A/N: Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. If you follow me at all anywhere then you've noticed that I definitely haven't been dead, lol, just doing a whole bunch of other stuff. My muse is all over the place right now. I have so many ideas.

That being said, my updating schedule will continue to be wonky. I've gotten some rather unfortunate news, so I'll be on a semi-hiatus. Which means my updating schedule is fucked, however I will try to update whenever possible. I'm writing all day today, so I'm hoping to update Fallen Children as well. I've also posted a new story today. So I'm on a roll!

I will still be alive and taking questions and stuff on my ask blog. Please feel free to send some! Also come chat with me on my tumblr if you wish!

That being said, thank you for my beta joviamod's work!

Please leave a review if you enjoyed!

Frisk was being quiet. This wasn't unusual because Frisk was often a quiet child who prefered to get their point across through sign language and facial expressions, but this silence was different. Usually Frisk held a type of atmosphere around themselves most of the time. This atmosphere tended to be relaxed most days. Today, however, the atmosphere felt tense and withdrawn. It called for Sans to try to soothe the human, but he knew he couldn't. Not at the time. Only time would return Frisk to their normal self.

Frisk had a Bad Day yesterday. Their arm was still bandaged from them hurting themselves, but Sans knew that would heal soon. He was more concerned with their state of mind at the moment. Frisk wouldn't talk to him and had retreated into themselves. He saw them reacting to Mr. Harrington -almost like the two of them were having a conversation without words- but other than that they held a dulled look to their normally bright eyes as they stared off at nothing. The sounds of the TV at least helped with the stifling silence. Frisk often glanced at Sans warily, their facial expressions showing an innocent fear he hadn't seen since they had first met, but they never approached him. Sans knew better than to get close to them.

He wanted to help them in some way. He hated seeing Frisk upset. Their fear of him was a physical presence that seemed to compress his ribcage and leave him struggling. Every shift he made on the bed caused them to flinch a bit. Sans felt sick at the sight, reminding him of when he had attacked them in his anger over Gaster. He knew he was helping them most by staying away, but he felt more the coward for it. He knew that he wasn't only staying away to help them. Just the sight of them curled up in the corner staring at him with wide eyes was causing him to remember his own trauma. He had to force himself to focus more on whatever was on the TV for both of their sanities.

Sans had called up Tori midway through the day and had explained the situation to her. Toriel had been distraught knowing Frisk was doing badly, but there was nothing either of them could do. Sans couldn't risk moving Frisk until they was ready to go. Toriel had instead given him some advice on how to coax Frisk to eat. Sans hadn't bothered to attempt it. Toriel's sins against Frisk were minimal compared to Sans's. The only time Tori had killed Frisk had been by accident, after all.

So Sans waited it out. The few times Frisk got up was to hesitantly creep around the bed to go to the bathroom. Sans always made sure to leave some water and food near their corner for whenever they came back. Mr. Harrington, it seemed, had been placed in charge of watching Sans whenever the human had been away.

Sans knew that Frisk was aware of their actions. He could see it in the moments of clarity when Frisk wasn't lost adrift on the waves of their suffocating emotions. Sans understood the feeling of disconnect between what he logically knew he should be doing and the emotional turmoil that was the volatile cocktail of his depression and PTSD on his Bad Days. It was hard to control. Sans didn't think that Frisk had it as bad emotionally as he did sometimes, but their memory was much longer than his. They were probably more lost in their thoughts than their emotions. Sans could only guess. The human wouldn't talk to him.

Eventually the evening bloomed again and Sans knew they needed a plan for the next day. They had money to stay another night, but Sans couldn't stomach the thought of staying in that room for another day. However recovery after such a traumatic event could be . . . tenuous. He didn't want to accidentally make things worse by pushing Frisk to go sooner. He needed to discuss it with them. He waited until one of their closer moments of clarity to call their name. He made sure to stay far away from them.

It took a couple tries, but Frisk eventually looked up from their conversation with Mr. Harrington. They startled a little at the sight of Sans before they realized that they weren't anywhere dangerous. Was this Sans's bedroom? For a moment they couldn't figure out which bedroom they were even picturing. Sans seemed to be the only steady thing in a shifting world. Frisk gripped what they could of the rug to keep from being thrown from the timeline. Wait, why had they looked up? They glanced at Mr. Harrington with some distress. The skeleton (dressed in summer clothing, the silly guy! Where was his suit?) informed Frisk that Sans was trying to talk to them. Oh.

Frisk looked back again at Sans. The room no longer spun. Frisk blinked hard to break the surface of their confused thoughts. Why did their arm sting?

"hey." Sans called again. His voice was surprisingly gentle. He only used that whenever Frisk needed comfort. Frisk wanted to hear his voice vibrating against his ribcage as they pressed their ear to it. Why was he over there? "kiddo, can you hear me?"

They were becoming distracted again. Mom would be upset. They nodded to him.

"that's good. how are you feeling?"

That was an odd question. Had something happened to them? Various possibilities ran through their head before suddenly jolting to a stop as their arm throbbed again. They remembered now. They weren't having a good day. The fact that their mind was all over the place was proof of that. This was the mild part of their Bad Days, Frisk knew. They wondered if they would be plunged back into their fear. If they stayed awake, it was better. Tears still gathered a bit in their eyes, though. They hated feeling like this. What if they lost control again? Was this really going to be a permanent thing with them?

"I don't know." They confessed to him. They gazed down at their knees as they drew their legs into their chest. At least they were clothed now. "My mind is . . . scrambled again."

"is that normal?" Sans asked.

"Sometimes." Frisk swallowed thickly. They could hear jazz mixed among the static in their head. They wanted to listen to other music, but their mom always insisted on jazz. They flinched violently when Sans touched their arm, and Sans held his hands up, backing away from them again. They didn't miss the pained look that crossed his eyes. It was probably because he needed to tell Papyrus about Gaster, didn't he? No, wait, that already happened. And Papyrus was dead. Wasn't he? No . . .

"frisk, just answer me this. do you want to go home?"

Home? "My parents don't want me." Frisk told him. Why was he so close? They felt like they were going to suffocate. They pressed themselves further into the corner. Sans gave them more space. Frisk could breathe again.

"no, not them. to tori and asgore."

Right. Frisk lived with Toriel and Asgore now. They hadn't seen or heard from their human parents in years. "No." Frisk found themselves saying before everything had fully processed. Why were they saying no? It would be good to see their parents. Toriel would protect them. Toriel didn't like to hurt Frisk. It was okay. They would be okay with her. Not like Sans. Sans wanted to kill them.

But no, he was their friend. What timeline was it? Had they killed anyone? They remembered going on dates with Sans. They had been sleeping with him earlier. They had slept with him a bunch of times!

"Jacket." Frisk begged. Sans pulled it out from his subspace and passed it to them. Frisk flinched at the movement, and then berated themselves as they took the jacket with shaking hands. The bandage on their arm was disturbing them. Their skin was crawling. Was that static?

They pulled the jacket on quickly, and the sight of the bandage disappeared. Some part of Frisk relaxed as they buried their nose into the familiar fluff of Sans's jacket. It smelled like home. One of Frisk's homes. Frisk could cry. They felt a bit steadier.

"kid, we need to leave the room. can you walk?" Sans asked once they had calmed down more.

"Yes." Frisk's body felt stiff and exhausted as they climbed to their feet. They grabbed Mr. Harrington desperately and held him close as they faced Sans. Why were they taller than him now? Weren't they supposed to be the same size? Wait, Frisk was eighteen now. They weren't a kid anymore. Right. Right.

Sans watched them, his eye sockets sympathetic but wary, before he nodded and led the way from the room. His moped was sitting in the parking lot. It was cold outside despite it being summer. Frisk shivered some. The cold helped to clear their wool-filled mind. Sans climbed onto the moped and pulled on his helmet. Frisk followed suit automatically.

"Where are we . . . going?" They asked.

"i have an idea. can you hang onto me?"

"Yeah." Frisk hesitated before wrapping their arms around Sans's waist. His pudge was familiar to them. The feeling of his spine pressing against the jacket was not new to them. They clung to these facts as Sans drove off. He must have already checked out and Frisk hadn't realized.

It was a struggle, Sans could tell, for Frisk to keep their mind steady. It worried him. He wasn't sure this was only a component of being triggered by their nightmares. Ever since being attacked by Gaster, their mind could never seem to stay on the same timeline forever. It had messed them up. As they got older, Sans was noticing it was becoming steadily worse. He hoped he was imagining it. He considered getting them another piece of jewelry made of anti-time material. They may need it.

At least they seemed to be mostly recovered from the bad part of their Bad Day. Now it looked like they were just making an effort to reassert themselves in this timeline. They kept asking him questions while he drove, some of which had nothing to do with their situation at the moment. They sometimes wondered why Ebott looked like the place they were in, even though Ebott looked nothing like the chilly landscape.

As it became darker outside and colder, Frisk seemed to become steadier. They had to stop for the human to eat and use the restroom and to change into warmer clothing a couple of times. Sans only briefly got some fuel for his bike as well. They kept asking him where they were going, but eventually they stopped.

Frisk huddled in on themselves. "Are we . . . camping?" They asked as Sans laid out a blanket. He plopped down on it and patted the spot next to him. Frisk joined him and curled up against his body, even though they would get no warmth from him. They summoned a couple fireballs to warm themselves up.

"nah. been wantin' to show you this. figured now would be a good time, although we had to take the long way."

"You mean the normal way." Frisk teased as a fireball brushed their nose. Sans squished the warm fire to their face until it burst, making the human grin. Sans's soul felt a little lighter at the thought. With the flames dancing around them, Sans could see the darkness under and within his human's eyes still. He tapped his skull to theirs.

"look up." He told them, and Frisk did. Their mouth fell open at the beautiful sight of the aurora borealis. Sans felt himself thrill as their hand found his to squeeze. It was more lovely than he had thought it would be. The colors danced across the sky. It was better than seeing them from space on a screen.

"Wow. I never thought . . ."

"it's the magnetosphere." Sans told them, the information from his studies eager to be told. "when charged particles from the sun hit it, these colors form."

Frisk leaned their head on his shoulder, watching the movement of the bands of light as Sans continued to tell them all he knew about the phenomenon. His voice was a balm for their exhausting day. They wanted to sleep, but didn't want to miss the sight.

"when we get the chance, let's see the ones in the southern hemisphere as well."

"There are some there too?" They asked with a yawn.

"yeah." He looked at them, seeing their eyes drooping. "c'mon. there's a shortcut nearby we can take. you need to sleep somewhere warmer."

"In a few more minutes." Frisk denied, smiling at him before looking back at the sky. "I want to stay like this for a bit longer." They turned their head a bit more against his cheekbone. Sans joined them in watching the sky.

"sure." He told them. "few more minutes."