Brothers Don't Always Get Along

Hard pounding at the door made Frisk jump. She turned toward the sound, anguish settling in her gut. She couldn't make Sans do this. It wasn't fair of her to make him choose between her or his brother.

She watched with increasing nausea as Sans went to answer the door. As soon as he answered it, a tall skeleton forced his way in, pushing Sans back.

"WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, SANS?" the monster boomed.

Frisk looked him over. He was at least a foot taller than Sans and wore a black shirt covered in a red cape. His tight black pants were held up with a red belt that had a skull buckle, and he had tall, red boots on his feet. His hands were covered in red gloves as well. He had a scar on his left eye socket, and his teeth were sharp fangs like Sans', only his were chipped and ragged.

"Back the fuck off, Boss," Sans warned, his magic already flaring.

"YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU THREATEN ME."

"I didn't try for any of this to happen; it just did." Sans took a step back and held up his hands like he was surrendering. "Just…please don't hurt her. I'm beggin' ya, bro."

Boss narrowed his eye sockets. "DON'T CALL ME THAT."

Frisk licked her lips and took a step forward. "But you are his brother, aren't you?"

Boss' eye lights snapped to Frisk, and his sockets narrowed further to glare at her. "WAIT YOUR TURN, BITCH."

He lifted a hand, and Frisk felt a strange tug in her chest. Before she could comprehend what was happening, her body was shoved backward, and she slammed into the wall. She blinked hard and took a moment to catch her breath.

Sans growled and reached out to grab Boss' soul. He lifted the monster up and squeezed. "You might be stronger physically, but I got the stronger magic. You wanna make a bet about who will win?" He squeezed again, twisting his hand, and causing Boss to cry out in pain.

"Sans, put him down! I'm okay." She pushed herself back up the wall and put her hand over her chest. "I'm okay," she repeated.

Before Sans could make a decision, Boss threw a pulse of magic that knocked Sans backward several feet. Boss fell to the floor in a heap, gasping for air as Sans scrambled back to his feet.

"Are you okay?" Frisk hollered, rushing forward to check on Sans.

Sans wanted to tell her to go back where she was. He wanted to push her away and out of danger. He didn't have a chance.

Boss stood up and threw his hand out, a wave of bones shooting forward. Sans raised his hand, creating a wall to protect both him and Frisk from the onslaught. The wall cracked with the impact but held well enough. He pushed Frisk behind him and threw his own attack at his brother.

"I WILL KILL HER, SANS; YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, DON'T YOU?" Boss took a step forward, dodging a bone.

"You ain't gonna fuckin' touch her." He tried to grab Boss' soul, but the taller monster pulsed his own magic to deflect the attempt.

"YOUR UNION WITH HER IS UNNATURAL AND WILL END IN BLOOD. WHAT KIND OF FUTURE DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE HERE? I WOULD BE DOING YOU A FAVOR TODAY, SPARING YOU THE PAIN OF LOSING HER TO YOUR OWN OFFSPRING."

Sans flinched and threw a barrage of bones at his now enemy. "We ain't gonna have any fucking offspring." Problem solved.

Frisk gripped the back of Sans' jacket, the words spoken between the two skeletons clutching her attention in a vice grip. They could have children together? What did Boss mean that their relationship would end bloody? What was Sans not telling her?

"SOMETHING TELLS ME YOU HAVEN'T DISCUSSED THAT WITH HER."

"The fuck does it matter to you?"

"IT REALLY DOESN'T, BUT IT'S INTERESTING TO ME THAT SHE'S GOING TO DIE BEFORE SHE GETS A CHANCE TO KNOW WHAT SHE REALLY MEANS TO YOU. I'M NOT SURE YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS TO YOU. THAT'S EVEN BETTER. YOU'LL FEEL IT ON YOUR SOUL WHEN SHE'S DEAD."

Frisk felt another tug on her chest and gripped Sans' jacket tighter. Despite her grip, she still flew backward and slammed into a counter at the far end of the room. She felt something in her back snap with a hot, sharp shock and screamed out to Sans as she crumpled to the floor. She tried to get up and go back to him but found she couldn't move her legs.

"Sans!" she cried out. She needed him to help her, but she was so scared that Boss would hurt him if he was distracted.

Sans took a deep breath, stopping himself from reacting reflexively to what Boss had just done. Instead, he built up his magic, gripped Boss' soul, and pulled him close.

"You're gonna regret that," he growled.

Boss chuckled as he was dragged closer. "WE ALL KNOW YOUR BARK IS WORSE THAN YOUR BITE, SANS. YOU DON'T HAVE THE FUCKING GUTS TO KILL ME."

"Sans!" Frisk cried out again. "Please…I know you'll regret it if you hurt him."

Sans shook his head. A tiny part of his soul wanted to listen to Frisk, but the rest of him wanted to make Boss eat his words.

"He's your brother!" Frisk sobbed, praying she wouldn't have to watch Sans kill his own brother for her. "Don't you have any good memories? Didn't you like each other once?"

"YOU'RE GOING TO LET YOURSELF GET TALKED OUT OF THIS, SANS. WE BOTH KNOW IT. AND WHEN YOU PUT ME DOWN, I'LL FINISH WHAT I STARTED. SHE WILL DIE TODAY."

Sans growled and twisted his hand, clenching his fist tighter. Boss cried out and grasped at his chest. As Frisk started to say something else, he reached out his other hand toward her. He pushed her gently against the cabinet and forced her to shut her mouth.

"Shut up," he growled at her. "This ain't your fight."

He turned his attention back to his brother. "I got more guts than you, apparently," he snarled. "How many times you threaten to kill me, huh? You never once got as far as I got today." Another squeeze of his fist caused Boss to groan and pull his legs up, fighting for some kind of relief. "You're gonna be beggin' me to let you live."

He lifted Boss up higher until his head hit the ceiling. With a low growl, he flung his hand down, causing Boss to slam against the ground. He didn't stop to give the other monster any relief. With a wave of his arm, Boss slid across the room and crashed into the wall by the bed. A loud crack was heard as a rib was broken.

"SANS!"

"Shut your fuckin' mouth. Unless you're beggin' for your life, I don't wanna hear a fuckin' thing."

Frisk tried to speak but found that she couldn't open her mouth. She tried grunting and reaching out to Sans; he didn't seem to notice her at all. Instead of watching him do something she knew would haunt him for the rest of his life, she closed her eyes and curled up as much as she could into herself.

Boss attempted to pulse his magic. Sans braced himself and pulsed his own to counteract the attack. With another wave of his arm, Boss slid across the floor and slammed into the opposite wall. Before he could even grunt in pain, an onslaught of sharp bones came out of the wall and pierced his body in several places.

"SANS, PLEASE!"

Sans ripped Boss away from the bones, chipping Boss' arms and legs in the process. "You know what I'm capable of, bro. How far you really think I'm willin' to go to get what I want?"

Boss panted as dust tumbled from his wounds. "I UNDERESTIMATED YOU," he puffed. "I'M…I'M SORRY, BROTHER."

"I don't hear no beggin'." He gripped his fist tighter, causing Boss to cry out again.

"AAH! PLEASE, BROTHER. I WILL NOT KILL HER."

Sans narrowed his eye sockets and squeezed tighter still. "I want you to fucking beg."

"SANS, I AM BEGGING YOU. PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME. PLEASE, BROTHER."

"Heal her, and I might consider letting you live."

Boss nodded. Sans dropped him and kept his eyes on him as he crawled over to Frisk. He stood close by, hovering to make sure Boss didn't do anything stupid.

Boss knew better. He'd knew when to admit he'd been beaten. Instead of trying to get sneaky or break his promise, he did as he was told.

Frisk stared at Boss with wide, terrified eyes as he put his gloved hands on her. She was afraid of the pain but was shocked to find that her body was completely numb. He met her eyes, and she realized that she felt bad for him as he panted and pulsed a hot, orange energy into her. It took him a few tries to get enough magic to do the job. She felt something snap inside her, and suddenly she could feel her legs again. They didn't tingle or hurt at all; it was if the injury had never even happened.

Boss sat back and looked up at Sans. "SHE'S HEALED. YOU SHOULD RELEASE HER."

"Don't fuckin' tell me what to do," Sans growled. Without releasing Frisk, he stepped back and pointed at the door. "Now get the fuck out of here."

Boss nodded and struggled to his feet. He walked unsteadily to the door. Before he left, he took a second to regain his composure. He couldn't appear weak in front of other monsters. After a semi-deep breath—as deep as he could muster with his broken rib—he opened the door and left.

Frisk tried to get up, but realized she was still pinned to the cabinet. She couldn't open her mouth, either. She reached up and tugged on Sans' shorts.

Sans looked down at her and realized he really should let her go. He released his magic and held out his hand to help her up.

"You okay? How you feelin'?"

Without a word, she slapped him across the face and walked away. She wouldn't admit that her hand hurt from the contact with hard bone.

"The fuck was that?" he demanded, turning to follow her.

"You don't tell me to shut up," she spat at him and sat on the bed. "And you don't make me watch you hurt other people."

Sans growled. "What, you wanted me to let him kill you?"

She sighed and looked at him. "No, but I sure as hell didn't want to see that. And what did you do to me? I couldn't even open my mouth."

He shrugged. "You were distracting me, so I shut you up. And, yeah, I will tell you to shut up if your life is on the line."

She glared, and he just smirked at her. With a huff, she stood up and crossed her arms over her chest.

"This isn't funny, Sans. I'm serious."

Sans put his hands on her shoulders. He wasn't as careful as he should have been with his claws and they dug sharply into her shirt. She hissed and pulled back. He didn't let her go but did make sure he didn't cut her.

"I'm serious, too, Princess. This place ain't what you're used to; there's a lotta shit here that will want to kill you, and I ain't gonna let that happen. I'm sorry if I scared you, but I ain't gonna apologize for savin' your life, no matter what I gotta do to do that."

She smiled up at him, a strange gleam in her eye. "Did you really just apologize for scaring me?"

He quirked his mouth and let her go, stepping back a few inches. "No."

"Yes, you did! You've spent my whole life scaring the shit out of me, but this time you're sorry for it! Oh my god, this is precious." She laughed and stepped up to him, gripping his jacket in her fingers. "I love you."

He glared at her for a second before he just couldn't keep up the charade any longer. He pulled her closer with his hands on her waist and leaned in to kiss her. "I kinda love you, too."