It finally came.
The big day.
It was finally here.
The day of…
"FRISK'S THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY!" Undyne and Papyrus exclaimed at the same time. Cackling madly, they tossed streamers everywhere, taking advantage of the fact that Toriel wasn't here to do anything to stop them.
Sans glanced over from where he reclined on the couch, grinning as Undyne and Papyrus got themselves into a streamer fight. Toriel would definitely throw a fit if she came home to find that nothing was properly decorated…but to be fair, she left Papyrus and Undyne in charge of the decorations. Her expectations could not be high.
"I'm not covering for any of you if you break anything," came an amused voice from the kitchen. Sans glanced over, spying Aeris from the kitchen doorway. She was leaning against the wall, dressed casually today in snug black jeans and a dark green T-shirt, her dark hair pulled back by a manly looking bandana Sans recognized as Frisk's. Her socks were mismatched, he noticed—one of them was bright yellow with blue stripes, the other pink with purple stars all over it.
"Nice socks," he complimented, slouching over the back of the couch and grinning lazily at Aeris. She grinned right back.
"You're just jealous because they're cooler than yours," she teased. Sans shrugged, allowing it.
"YOUR SOCKS ARE DEFINITELY THE COOLEST, PRINCESS!" Papyrus called, getting distracted, as always, by Aeris, which caused a roll of streamers to hit his head straight on because he'd dared to take his eyes of Undyne.
"Thanks, Papyrus," Aeris said with a wink, and the tall skeleton got so excited that his renewed vigor transferred into his streamer fight with Undyne, making it a lot more dangerous. Laughing to herself, Aeris retreated into the kitchen. Sans glanced over at Papyrus and Undyne. It looked like their fight would last a while… Wanting to get out of the firing zone (and nothing else), Sans got up and headed to the kitchen himself.
Aeris was standing with her back to him, hovering over a counter. Sans could see the edges of pies in front of her.
"Whatcha up to?" He asked, and Aeris jumped. Sans grinned to himself—as much as she could see through him, she still wasn't able to hear it when he approached. And he couldn't help but abuse the one advantage he had over her.
"Stop that!" She growled at him once again, throwing an annoyed look over her shoulder before turning back to whatever she was doing. "You almost made me mess up!"
"Mess up what?" Sans got closer. They were pies all right, three of them, and by the smell of butterscotch and cinnamon in the air, he could tell that Toriel made them. Aeris had a white tube in her hands, and was squeezing out something blue and purple from it. Smelled sweet. Sans watched as she squeezed the frosting onto one of the pies, forming the letter 'Y', and completing the word, making it 'HAPPY'.
"Ahh. Birthday pies," Sans said as Aeris moved onto the next one. "Usually, Tori only makes two. And there's not usually writing on them."
"I asked if I could spruce them up," Aeris said, her tongue in between her teeth as she carefully squeezed frosting onto the next pie. "She made a whole other pie for me, since I'm allergic to cinnamon, and I felt bad."
Allergic to cinnamon. Sans catalogued that random fact about Aeris and filed it away for later. "How're things between you two now?"
Aeris frowned, her eyes fixed on her work. "Awkward still," she admitted. It had been two weeks since her unfortunate walk-in on Asgore and Toriel. When she didn't go back to work the next day, Toriel had come over to Sans and Papyrus', correctly guessing that Aeris would be hiding out there. Sans and Papyrus gave them their privacy to talk, and after Toriel left, Aeris announced that she would be returning to work the next day…but she still requested to stay at their house for a while. Papyrus agreed immediately, and Sans followed his example, having no legitimate reason to reject the request. He did ask her about it later, however, when she was chipping in by washing the dishes they'd used at dinner. Her nose had wrinkled, and she looked uncomfortable.
"It's just…I don't think I can sleep in that bed anymore, knowing what I know now," she had answered him. And Sans had left it alone after that.
So now, Aeris officially lived with the skeleton brothers. She had already moved what little she possessed to a corner in their living room, and had refuted every single offer Papyrus had made to give her his bed, stating that the couch worked just fine for her. Sans wondered what she would say if he offered her his bed instead…but then decided it was best not to travel down that road, if he could help it.
He was distracted from his thoughts by Aeris coughing. She turned sharply away from the pies, covering her mouth, but it only lasted a second. Sighing, she picked the frosting tube up once again, and Sans relaxed, not realizing he had tensed up.
"Aeris—" He began, and he saw Aeris' eyes tighten and her jaw set stubbornly. She knew what was coming—they'd been having this fight a lot lately. He paused, trying to figure out how to begin, scrambling for an angle he hadn't yet approached this from…but then something else distracted him. "You've got frosting on your face," he announced, pointing a finger to her cheek. This surprised Aeris.
"Oh," she said, and he could hear the relief in her voice from that one syllable. He didn't blame her—he didn't like fighting with her, either. But he still maintained the notion that she was being unreasonably stubborn about this. Deciding to bring it up again another time, he watched her swipe her thumb across her cheek. Half the strip of frosting came away on her thumb, and she licked it off. "Did I get it?"
Sans didn't answer, staring at her. The way humans ate was weird, with that wiggling, pink muscle in their mouths, that went around licking things…
Aeris frowned. "Sans?" She called, bringing him back to the present. He blinked.
"What?"
Aeris raised an eyebrow. "Did I get it?" She repeated as she searched his face, her eyes growing speculative again. Searching for the reason he'd become distracted, no doubt. Sans looked away, avoiding her eyes. He didn't even really know why he'd become distracted either. What a stupid thing to focus on.
"Not quite," he replied, moving over to a handy stool that Toriel kept nearby for Frisk when they helped her cook. "Here, I've got it."
"You don't need to," Aeris protested, even as Sans was setting up the stool next to her. "Just tell me where—" She cut off as Sans reached up, dragging his bony thumb across her cheekbone to wipe off the rest of the frosting. His thumb lingered just a little too long, and he looked away as Aeris began to blush. She turned back to the pies, and neither of them said anything for a moment.
That was the first time Sans had touched her face. He tried not to dwell on that, and instead chose to focus on the frosting that now coated his thumb. It was purple and blue, Frisk's favorite colors. Sans preferred ketchup, of course, but frosting was usually pretty good. However he'd never tried it in multiple colors before.
"Is it any good?" He asked doubtfully, eyeing the frosting on his thumb before he glanced over at Aeris. She shrugged.
"It's frosting," she replied. This made Sans chuckle.
"I knew it," he teased with a grin, "you really don't have taste buds if you can find my brother's spaghetti delicious, and then just call frosting 'frosting'."
Aeris frowned at him. "Papyrus' spaghetti is good. And I don't think he'd appreciate you implying otherwise," she said, as if she was threatening to tell on Sans for slandering his brother's culinary skills. Sans shrugged, still grinning.
"Whatever you say, Princess," he replied. Curiosity winning out, he formed his own tongue using his magic. It wasn't like a human tongue, unless human tongues could also be blue and glow, but it would do the job. Mimicking Aeris, Sans licked the frosting off his thumb. Not bad.
Sans became aware of Aeris' eyes on him, and he turned to find her staring at him with wide eyes. Her hands were still clenched around the frosting tube, and she was steadily squeezing frosting onto the second pie, ruining the 'birthday' part she was supposed to be writing. She didn't appear to notice.
"…What?" Sans dared to ask, beginning to grin at the look on her face. Aeris blinked, as if just realizing she had been staring, and then hastily wrenched her gaze from his, looking down at the pie she was working on. She swore and grabbed a butter knife, scraping off the extra frosting.
"Nothing," she mumbled, her face turning red.
"Really?" Sans teased, leaning closer to her. "Because it looks like you have something…on the tip of your tongue."
Aeris put the knife down and put her hands over her eyes.
"Go away, Sans," she grumbled, sounding mortified. Sans chuckled at her reaction.
"What? Didn't think skeletons had tongues? You need to brush up on your monster anatomy, Princess." She peeked at him through a gap in her fingers, and he winked at her, sticking his tongue out again. "Then maybe next time you'll know to hold your tongue."
"Sans, I swear to god—" Aeris began, leaning towards him with a glare, red flooding her cheeks, making Sans grin wider—
The front door flew open with a bang, and Sans and Aeris jumped. Over her startled coughing, Sans could hear Alphys' voice.
"We're here with the balloons!"
"Aeris!" Asgore called next, "where are you?"
"C-coming!" Aeris called as she tried to catch her breath, a tissue to her mouth and a hand over her heart. Sans edged back, feeling guilty for reasons he'd rather not explore. Aeris began to head out of the kitchen, but then she paused, looking down at the frosting tube in her hand. She glanced back at Sans, frowning a little. He noticed the blush hadn't quite faded from her cheeks just yet. Slowly, as if she expected him to bite, she moved back over to him, biting her lip. "…Do me a favor?" She asked eventually, holding the tube of frosting out for Sans. He grinned and took it with a shrug.
"Sure thing, Princess. But you're messin' with my lazy cred, I hope you know."
"You'll survive," Aeris assured him with a dry look. She retraced her steps to leave the room, pausing in the doorway. "And no shitty puns!"
"What? You don't think puns would make them more…ap-pie-tizing?"
Aeris rolled her eyes, but she gave him a grudging grin before going out to greet Asgore and Alphys.
Pivoting carefully on the stool, Sans returned his attention to the pies. No puns, eh? Well, it wouldn't be easy, but he could resist not writing any puns on the pies.
But other than that, Aeris hadn't specified at all what Sans was supposed to write. He grinned, lifting the frosting tube. This was gonna be fun.
"When are they gonna get here? I'm tired of waiting!"
"They'll be here soon, Undyne. Toriel just texted to confirm it, right?"
"Yeah, well, they need to hurry up! My legs are cramping up because Asgore's too big to hide properly!"
"S-sorry…"
"SHH!" Papyrus hissed from beside Sans, and though it was dark, Sans could practically see his brother's teeth jabbering in irritation. "BE QUIET, OR FRISK WILL HEAR YOU! THEN THE SURPRISE WILL BE RUINED!"
"But you're talking the loudest…" Sans heard Undyne grumble from across the room.
There was a quiet sigh from his other side. Apparently, Aeris didn't think this whole 'surprise' thing was going too well.
"Don't sweat it, Princess," Sans mumbled to Aeris, guessing where her ear was by the amount of hair he ran into. "I'll be surprised if the kid isn't suspicious already. Tori's been too nice to them today, letting them sleep in and taking them out for ice cream before finishing their homework. Frisk knows what's up. Trust me."
Aeris sighed again, and Sans felt her breath brush his skull. She must've turned towards him in the dark. "I guess. No one here is exactly what we'd call 'subtle', huh?"
That was an understatement. Sans was about to say so, but he got distracted by the way Aeris smelled. She must've been in the kitchen when Toriel was baking the pies, because their scent clung to her: cinnamon, butterscotch, and something else…chocolate?
He almost leaned in for a closer whiff, but there were suddenly keys jangling outside the front door.
"THIS IS IT! SHHH!" Papyrus reminded them all again, the eagerness in his voice unmistakeable. Sans grinned in the dark.
"Well!" Called Toriel's voice from the other side of the door as the keys continued to jangle. "I hope you had fun with me today, Frisk? Now, we are going to go inside, and have a regular, normal evening!"
"Seriously," Sans heard Aeris grumble, "no chill at all."
He chuckled.
Finally, Toriel opened the door. There was an outcry of "SURPRISE!" all throughout the living room. Sans got up at his leisure—he wasn't really a jumping kind of skeleton—eyeing Aeris from the corner of his eye sockets. He knew from experience that she didn't do surprises very well…but apparently she was fine when she was in on them, for she cheered just like everyone else, and seemed completely fine afterwards. She had removed Frisk's bandana from her head, and had sufficed with hair clips that were holding her hair back on the sides. They must be some pretty strong clips, Sans thought, because that didn't look like an easy job at all.
Frisk was nice enough to look surprised. They jumped back, gripping the spot over their heart in a dramatic way.
"GOTCHA, PUNK!" Undyne cackled, racing forward to give Frisk a noogie. Toriel seemed to disapprove of this action, but once she caught sight of Asgore there, she blushed and looked away, suggesting that they start the party.
And so it began. Alphys had come up with a chart of party games that were popular in the human world, so they played a lot of them, with direction from Frisk and Aeris on how to play the games properly. Toriel soundly beat them all at Monopoly, somehow owning all the railroads and properties within just an hour. Sans was ruled the worst banker ever by Papyrus, when he took a nap in the middle of the game, costing all the players about a thousand dollars each when they passed the 'go' square, and Undyne ended up flipping the board over after being told to go to jail for the fifth time.
They moved onto charades shortly after, which Frisk ruled at, so they were made score-keeper. Aeris, Papyrus and Sans were on one team, while Toriel, Asgore, Alphys and Undyne were on another. Alternating between teams, Frisk would pantomime a phrase they picked from a box of clues, and one team would have to guess, the point going to the other team if they guessed wrong. Toriel and Asgore were a force to be reckoned with, since they knew all of Frisk's hand signals by now and could decipher them within seconds. But Aeris, who had been studying sign language religiously ever since she got her hands on a book for beginners, carried their team, for Papyrus often guessed wrong in his excitement, and Sans didn't care to seriously compete. He was just content to kick back and watch everyone else have fun.
Finally, after a disastrous trial game of Twister (which may or may not have ended due to the board being ripped in half by two large goat bodies attempting to stretch in opposite directions to reach the appropriate colored circle), Toriel announced that it was time for birthday pie. Everyone crowded themselves around the table, singing "Happy Birthday" loudly and off-key as Toriel brought the pies into the living room, each bearing four or five lit candles to add up to Frisk's age. Frisk thought for a while about what they wanted to wish for, and then, asking for Papyrus' help because he looked so excited, they blew out their birthday candles. Amidst the applause, Aeris leaned down to ask Frisk what they wished for.
"If I tell you, it won't come true!" Frisk protested, and Aeris laughed.
"True. Sorry for asking, then. I hope it comes true," she said, ruffling Frisk's hair affectionately. Sans savored the peaceful smile on her face, for when the lights were cut back on and everyone took a good look at the pies, it was wiped from her face completely.
"Er…did you…decorate the pies, Aeris…?" Alphys wanted to check, wiping her glasses on her lab coat, as if she surely could not be seeing them properly.
"They're…um…interesting," Asgore said with a forced smile.
Aeris said nothing. Sans grinned as she stared down at the pies in shock. The first two still said "Happy Birthday", like they were supposed to, but Sans had taken a few…"liberties", with the last pie.
"'Happy Birthday, Legendary Fart Master'?" Papyrus read out loud, before looking at Aeris questioningly. "Er…wow. That's…kind of immature, Princess…"
Aeris' eyes cut over to Sans, glaring daggers. Frisk was suspicious too; they raised their eyebrows at Sans, as he knew they would: only Frisk would really get the joke, after all.
"I asked you to do one thing—" Aeris began, but before her tirade against the short skeleton could take off, her disease reared its ugly head, and she was coughing. It was a big attack—she had to be sat down, and her coughing didn't cease until she was choking, gasping for air. The party atmosphere evaporated quickly, and everyone exchanged worried looks as Aeris leaned over, attempting to get her breathing under control. Blood splattered the floor at her feet, staining the carpet.
"…Aeris?" Toriel asked over Aeris' ragged breathing, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right…?"
Still gasping for air, Aeris could only nod. Toriel grasped her by her arms, helping her stand.
"Maybe you should lie down for a bit," she suggested. It was a testament to just how much that fit had taken out of her when Aeris only nodded and allowed herself to be steered away, down the hall.
"The floor—" Sans heard her protest weakly, only for Toriel to shush her.
"Don't worry, I'll have it cleaned up in a jiffy. You just rest, dear."
Toriel looked grim when she came back into the living room, and Sans suspected it was for Frisk's sake that she hitched on a smile.
"Well…let's dig in! Asgore, would you?"
"Of course," Asgore replied, taking up the pie cutter and doling out slices to everyone while Toriel used magic to scrub the floor clean of Aeris' blood. Everyone took a slice of pie, but it didn't look like anyone felt much like eating it. Sans saw that he was right about the chocolate he had smelled on Aeris when Asgore cut into the fart master pie, revealing the chocolate underneath the crust. He handed the slice to Sans, who thanked him, but decided to put it to the side to save for Aeris. He didn't find his joke remotely funny anymore.
In an attempt to cheer everyone up, Frisk moved eagerly to their presents. They all had fun with Frisk's reactions as they opened the gifts, but the smiles didn't last. Somehow, whereas it had only been them for Frisk's previous birthdays, now it somehow felt wrong not to have Aeris there with them. The feeling increased when Frisk opened Aeris' gift to reveal a sketchpad and brand-name colored pencils. Sans smiled a little at that, noting Frisk actually looked excited about this present. Aeris must've noticed that Frisk really liked to draw. She saw everything after all.
"Um…l-let's watch the new movie you got, Frisk!" Alphys decided, holding up the copy of an anime movie of one of Frisk's favorite show. Frisk nodded, and everyone piled around the TV to watch the movie. But no one's hearts seemed to be in it. Not really.
Undyne stared at the screen with an unseeing eye, her arm around Alphys, who fidgeted constantly. Asgore was patting Toriel's shoulder, who seemed to be trying not to cry. Papyrus wasn't even looking at the TV, and kept glancing down the hallway, as if he expected Aeris to appear at any moment. And Frisk, seeing that no one else was watching the movie, got to their feet.
"Frisk?" Toriel called after them as they began to make their way down the hall.
"Bathroom," Frisk reported, and Toriel left it alone. But Sans watched as Frisk went down the hall, turning not into the bathroom, but into the guest room.
Sans looked around. No one else was watching—Papyrus' attention had finally been captured by the movie, for this anime was one of his favorites as well, and he was watching with rapt attention as the hero began to attack the enemy with full force. Quietly, Sans got to his feet, moving like he was heading into the kitchen. Once inside, however, he teleported back to the hall, outside the guest room.
Frisk had left the door open a crack. Slumping against the wall, Sans peered inside.
Aeris was awake and alert. She sat against a stack of pillows, and was smiling down at Frisk, who had climbed onto the large bed and sat in front of her, signing rapidly.
"I'm fine," she promised, ruffling Frisk's hair. "It was just a really bad one, that's all. So, did you open my gift yet?"
"Yeah! It's really cool, thanks," Frisk signed, smiling up at Aeris. Her smile widened in response.
"Good, I'm glad. Draw lots of pictures for me, okay? Happy birthday," she wished, leaning over to hug Frisk. Frisk patted her back, and they stayed that way for a while before Aeris drew back. Sans watched her bite her lip and tug on a strand of her hair. "…Hey, Frisk? Can you show me that trick again?"
Frisk apparently knew exactly what she meant by 'that trick'. They frowned and nodded, signaling that Aeris should hold still. Aeris did just that, closing her eyes and holding her body stiffly. Intrigued, Sans leaned forward, watching as Frisk held their hands out in front of Aeris' chest. There was a sudden flash of light, and Frisk slowly drew their hands back. Something was coming out of Aeris' chest. Sans stared as Frisk drew it out, their brow furrowed with concentration and determination. Another flash of light illuminated the room—
Aeris opened her eyes. Floating in front of her was a silver heart the same color as her eyes—the representation of her soul.
But there was something wrong. Sans felt himself go numb as he spotted the problem: a large crack ran down the length of the silver heart, nearly splitting it in two. There was only an inch or two at the bottom that kept it from being completely broken apart.
Aeris let out a humorless laugh. "…It got bigger again…guess I don't have much time left…"
Frisk helped her put her soul back into her chest, and then they gave her a sad look.
"What are you going to do?" They asked. Aeris let out that hollow laugh again, her face the mask of a corpse.
"Nothing to do. I'm dying. Can't really do anything to change that," she pointed out. Sans watched as Frisk seemed to hesitate. Slowly, they reached into their pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. When they unfolded it, Sans received a shock: printed on what looked like a flyer was Aeris' face, with the words "HAVE YOU SEEN ME?" written underneath it in large, black letters.
"…Your parents are looking for you," Frisk signed when Aeris had taken the flyer from them, her gaze distant. "Maybe you should go back to them. Maybe they have a cure for you now."
"…Where did you get this?" Aeris asked, her voice quiet.
"Mom and I went to the human town near where she teaches to get ice cream. I saw it hanging in the window of one of the shops…so I took it. I don't think Mom noticed, and I didn't want her to see."
Sans watched as Aeris stared down at the flyer, feeling completely helpless again. It hadn't even occurred to him that Aeris' family might be looking for her, that maybe her parents were worried about their only daughter's disappearance. And now they were looking for her, not even knowing if she was safe, or alive…
The sound of crinkling paper grabbed Sans' attention, and he watched as Aeris balled the flyer up, clenching it in her fist. He couldn't figure out the expression she was making—a wild light had entered her eyes, and when she gripped Frisk's shoulders, Sans almost barged in, the fear that she might hurt the kid occurring to him for the first time.
"Frisk," she said in a low voice, and Sans stopped himself, still able to hear Aeris in that voice, despite how cornered her expression looked, "do not tell anyone else about this, all right? This has to be a secret between you and me. Can you do that? Can you keep this a secret, just between us?"
Frisk seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then, they gave a nod. Aeris' shoulders relaxed, and she let her hands slide off Frisk.
"Thank you. Let's…let's not talk about this anymore, all right?"
Pushing the blanket back, Aeris slid her legs out of bed, waving off Frisk's nonverbal protests. "It's all right. I feel fine. Let's go back into the living room, okay? Everyone else must be wondering where you've gone. It's your day, remember?" She held out a hand, smiling kindly at the child. "Let's go."
Frisk still looked troubled, but they put their hand in Aeris', allowing her to pull them from the room. When they entered the living room, Sans was right back on the couch with Papyrus, as if he never left. He saw Toriel and Alphys give him curious looks, but before either of them could question him, they caught sight of Aeris.
"Oh, Aeris!" Toriel cried, jumping to her feet.
"Shouldn't you be resting?" Alphys questioned in concern, but Aeris waved her free hand at them.
"I'm fine, I promise," she said with an awkward smile. "I'm sorry for freaking you all out, but I'm okay."
Sans wondered if he was the only one who noticed Frisk frowning at the lie. If he wasn't, no one else spoke up about it. It seemed that they were all just relieved that Aeris was back on her feet. Papyrus himself was crying tears of happiness as he slid down the sofa to make room for Aeris. She obliged him, taking a seat in the middle of the skeleton brothers with Frisk squeezing in between her and Sans. She allowed it, stroking Frisk's hair as the child laid their head on her shoulder. With her return, the festive atmosphere seemed to return full force, and she joined in the cheering as the main character of the movie gathered all his friends together for a final attack against the villain. Everyone was so fired up that it took a moment for Sans to realize that Frisk was trying to hand him something. Curious, the short skeleton opened his hand, allowing Frisk to drop something into it. Sans could only look down at it for a second before Frisk made waving motions at him to put it away. The short skeleton shoved the paper ball into his pocket, but he didn't need a closer look to know what it was—it was the flyer that Aeris had crumpled up. Frisk must've grabbed it before they left the guest room, and now they were giving it to Sans.
Frisk pushed a finger to their lips before returning their attention back to the TV screen. Sans kept his hand closed around the balled up flyer in his pocket. He wasn't sure what the kid wanted him to do with the flyer, but he did know one thing—Frisk was incredibly observant, too.
Either that, or Sans was losing his touch at being sneaky when he spied on people.
A/N: Happy Halloween! :3 I was gonna go out tonight, but I stayed in to write this chapter. Show your support with reviews, please!
