"Here we are home sweet home." Sans sighed with a wide grin on his face. Frisk looked around and was pleasantly surprised that she was back in the skeleton's house. What made her a bit uneasy was the fact that they were in the said skeleton's bedroom and it was strangely clean. Huh? When did he start cleaning his room? She looked around and saw his bed made and a mattress on an actual bed frame. The floor was free of any socks or garbage that Sans would bring to his room, and no self-sustaining tornado or treadmill. Frisk couldn't imagine what caused Sans to start cleaning in the first place, but it did make her happy.
"So uh...as you can see I really cleaned up my act." Sans stammered.
"I see that," Frisk giggled, "but that doesn't answer the question in my head."
"oh? and what might that be, kiddo?"
"Why are we in your room in the first place?" Frisk grasped her chin delicately with her fingertips and examined the room thoroughly.
Sans rubbed the back of his skull, "well kinda figured ya wanted to discuss my old man in a more comfortable setting, rather than with your mom and pops right there."
"I suppose so, we always did share secrets behind closed doors, huh?" Frisk smiled warmly.
Sans motioned for Frisk to sit, she moved towards the edge of Sans' bed and sat down sighing and her shoulders fell a little, "Where would you like me to start?"
Sans placed his hands in his jacket's pockets, "the beginning: how did you find him?"
Frisk fiddled with her hair, "It wasn't that hard...I had once found a shard of his former self within the Underground in Waterfall...behind a closed gray door. Once I had Asriel back to his former self, I needed to find a way to find peace for Chara." Frisk shook her head and grasped her forehead, "Chara...she was trying to find a way to take control of me once again...I felt her pain and anger at all times and I was desperate...I needed some way to either defeat her or appease her."
Sans sighed, "so you decided to bring a killer back to life, the same killer who influenced you in the Underground."
"Say what you will about Chara, she was a child once and she deserved a way to redeem ourselves...we all did. I had a sense of camaraderie between both Asriel and Chara, like they understood what I was going through...more than anyone else. So I couldn't bring myself to end Chara's existence."
"So where does my old man come into play?" Sans inquired
"Asriel and I had heard of his existence before, so we went back to the location I had found him before, and it wasn't a shock that the door had disappeared. After some time we decided to tinker with a bit of my STATS."
"STATS?" Sans raised a brow bone.
"Mhm," Frisk nodded as she made her menu appear, the several actions available to her were illuminating the otherwise dim lit room. "It took a while and a lot of work but I was able to manipulate a STAT I had that I I was unaware of, my FUN level."
"FUN? Interesting name." Sans huffed.
"Exactly, and when I set it to 66," Frisk said bringing up her console commands, "I was able to interact with Gaster."
"And he just agreed to help you? Just like that?"
Frisk shook her head, "When we found him, he was completely unresponsive. We were almost sure it was a lost cause when I had mentioned you and Papyrus he finally spoke...he almost seemed regretful. In pain. As if somehow he'd hurt you two in some way, but he wouldn't explain. We told him our predicament and after some convincing he was placed on our team and we did some experimentation to find a way to expel Chara from my soul."
"At the Hotland Labs?"
Frisk looked down on the ground, "ummm…"
"Frisk..?"
"I um...kinda used yours…"
Sans' eye sockets went pitch black, "YOU USED MY LAB!?"
"Only for a bit!"
Sans growled, "I entrusted you with the knowledge of that place and you just gave it up, like that?"
"I'm not stupid Sans, the majority of your research and personal items were stowed away from Gaster and Asriel. If anyone knows about it, it's Chara and I'd doubt she'd care."
"I see." Sans mumbled.
"I'm sorry but we needed a place I know no one would look. And the only person who knew about it was you, and I knew you left all of that behind you."
"Even so my old man isnt the best person to deal with. He abandoned Paps. He abandoned me." Sans glared at the young person
"Doesn't he deserve redemption...don't we all?" Frisk eyes moistened in unshed tears staring deep into Sans' soul.
Sans' gaze softened as he gave a sigh, "Alright so you needed his help resurrecting Chara, after that happened, what followed?"
"The final plan was to give back the lives of the children who had died by Asgore's hand," Frisk explained, "I was using the same technique to revive Chara, but without their bodies and my willful determination, I ended up corrupting them and unleashing the Void caused by the chaos and manipulation of the timelines." Frisk shook her head, "All of this, again, is my fault. All this destruction and violence...I wish sometimes I was never given the ability to RESET, because it can be so hard to resist since all I've done so far is make things more complicated."
"Frisk…" Sans started, "i may not be completely ok with you meddling with all this, but im going to help you, no matter what. I mean, i am always looking out for you."
"But what I did…" Frisk mumbled. Sans grasped her cheek and brought her gaze to his. He rested his forehead on hers and gave a small chuckle.
"I know, but we will fix this. You will not beat yourself about this, kiddo."
Frisk gave a small smile as she placed her hand on Sans' as she leaned into his touch,"I've missed you."
Sans chuckled, "You've already said that, Frisk."
Frisk hummed, her chest radiating a warm red light, "But I mean it, I really do."
Sans smiled, "I can tell, youre positively glowing."
"Huh?" Frisk stared down to see her chest illuminating the room. She blushed furiously, as she turned away from Sans, "I-I...that's...this is...embarrassing."
"Embarrassing?" Sans asked curiously.
"Sans...um..I-I…" Frisk stammered
"Yes?" Sans asked, staring into her wide brown eyes. Damn, looking at her like this...I can't help it, i just wanna be closer.
Frisk's eyelids were fluttering closed and she attempted to lean forward, when a loud sound of a door being slammed open was heard from downstairs shocking the pair out of their haze.
"What was that?" Frisk asked.
Sans summoned his magic, making his left eye glow blue, "wait here."
Frisk's eyes widened, "Sans.."
"I mean it, Frisk, stay put." Sans ordered the human, who reluctantly stayed put. Sans peered downstairs to see a shadowy figure stalking the first floor of his house. Sans felt his metaphorical skin crawl, this must be one of those corrupted souls, like hell am i lettin' this thing near Frisk. Quickly, he teleported downstairs and attacked the shadow with several illuminating bones. The shadow deflected each one with its own purple magic, shocking Sans. no...it cant be….
"ENOUGH!" Frisk yelled from the top of the stairs, "both of you!"
Sans looked at her bewildered, "what are ya talkin' about, kid? This guy just trespassed my living room."
"I'm surprised you wouldn't recognise your own father," Frisk said as she stepped down the stairs, switching the living room light on. Sans turned back to see Gaster, alive and mostly well, with a large dark trench coat and his skeletal hands behind his back. He wore a plain beige turtleneck and equally dark pants and dress shoes. The estranged father stared at his son with surprised eye sockets with his son mirroring his expression.
"G, when did you arrive?" Frisk asked Gaster.
"As soon as I realized your soul was reacting the way it did, I was unsure whether you were engaging in conflict or not and it was unclear that you had Prince Asriel or Chara with you."
"I am unharmed as you can tell." Gaster nodded turning his attention towards his son.
"Sans...my son." Gaster said under his breath
Sans scoffed crossing his arms, "your son huh? Is that what you call me after leaving both Paps and I to fend for ourselves?"
"I did what I believed was correct at the time. To make risks for the monster world." Gaster replied
"By sacrificing yourself, despite how selfish it was. We needed you. Paps needed you. I needed you and you threw us away for nothing."
"Sans…I did what I thought was right, but leaving my two sons behind to fend for themselves is probably the worst thing I have ever done."
"So what? Now ya come to apologize?" Sans barked a mocking laugh, "It's been too long, too many years have passed. Ya just think you can come back to open arms and act like I don't have a bone to pick with you?"
Gaster was silent for a moment before he released a breath, "I once had a son, who trusted that I would come back, and trusted that I would always return the promise of seeing the world above the Underground. That trust I betrayed when I became to preoccupied by my obsession of DT." Sans stared at his father with softened eye sockets as he could feel his hatred waning. In truth he had missed his father, he was reminded of him constantly in the Underground. Seeing him here, in his home in the outskirts of Ebbott, it made all his emotions come crashing down. "I only wanted to see my children one last time, and ask them to forgive me for the sins I have committed as a neglectful father."
"Gaster...you didn't have to say that." Frisk spoke
Gaster smiled, "Yes, I know my child, but my sons needed to hear it."
Sans quirked a brow bone up, "Sons?"
Gaster cleared his throat, "I didn't arrive alone, Sans. Perhaps if Papyrus appears from his reconnaissance point, you'd understand." Gaster turned around to face the doorway, "Come on out Papyrus."
"NYEH HEH HEH," Papyrus appeared in the door frame, saluting his father, "OF COURSE, THE GREAT PAPYRUS SNEAKS UP ON MY BROTHER AND THE HUMAN ONCE AGAIN!"
"Jeez bro, ever heard of privacy?" Sans huffed shoving his hands in his hoodie pockets.
"WELL THIS IS OUR LIVING ROOM, SANS, NOT YOUR ROOM, AND I COULDN'T LET OUR DAD JUST WANDER AROUND OUTSIDE TORIEL'S HOME."
"Hm?" Frisk hummed, "You followed me too?"
"Of course, dear child," Gaster nodded, "after all, you had been gone for an extended period of time and it was quite unusual."
"Ok so ya followed her, now you can leave," Sans grumbled.
"Sans!" Frisk protested, narrowing her eyes on him, "He's your father, and he's helped me on more than one occasion."
"He has also caused Paps and i a lot of pain."
"BUT I WANT HIM TO STAY, SANS!" Papyrus interrupted.
"Paps…" Sans mumbled
"HE DESERVES A CHANCE FOR REDEMPTION, JUST LIKE THE HUMANS AND THE PRINCE!" Papyrus vehemently defended his father. Sans could see that Papyrus was overjoyed by the fact that their father was not only alive but in their new home Aboveground. And when it came to Papyrus, Sans was a giant push over.
Sans sighed, "ok, alright. But he gets to rest his bones on the couch."
"Sans!" Frisk scolded him, "I will sleep on the couch, G will take the guest room."
"Absolutely not, Frisk," Sans interjected, "You just returned home, I don't want you to sleep on that thing."
"And you'd let your own father sleep on it?" Frisk asked.
"I….fine, i'll sleep on the couch." Sans sighed.
"Sans…" Frisk eyes softened.
"Don't worry about it, just get some rest kiddo." Sans spoke as he walked away. Frisk couldn't help but feel as though she had done something terribly wrong….
I'm sorry for the delay you guys! I had a crazy work schedule and worked without breaks sometimes. Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed the newest installment and READ and REVIEW, all comments are welcomed!
