Her mother suddenly gripped her chin in her hand, forcing Faith to be silent, the woman's composure still flawless, not so much as a wrinkle as she stared into her daughter's eyes.

"Sometimes love requires sacrifice, and that little thing, well, 'she' loves you so much that it doesn't mind. I stopped by earlier and explained everything. When I asked if it loves you it said it loves you with all its' heart." With her free hand the woman snapped again while pointing at her purse. Once more the doctor acted as a servant, grabbing a piece of paper and handing it over. The woman took it between her index and thumb nail, not directly touching the paper as if it was something unpleasant. It was held up so Faith's captive face could see it. It was Frisk's writing over a picture of a cartoonish red heart. 'My heart for sister.' "When I asked how much it loves you, it said it would die for you. So let's understand the situation. You need a heart, it wants to give you one. Once you are fixed, once you are perfect...you will go back to living your life as my daughter. The best schools, making all the right connections, and finally…" Faith could feel her face aching from the strong grip. Unable to get away or even protest. "You will go on and run this city, and this little thing will all just be a distant memory. Now get some rest." Her mother finally pulled away, collected her things and headed out the door. She stopped in the doorway and turned back to Faith. "If you try and tell anyone about this... You will get your new heart sooner rather than later. Cooperate and be an obedient girl, and maybe I'll let you have a visit with it again."

That night when Sans came home he didn't even bother going into the kitchen for dinner, instead sagging with exhaustion into his couch. Bags hung under his sockets, his pupils strained from reading all day, and every little shift of his body brought to the surface the soreness of sweat in his joints having frozen. Even though it took a lot to make a skeleton feel hot or cold, lava temperatures definitely made him sweat. He had somehow managed to get through a quarter of the material today, and his mind and body protested the sudden demands he was placing upon himself. Before Sans could realize it, he had passed out asleep on his couch, head slumped forward onto his sternum. Frisk walked out of the restroom, about to greet him when his snoring caught her attention. It sounded like a light rumbling sound with the soft clicking of bones every once in awhile on a particularly hard breath. She was once again in borrowed clothes from his closet, a baggy pair of pants and shirt. It was later than she had expected him home, Flowey already asleep in their pot and waiting for her to take them upstairs for bed. Sans had moved Toriel up to the room to keep her out of sight and yet in a place Frisk could go to check on her.

Frisk carefully moved towards Sans, afraid of startling him awake and accidentally getting attacked. Seeing how tired he was made her blush, feeling guilty because he was working so hard to help her. With a timid touch she brushed his arm, her voice low and calm.

"Sans…" When he didn't stir Frisk pressed a little harder, still gaining no response. Seems like he was really out of it, and that only made her feel worse. Steadying her resolve Frisk took off his boots, scrunching her nose at the smell but determined to finish her self assigned task. She tossed them back to the front door, wincing at the thudding they made. Peeking up at Sans she was relieved he hadn't woken up. Carefully she unzipped his coat, trying to not jostle him too much.

As she pulled his arms out of the coat she realized that his bones were much thicker than she had assumed, which explained how his clothes had fit her at all. She heard a sound as she tried to move his arm without pulling his shirt off, looking down to notice a piece of paper flutter out of his rib cage and onto his lap. Ignoring it for now she folded the coat neatly and set it on the coffee table. Satisfied that he was more comfortable now she went to the sink to wash her hands before grabbing two cups of water and his half empty mustard bottle. If he woke up she didn't want him to be thirsty. Thankfully he didn't seem bothered by the light, so she resumed her spot on the side of the couch to finish reading. Time passed by, Frisk feeling comfortable with the silence of the room and Sans' even breathing. Looking up from the textbook to give her eyes a rest after an hour or so she noticed the sticky note still in his lap. It probably just a few jokes he thought up or maybe some ideas for how to handle Toriel, but her curiosity urged her to check. Shifting in her seat she gingerly reached out to pick it up, her eyes darting up to make sure Sans was still asleep when his legs shifted. Not seeing any sign of him waking up she turned her gaze back towards his lap, seeing that his adjustment had caused the sticky note to fall between his legs. Of course it would, but instead of just leaving it be Frisk continued to reach out for it, pinching the small note in her fingers and pulling her hand back. A pained yelping sound outside caused Frisk to turn toward the window to pinpoint the source.

The sound caused Sans to jerk awake. Frisk was startled by his movement and tried to pull back in case he was hostile, only to lose her balance and end up bracing herself on his femurs. Sans was trying to adjust to his surroundings, noticing his shoes gone, his coat on the table, and soft hands on his thighs. Looking he saw Frisk, and watched as she blushed under his intense gaze. A lazy grin stretched over his face as he laid back into the couch, not removing his eyes from her face.

"Never pegged ya as a somnophile sweetheart. By all means, don't let me stop ya, would you like it better if I went back to 'sleep'? My safe word is blue sweetie." A chuckle escaped him as he shut his eyes, making a comically loud snoring sound. He cracked an eye socket to look at her as her blush deepened to a shade of red that could give his magic a run for its money. She nearly tossed herself into the arm of the couch to put a respectable amount of space between her and his lap.

"I wasn't doing anything creepy like that! I was just try to see what this note said." She said defensively, showing him the slip of paper she had taken. "It fell out from under your shirt."

"So did you strip me for fun?" He stretched out some more, leveling her with a playful look while taking the sticky note.

"No! I was trying to make you more comfortable, you passed out as soon as you sat down. I felt bad because you were so exhausted." She pouted at him, looking towards the floor.

"Ah sweetheart, don't bother yourself with that, I've always been a lazybone." He scratched the back of his head as he started looking around for the remote to the tv.

"Sans you really are doing a lot to help my family. I can't help mom... I can only try to make it easier all around."

"Is that a human thing?" He grumbled out as he picked up his mustard and started to drink it. He was fighting down a light glow of red on his cheeks that she had been so doting on him.

"Is what a human thing?" Her attention was back on him now, her embarrassment forgot in her curiosity.

"Your weird obsession with being helpful and saving her life even if it's already up." He said gruffly as he drank more mustard.

"Why would being nice and trying to help be weird? It's what family does. We care about each other and would die for each other." Frisk said with such conviction and passion Sans felt bad for suggesting otherwise.

"Because Monsters haven't been like that for centuries. Hell, some monsters kill their kids just for the L.O.V.E." He had killed for similar reasons. Not his own baby brother, but plenty of others.

"What the hell does that mean? Why would killing your own kids be love!?" She sounded so horrified, the way people had originally sounded when the king instituted the kill or be killed rules.

"You know what L.O.V.E. is sweetheart?" Sans fixed her with a look he usually reserved for his poker games.

"Love is...well...in the stories from the human world it's the most powerful force on earth, it conquers all evil. Love is the affection you have towards family, friends, and eventually the person you want to spend the rest of your life with." Frisk bit her lip and tried to think of how to explain it to him without making it just about family or romance. "Love is... kindness towards others, being just in your actions, perseverance through both the good and the bad times, patience to understand the other person, bravery to accept your faults as well as theirs, integrity in your promises and speech, and the determination to -" Frisk got more passionate with every word, her eyes shining brightly as she was so certain of herself.

"Whoa! Frisk, that's not what a monster means by L.O.V.E." He had no idea that humans used a simple four letters to try and mean all that. "It's an acronym for us. LV is short for L.O.V.E., and L.O.V.E. means Level Of ViolencE. It's a way to measure the ability of a soul, human or monster's to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others." Sans wished he had kept his mouth shut at the absolutely heartbroken look she gave him. Some part of him wanted to make her hurt though, to make her understand just how dangerous the world was for her. He let his magic flare up, pulling both their souls to let her compare them. "EXP, the stat next to your LV, it stands for EXecution Points. The EXP raises your LV. You...you couldn't hurt a spider, you have the lowest LV and EXP possible. No one knows what the max LV is, but no one has ever been seen with anything higher than 17, and that's what the King has. Me...well, I'm a 16...Paps...he is a 12. Your 'deer' old mom...she was a 4 when I checked her. That's about average for monsters that live in rural areas. Every LV is a magnitude of above the lower levels. The law says all monsters must have an LV of 4 before they become adults or else...they add to someone else's LV. The stronger an opponent, or at least the harder they are to kill, the more EXP. Guards need a minimum LV of 6 to join. That means usually killing about 50 monsters but if you live in areas with weak monsters it could be as high as 80." Sans watched in shock as Frisk's HP went from 20 down to 15 without being attacked.

"STOP! Please stop talking! That is horrible! I don't want to hear another word!" Frisk was crying from listening to him so callously explain a real life dystopia. "Please...don't say anything else. I can't take it!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she was sniffled, trying to keep herself from sobbing. Sans watched as her HP dropped another point, and he panicked, releasing their souls to retreat back to their bodies. Frisk was trembling as she curled into herself and cried, shoulders shaking as she felt so much grief for lives she had never even known existed but now knew had been cut short. Instead of enjoying her tears Sans wanted to comfort her. He reached out to her, his hand resting on her shoulder. "Why did you tell me this! Why? How could monsters use such a beautiful word for such a terrible thing!" Her brown eyes fixed on his own eyelights, glossy with despair, silently begging him to make this one of his sick jokes. To declare it a farce, an attempt at dark humor, to tell her it wasn't his reality.

"Because...I wanted to...I guess my LV is so high...I can injury your soul with my words alone. Your so delta damned sweet, some part of me just...just wanted to make you hurt. I don't know why...I'm sorry Frisk…" It was a shitty answer, but it was all he had. It was the only one that was honest.

"Is that why Blookie was so scared of me being here? Of being around you...because you're an executioner?"

Sans remained silent but he nodded, confirming her fears. "Sans...did you know in human stories, when humans draw or write about death...do you know what we all think death looks like?" Sans felt his brow bones knit together in confusion, trying to think if he had ever heard the answer to this question before. "Humans think death is a skeleton in a black robe, that carries a scythe to collect our souls from our flesh." He felt a cold shiver run down his spin, the sins of his youth clawing at his back.

"Why?" It was all he could say to her. If she knew he was a human killer, what would she do?

"When a human dies, after our flesh decays and returns to the earth, all that is left of us is our bones. Bones last for a very long time, and some even become fossilized, turned to stone, and that bone will be here for hundreds of thousands of years, long after everyone and everything that human knew and loved has also died. Seeing bones...it means a person has died...seeing bones scares humans because it forces us to think about death." Frisk was sitting on the floor, her back leaned up against the couch, her eyes red and puffy from tears and her voice broke a few times as she tried to talk calmly. She didn't look at him, her eyes were fixed on the lone golden flower she had brought with her. "What do monsters think death looks like?"

"Monsters don't have an image of death. At least not from ancient times, when we die we turn to dust. Nothing remains of us after we die. But I guess now...death looks like a mirror. We are our own deaths. It might have looked like humans centuries ago after the war." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his femurs to be more at eye level with her. "Why did you look at me like that the other day? Like you was scared of me?"

"Because you were going to kill me...You walked into the kitchen...and pulled me into a battle...You pulled so hard I feel off the counter. Your eye lights turned red…"

"I don't remember any of that." He dragged a hand along his skull, trying to make scene of what she was telling him. "Why did you think I would kill you?"

"Because everytime mom's eyes went red like that, when she pulled me into fights like that...it was always one hit kills. It's like she goes into this trance...where she just wants to kill."

"Then...how did you stop me from killing you?" He was trying to piece together what he could remember of that afternoon, only remembering her looking cute doing chores, and then...he was going to kiss her. Why did he not remember!

"A voice from the void told me to be brave...I told you a really bad joke...and it worked. It was like it snapped you out of the trance and then…" She blushed recalling how close and flirty he had gotten with her. "Blookie came in to save me."

"How could you tell I was in this...murder trance? Your mom doesn't seem like she would ever hurt you." Sans was trying to keep this all together. He was going to have to write this down, it was way too much to handle right now. His skull was throbbing and he wanted sleep.

"It happened a lot when I was little, but her LV started going down and she had fewer of those episodes. It's been a few years since she had any actually. I usually just ran away and hid patiently till she was back to normal." Frisk didn't know why she was opening up to Sans when he just confirmed he was a prolific killer. Some part of her must have known, some part of her wanted to run and hide, but this other force inside her wanted her to stay and talk.

"That's not possible. Once your level goes up, it stays up. No force on earth is able to wipe away those stats." Sans knew personally. He had tried so long to figure it out before he gave up and just...let it grow.

"No, her LV went down Sans, I know it did. She used to be LV 8, but you said it yourself, she's only a 4. She doesn't have those trances anymore, and she's a wonderful loving mother now." Frisk looked into Sans eye lights, and even if he couldn't see it her hp restored a point.

"Shut up and get out of my face. I'm bone tired, and listening to your stupidity is giving me a headache. You and your shitty fairy tales go up to bed and leave me alone before I change my mind and add you to my LV, or drag you to the king and let him take yer fucking soul." Sans snarled out, Frisk flinching at his harsh words but she didn't respond. This conversation left them both raw emotionally. She silently collected the flower and went up to bed. As soon as her door closed Sans could hear a soft stifled sobbing. He snarled and tossed the mustard bottle, teleporting up the stairs and about to rip open the door when he heard Frisks voice whispering to the source of the crying. He pressed his skull against the door silently, trying to listen to what was going on.

"Flowey...shoosh...it's okay, I promise...no matter what happens, you don't have to be around him anymore. I am so sorry flowey...if I knew what had...that he had...I never would have subjected you to being around him. I promise, I won't leave you with him. Please stop crying Flowey. Big sis is here, and I'm going to protect you and Mom, and we can go home. Your big sister is here and I'm going to fix everything."

"We wanna go home Frisk...please just take us home...he's not lying...he steals souls Frisk...he killed us so many times Frisk...he'll take it so fast." The sobbing was becoming hysterical now, and Sans recognized it as the voices from the kids in Tori's house.

Sans felt like the world was falling away beneath him as he found himself in the void, no destination in mind. Those kids, they had made him feel determined...the last time he had felt that way...he had been killing them, or delivering the last two to the king to be killed. Now...somehow those same kids...he should have recognized them...but their faces like thousands of others...had just been a blur. He was drowning...he was being crushed under the weight of his sins, of countless deaths. When he finally opened his sockets he found himself sitting on a park bench in waterfall, that was hidden in the flower bridge room.

Sans just stared at one of the simple little pink buds that floated aimlessly in the water till it met up with any of its kin to begin blooming. So caught up in his sins he never heard the sloshing of water or the metallic clinking of armor, or even the tell tale thrum of magic being summoned. His soul was yanked into a battle, and before Sans was able to teleport away a spear passed through his soul, turning him green, rendering his teleportation useless. He was about to summon his blasters to vaporize the assailant when Undyne punched him, sending him into unconsciousness.

"I am going to make the kingdom understand. If I get rid of the executioner, if I dust you then I can force the king to step down, to surrender control, because if I can kill you, then he will know I can kill him. Once he steps down, once he is out of power, we can stop the killing. I'm sorry, but your death will be the last one I am responsible for, I promise." Undyne tied him up, making sure he was still green as she marched off with him slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She didn't spare a glance to check her surroundings, or else she would have seen Napstablook hiding in a shadowy corner, debating with himself if he should help. His indecision ended up in inaction as Sans was taken deeper into waterfall. When Napstablook finally looked up he realized he had failed Frisk, because even though there was no reason for him to help Sans, Toriel still needed Sans's help. If Toriel and Sans died Frisk would be defenseless because her disguises would fail, and be quickly ratted out to the king by the monsters living in Snowdin. If Napstablook wanted to save Frisk's soul from being harvested, he was going to have to save Sans. Not liking it Napstablook took a steadying breath, and turned his headphones off so he could try and follow after the rouge royal guardswoman.

Chapter end.