Disclaimer: Hiatus. Is. Over! Here I am, with the long awaited update!

FrostyAngelWings: Don't worry! I'm back, with a new chapter that I've been planning for weeks!

TravisUmbra: Yeah, no kidding. Who says they don't already know about the murders?

pandaxoom: Why, thank you.

xpricefieldx: Well, something like that happens. Just picture this: a girl has had her body structure altered in order to travel through the void. Do you think that it is a process that goes without consequences?

7sky: WOOO!

ponystoriesandothers: Thank you. Hers and Sans' search for Gaster will be coming up soon, so just be patient.

Pika5490: Fixed! And I hope you're happy for the ending of the break!

Now that the reviews are over... let's do this thing! I own Hope, not Undertale.

"Speaking"

Thinking

Edited: Sept. 15/18


"That was delicious, Toriel," Hope thanked the older woman, bowing her head slightly. I know I don't need to, but I can't stop thinking of her as royalty. "I've never had pie that amazing before. Usually we just buy it from the store." Her mom, while she could cook, wasn't so great at baking. One could only set of the smoke alarm so many times before having to stop.

Toriel laughed, and took the dirty plates from her hands. The two had finished a conversation about how Frisk's life had progressed since returning to the surface. They had been going to the school shown at the end of the pacifist run, with Toriel as a teacher there. Asgore was the groundskeeper, keeping his eye on their savior during recess and lunch. According to her discussions with the other teachers, the flowers that grew around the front of the school had never been more beautiful. The adults of the surface found it odd how Frisk, a child, was the monster ambassador. Despite being human, they could relate with the monsters in a way that no one else would ever be able to do. Hope was amazed by her story, listening to Toriel as she helped wash the plates from the group's treat. Speaking of Frisk…

Papyrus and Frisk had gone out to the living room to play video games, demonstrated by the younger skeleton's eager shouting echoing down the hall and the sound of video game combat. Sans however, remained sitting at the table. He watched Hope with fascination, keeping silent during their talk. How odd that this girl, who had only ever saw them as characters less than a month ago, would be treating them all as if she'd known them all for years. "Thank you, Hope," Toriel smiled. "I am glad you enjoyed it."

"one of your better pies, tori." Sans stood up from his seat, stuffing his hands in his hoodie. "if you two don't mind, i need to borrow hope for a while." Seeing the confused looks on the two women, he continued, "i need to check hope over for any anomalies or problems. just because we don't see any with our eyes, doesn't mean there aren't any there."

Hope nodded, agreeing with that idea. While she did feel alright, that didn't mean there wasn't irregularities in her rebuilt DNA. Who knows what the void did to her as Sans pulled her through it. "Okay, Sans." Hope sat the last plate in the sink, and dried her hands on the dish towel hanging on one of the lower cupboard's handles. The two headed out of the kitchen, but she paused to grin back at Toriel. "Bye, Toriel!"

Toriel laughed again, and waved her goodbye. "Have fun, Hope. It was nice to see you again." Smiling, Hope followed Sans as he led her up to the second floor, seeing the color scheme from downstairs continued on up there. Glancing at the large framed picture of a bone on the wall, she shook her head fondly. Heh. A classic. "So, I thought we were going back down to your lab, Sans?" It was a reasonable question. Didn't the short monster have the equipment where the machine was?

"nah, kiddo." Sans stopped in front of the door at the end of the hall, smirking back at her. He pulled a key from his shorts pocket, and unlocked it. "figured this would be the only other place in this house that no one can get into. while the lab does have a spare key, this room has only one, and i have it." He opened the door, allowing Hope to enter behind him. He locked it behind her, and Hope glanced around her. The bed was still unmade, except the sheets were not tucked into a greasy ball at the foot of the mattress. An actual light bulb was in the lamp on the dresser, and unlike what she saw in the game, there was no treadmill in the middle of the room. "what do you think?" Sans asked, curious as to what her reaction would be. Hope had remained mostly silent throughout the whole ordeal of her first few hours, except for the few questions she had asked Toriel and answering anything asked to her. It may not have been the shock, as he had first guessed. She seemed to have gotten used to everything and everyone. It might just be her brain trying to understand it all; how different this was compared to what she thought she knew. But no matter what it was, she listened with full attention to everything she heard.

"It's… it's exactly what I thought it'd be," Hope answered. She raised a brow at the trash tornado in the corner beside her, and turned back to the skeleton. I'm not gonna bother asking how that even works. "Sans?" He looked up at her for a moment, shuffling through one of the dresser.

"take a seat on the bed, hope. we gotta check to make sure your systems are working properly." He stood back up, holding a stethoscope, and nodded thoughtfully. this should work. "need to see if anything is wrong with your heart."

"My heart?" Hope repeated carefully. "What's wrong with my heart?" Sans walked back to her, a role of clear tape in his other hand.

"nothing to worry 'bout, kid. but like i said earlier, we don't know if you reformed without any malformations," Sans admitted. "it's just a precaution." Hope giggled at the sight of Sans taping the ear pieces to the sides of his skull, more than likely where his ears would have been. "this might be a little cold."

Cold it was. She was thankful Sans let her put the equipment under her shirt in the front. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but… he was a guy… and she was a girl. Don't care if he's not human. He's still a guy. It's still weird. Hope knew Sans wouldn't do anything like that, but she still felt uncomfortable. He moved the stethoscope over different spots on her back, before chuckling. "welp, it looks like everything's in order." He pulled the tape from his head, and patted her on the shoulder. "you're clear. for now, at least. in the morning, we'll do some more checks, little more in-depth than this."

"Well, that's a relief," Hope said, pulling her tank top back down in the back. "What's next, bone boy?"

Bone boy. Sans felt his soul soar at the teasing and lovable nickname. Frisk was friends with everybody they met, but didn't give any names to them like that. But Hope? Hope and him had talked about stuff that he never told anyone else, leading to their friendship being stronger than possibly his and Frisk's, only because of how much they had in common. Hope helped him in his search for answers, when he was scared to tell even his own brother. Two vastly different people from different dimensions, but somehow fit together almost perfectly. of course, what pair doesn't have rough edges? So, she wanted to know what was next. "something that i've been wanting to try since we first met, and have been trying to figure out through our chats."

Before Hope could react, she felt a tugging inside her chest. Maybe not so much as a tugging, as it was feeling like a suction cup was placed on her chest and was trying to pull something out. It felt… weird. Not exactly painful, but not entirely comfortable either. Sans' hand was resting on her shoulder, sockets closed as he focused. "Sa-whoa." Hope lowered her eyes to her chest, watching a light green glow emit from within her, and a heart drifted out of her. An actual cartoon heart. No aorta or four chambers, but one you would normally see on Valentine's Day. The glow followed after it, and Hope stared in wonder at the bobbing heart. "Sans?" She asked breathlessly. "Is that…?"

"meet your soul, hope." Sans laughed. Her reaction was one he hadn't seen before. Usually, the humans he came across would try to figure out how that worked; having their soul come out of their body. They'd act curious, suspicious; any, many different emotions. Hope, however, had the look of a child at Christmas. Her face was filled with wonder and happiness. but… why is she so happy?

"Wow," Hope murmured. She reached out, and the heart drifted over to her awaiting hand. Giggling, she let the soul move from one hand to another, the tail end of the green glow trailing behind as Sans let his own hand fall from her shoulder. "This is incredible, Sans."

"really?" Usually, seeing a soul wasn't that big of a deal. Well, for the few humans he had seen Underground that is. Anyone on the surface probably didn't even believe monsters were capable of doing that; summoning someone's soul out of their body. "i didn't think you'd have this reaction to seeing it. you knew you had a soul, right?" He asked, sitting down beside her on the bed.

"I did, yeah, but… but I never really gave much thought to it," Hope grinned. "Never thought I'd see it in person. I suppose it would make sense though. Everyone has a soul, but you're unable to actually see it where I'm from." She paused, putting her free hand to her chin as the other held the heart. "Maybe it's because we had no need to really see them and use them." Hope turned back to the green essence, the warmth radiated her palm. "Our souls are our memories; our wishes, dreams, and everything in between. All I am, is what this heart is."

"hehe." She nailed it dead on. "exactly, hope. not many people would have gotten that on the first try." Sans reached up to his own chest, and Hope blinked as he brought out a white heart. Is that… yellow and blue? Hope stared at the faint color in the soul, the lines chasing around the heart brightened and altered the pale glow. "justice and patience, kiddo. that's what i specialize in." He brought the soul back up to him, and sighed as it melted into his covered rib cage. "all monsters are made of every trait, but certain ones are able to focus on one or two of those qualities."

"That explains why your eye flashes yellow and blue in battle, and blue when you're angry or upset." She always had a feeling it had to do with emotions. But Sans had also admitted that he used his magic for random things like eating ketchup. Which, still didn't make any sense. "Green, huh?" She brought the soul back into her, feeling the same warmth from her hand fade away. A chuckle escaped her lips, and she smiled back at Sans. Despite his shorter size, they were eye level on the bed, being able to look each other eye to eye socket. "For some reason, kindness doesn't surprise me."

"it was hard to really assume what your trait was, bud. can't do much through a computer screen." Sans brought his arms up behind his skull, and flopped back on his bed. He lazily looked up at Hope, earning a small laugh. "relax, kiddo. you've been through a lot today."

Shrugging, Hope dropped beside him. Sans was just far up the bed to the point where her head was positioned by his shoulders, letting her legs almost dangle off the bed and feet to touch the floor. The two smiled, before turning to stare up at the ceiling in silence. I wonder… Hope bit her lip, squirming uncomfortably. If Sans was able to see my soul, then… doesn't that mean he could see my LV? "Sans?"

"yeah, hope?" Sans asked, his pupils shining. Weird. His sockets really do express a lot, Hope noted. Even without being able to open his mouth or have the use of eyebrows.

"What's my… LV?" She asked, trying to hold back any nervousness at the question. "N-not that I think it's high or anything! But… but could you tell me?"

"don't worry, hope," Sans said. His socket glowed blue for a moment, and Hope watched him flick his wrist. Immediately, the room plunged into darkness. The only light now came from his face, and the magic still active at his disposal. "level three, kid. i didn't expect you to be perfect, but with your age and personality, it makes sense." His magic faded out, and he moved an arm out from under his head. Hope tensed as it slid around her upper back, and felt Sans pull her closer to him, her face now pressed against his chest. "get some rest, hope. we've got a busy day tomorrow."

Hope blinked at him, feeling the bones shift around her. Why Sans did that, she didn't know. But… it was sweet of him to do so. Humming, she inched closer, breathing into his hoodie… and gagged quietly. Ketchup. Why is it always ketchup? "Ugh. Night, bone boy."

"night hope," he grinned tiredly. "see you in the mornin'." He felt the girl's breathing didn't slow down unlike his own, and guessed he was going to be the first to fall asleep. no problem there, i suppose. just hope this trip will benefit both of-

"... I have problems being close to people."

… what? Sans' sockets flew open, hearing the tired but very clear line come from the girl. i-i'm sorry, problems? "hope?"

Her eyes were still closed, but her face was twisted. "I… it was years ago. I was thirteen, a few years older than Frisk, and… everything was great. Mom and dad loved me, and we did stuff together. But then… he left." He could see her eyes were tightly closed, holding back tears. "He left, and we… we don't know why. We were all so happy, and he loved me, and… I didn't know why. Was it an affair with someone? Did he not love mom anymore? W-was it… was it me?"

Sans remained silent, watching the girl. How was he supposed to react? no wonder she didn't want to talk about her dad. is she only saying this now because of what i told her? "Mom had to work more to support us, and I learned to grow up quickly after that. I-I didn't have time for much activities with friends, because I was always-I feared being left alone. I-I didn't want people I started to care about to leave me, like… like he did." Her eyes finally opened, and she lifted her face enough from the hoodie to look up at him. "Sans… you were the first real friend I've had in years. Ever since he… I feared getting close. I-I don't want to be abandoned, so I just… stopped associating with others. It's why I was so focused on school instead of hanging out with people. wh-why I almost debated not coming on this trip, in fear of leaving my mother alone in case something did go wrong. Why every time someone tried to ask me about him, I-I just… clammed up and stopped talking. Yelling just… Sans, why do you think I logged off after our fight?"

"… hope. you… kid, you didn't have to tell me." She didn't. She really, really didn't. Compared to what happened with Gaster, it was the resets that destroyed him. He was indeed trying to bring his own father back, but he wasn't like… how was she able to handle that?

"I had to... you're my friend. I-I couldn't keep this locked away. Not... not anymore." As soon as she said that, with the last word filled with tiredness, her face was once again pressed against his hoodie. It didn't look like she would be speaking anymore today, and he also wondered if she would even remember what she had said in the morning. But even so, he felt… thankful she told him the truth. It had hurt her, but in her exhausted state from being pulled to his dimension, she might not have been aware of her words. Even though, if she didn't remember, he would.

i'll remember. "sleep, kiddo. nothing's going to happen to you anymore." He promised that, when he revealed the truth about his own pain. That applied to this now too, and possibly anything else they would reveal to each other. He wouldn't let her suffer like this, and while it looked like it would be something that would haunt her, he would try his hardest to help her move past it. she did it with me, right? i'll try and return that favor.


It's short, I know. But I didn't have much time to write this out. Even with the editing done now, it's still the second shortest chapter. It'll be a much longer chapter next week.

For anyone joining us, the new part at the end was to be stretched out, but that wasn't possible with only five chapters left including the epilogue.

Until next time!

Angel