A/N: I should be planning lessons for my kids tomorrow, but OOPS LOOK WHAT HAPPENED. Enjoy the unexpected weekend chapter!

Sans awoke to the sounds of birds chirping once again. Today, he didn't mind the sound so much. He grumbled a little under his breath, rubbing his eye sockets with both hands. And then he realized he could move both his arms.

Odd. He was so sure that he had fallen asleep with Aeris wrapped around him…

The skeleton blinked his eye sockets open, rolling over. The other half of his bed was empty.

This made him sit up, waking up more rapidly. This wasn't the first time he had gone to sleep with Aeris in his bed and woken up to find her gone. She usually woke up before him, after all, and went downstairs to lie on the couch to complete the illusion that she had slept there all night for Papyrus' benefit.

But she was supposed to be staying at Toriel's last night, so Papyrus would be confused by her presence on the couch in the first place. So she couldn't have gone downstairs. Then did she go back to Toriel's so the goat lady wouldn't worry?

Sans snickered to himself for a moment as another thought came to him: it was more than likely that Aeris became super-embarrassed when she woke up, remembering all the things she did to Sans, and had decided to flee before he woke up. He wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case. Still…it wouldn't hurt to check…

Sans reached for the phone on his bedside table, intending to text her to see where she'd gotten to. He jumped a little when the phone began to ring before he could pick it up, the display showing Aeris' name. Grinning a little, the skeleton picked up.

"Hey. Weird, I was just about to text you—"

"Sans?"

Sans paused. The voice on the other line was not Aeris'. It was Toriel's. And it was panicked.

Something inside of Sans plummeted, leaving him cold.

"What happened?" He asked, dreading the answer. He had imagined a million different ways this news would come to him, and this was one of the worst-case scenarios, because he wasn't there when it happened. It didn't matter that he didn't want to watch Aeris die; he still felt like he had to be there. And, apparently, he wasn't.

But Toriel surprised him.

"Is Aeris with you?" She asked, her voice an octave higher than usual. Sans stared blankly down at his mattress, not expecting this question. Why didn't Toriel know where Aeris was…?

"…She came over last night," he admitted slowly, getting up from his bed and leaving his room, heading out into the hallway. He paused, listening for a moment…but there was no telltale sign of rushing water from the bathroom. "…I don't think she's here anymore," he admitted.

He listened as Toriel relayed this information to someone else, trepidation beginning to weigh down on him. What was going on?

"I do not know where she is," Toriel admitted to him when she returned to the phone, and he could hear how worried this made her. "I checked on her just now to see if she wanted breakfast, but she was not there. The bed was made, and her cell phone was left on the blanket. I thought maybe she had gone out to see you—"

"Tori," Sans heard Asgore's voice in the background; he sounded grave. There was some sort of rustling, and Tori gave a gasp. There was a long pause, in which Sans began to sweat, his metaphorical nerves grated by the quiet.

Finally, Toriel spoke. "Sans. I think you had better come over here."

Sans had never run to Toriel's so fast in his life. It didn't even occur to him to teleport—that's how panicked he was.

He burst into Toriel's house, forgetting to knock.

"W-wha—" he panted, too winded to get the question out properly. Toriel, Asgore and Frisk were gathered in the living room. Toriel was on the phone speaking to someone, she and Frisk were clutching what looked like folded pieces of paper, and Asgore had a stack of them. He beckoned Sans forward, looking grim. His dread increasing, the skeleton approached.

"I found these in the top drawer of Aeris' bedside table," he said, shuffling through the stacked papers until he reached the last one. He plucked it out of the pile, handing it to Sans. "I believe this one is yours."

Sans stared down at the folded piece of paper, his name written across it in Aeris' handwriting. His bones beginning to rattle, he unfolded the piece of paper, revealing its true form: a letter. Sans grit his teeth, forcing himself to read it, even as dismay seeped into his bones, gravity adding pressure on him. The words were wobbly, as if Aeris' hand was shaking as she wrote…or maybe that was just because Sans' own hands were shaking.

Sans,

I know I said it before, but I'll write it again here: it's really hard to know what to say in a letter. There's so much I want to tell you, but even if I manage to fit everything I can into a single letter, it still won't feel like enough.

Maybe I should just keep it short and sweet. Yeah. Let's give that a try.

First of all: I'm sorry. You'll never know how much, and it probably wouldn't help even if you did. Still, I want you to know that for everything I put you through, and everything I'm about to make you go through, I am truly sorry for. If I had the power, I'd take it all back just to save you the pain.

Second of all: I love you.

Never doubt this. No matter what happens, no matter what you might tell yourself, never question that I love you. Even after death, I will love you. With all of my heart.

I guess that's it. There's really nothing left to say.

Oh, one more thing: be happy. Please, please, please, be happy. Not for me. Not for anyone else. But for yourself. Be happy, Sans. You deserve it. You really do.

Goodbye.

I love you.

Aeris

The letter ended after Aeris' signature. Still, Sans stared at the bottom of it, as if he expected more words to spring into existence if he stared hard enough.

That couldn't be it. That could not be it. Aeris couldn't just be…gone. She couldn't be.

Sans looked up, meeting Asgore's gaze. The goat man merely nodded, as if he was expecting Sans to look like the world was ending.

"It seems…they are farewell letters," he remarked, and a sadness too old for his young face took over. "She must have written them last night."

In his mind's eye, Sans saw Aeris writing, looking focused as her pen scrawled across the page. She had said she was writing a letter to her parents...but was that a lie? No, it couldn't have been—he would've been able to tell if she was lying to him. But then, if it wasn't a lie, what did it mean…?

"Is there a letter for her parents in there?" Sans asked abruptly, an idea coming to him. Hope began to bloom within him, and though he tried to stifle it, it kept growing, like a weed. What if, when she finished the letter, Aeris realized she couldn't do it? What if she realized that a cure was really what she wanted? What if she decided that putting up with her parents was a small price to pay, if they could finally help her…?

Asgore appeared confused. He shuffled through the paper pile, shaking his head after a moment.

"There is no letter addressed to her parents here," he said. His confusion appeared to grow when Sans sank down onto the couch with a relieved sigh. "Why do you ask?"

"She was writing one yesterday," he mumbled, putting his head in his hands as he steadily remembered how to breathe properly. "If it's not there, that must mean she went home. I was trying to convince her yesterday. Maybe…maybe she finally heard me."

And while it made him uneasy that she felt it necessary to write him a farewell letter, he began to relax. If she'd just gone home to her parents, he'd see her again. He'd make sure of it.

Asgore set the letters down and dug into the pocket of his shorts. He retrieved something familiar—Dr. Crown's business card.

"Let us make sure that is the case," he said, and Sans saw that he was beginning to look hopeful, too. Frisk moved closer, clutching their letter to their heart, and Toriel hastily hung up with whomever she was speaking with, moving forward as well as Asgore punched in the number for Aeris' mother. He pressed a button on his phone, and the dial tone was suddenly louder. They all stared at the phone, waiting…

There was a click, and a brisk voice answered.

"This is Dr. Crown."

"Dr. Crown," Asgore greeted, "this is Asgore Dreemurr. The, er, monster you gave your business card to in the hospital the other day?"

There was a pause.

"Of course." Was Sans imagining the note of sadness in Dr. Crown's voice? "Then…Aeris is…gone?"

The room froze, everyone giving each other looks of surprise and concern. Did Dr. Crown have no idea where Aeris was, either?

"We thought she was with you," Sans finally spoke up when he could no longer take the silence. He heard Dr. Crown's breath catch.

"That voice…who is this?" She demanded to know. Sans cursed under his breath, remembering too late that he had spoken to Dr. Crown when he called her a month ago about Aeris' whereabouts. He supposed he just didn't think she'd remember his voice, but since it concerned her missing daughter…

"My name is Sans. I'm your daughter's boyfriend," he blurted out without thinking. "And yes, it was me that called you a month ago when you were looking for her. I'm sorry I never ended up meeting up with you."

"Sans," Dr. Crown repeated, and something in her tone of voice made Sans wonder if Aeris had told her mother anything about him. "I see."

"Aeris isn't here," he continued, ignoring the blush that crept through his face. "She went missing this morning. We were wondering if you'd heard from her at all."

There was a pause so long that Sans thought Dr. Crown had hung up. Finally, she spoke again, her normally composed voice sounding shaky.

"You mean…you all have no idea where she is…?"

"We are very sorry, Dr. Crown," Toriel spoke up next, worry permeating from her, "we were watching her all day yesterday, and we previously believed she could not move very far on her own. Sans just thought she might be with you, that she might have wanted a cure after all."

"Well she's not here," Dr. Crown snapped, abruptly angry. "She made it very clear at the hospital that she was choosing you over her own parents. I only allowed it because it was what Aeris wanted. And now you're telling me you don't know where she is?!"

"Please, Dr. Crown—" Asgore began, but Dr. Crown talked over him.

"I see now that it was a mistake to trust you. My husband was right. Your kind can't be trusted."

Toriel and Asgore flinched. The injustice made Sans' bones rattle, and he spoke without thinking again.

"Your daughter decided she would rather live with our kind rather than with you. She refused to call us monsters, because she didn't think we fit the description. She told me she knew what real monsters were. So if we're untrustworthy creatures, Dr. Crown, what does that say about you?"

"Sans!" Toriel yelped, her mouth falling open in shock at his audacity. He ignored her, glaring at Asgore's phone. There was another pause, but this one was not as long, and when Dr. Crown spoke again, her tone was chilly.

"Do not call me again. If you do, I will have the police charge you with kidnapping and murdering my daughter."

And she hung up.

Toriel's door burst open for the second time, and Undyne and Alphys were there, Undyne panting, Alphys wheezing.

"We got here…as fast…as we could…" Alphys choked out, slumping down onto the floor to catch her breath.

"Have…have you found her yet…?" Undyne huffed, bracing her hands on her knees and glancing up at Asgore with her good eye. The ex-king shook his head sadly, lowering his phone.

"No. Sans thought she might've gone home to her parents, but…Dr. Crown hasn't seen her."

Undyne and Alphys exchanged worried looks. The tension in the room spiraled, driving Sans crazy. This was ridiculous. Aeris couldn't have gotten far. Even if she did make it to his and Papyrus' place, she could barely walk yesterday. How did they know she wasn't out in the woods somewhere—?

As Asgore handed Undyne and Alphys their letters, the short skeleton gained his feet. Everyone eyed him warily, as if he were a ticking time bomb they expected to go off in two seconds.

"I'm going to look for her," he announced. He expected someone to stop him, and was promptly surprised when Frisk nodded vigorously.

"I'll go with you," they signed, their face filled with determination.

"I shall go, too," Toriel decided, hastily wiping away tears that were beginning to gather in her eyes.

"Me, too," Asgore volunteered solemnly.

"M-me too!" Alphys agreed, straightening her glasses as she got to her feet. "T-though I can't run anywhere…"

"We'll look together," Undyne promised, her face set. "Hey…where's Papyrus, anyway? Shouldn't he be here, too?"

Sans gave a guilty start as he remembered Papyrus was probably still at home, clueless as to what was going on. Sans had been so panicked when Toriel called, he hadn't even thought to wake his brother.

"I'll go—" he began, but for the third time, someone was at Toriel's door, though this someone was polite enough to knock.

"Toriel, it's me!" Sans heard Papyrus call, and his guilt increased when he heard the concern in his brother's voice. "Have you seen Sans yet today? I tried calling him when I found out he wasn't in his room, but he's not answering—"

Sans moved to the door, waiting until Alphys scrambled out of the way before he opened it. His brother's jaw dropped when he saw him.

"Oh. So you are here! Sheesh, answer your phone next time…" The complaint trailed off into a grumble as Papyrus took in his brother's expression. "What's the matter?"

"Aeris is missing," Frisk signed from beside Sans. Papyrus' jaw dropped again.

"MISSING?!" He squawked, gaping at all of them. "How can she be missing?!"

"We're about to go look for her," Undyne said, and she marched past Papyrus, grabbing his arm in the process. "Come on!"

"V-very well!" Papyrus stuttered, attempting to strike a pose despite Undyne practically dragging him after her, "I, the GREAT Papyrus, will help you look for Princess! After all, if we all look together, we're sure to find her!"

"We will go into the nearest human town and see if anyone has seen her," Toriel said, and she and Asgore left next.

Sans watched them go. He was suddenly afraid. If Aeris was indeed in the woods somewhere…there was a good chance that she was dead. If one of his friends found her like that, what would they do? If he found her like that…what would he do…?

There was warmth on his hand. Sans looked down, finding a hand grasping his. Frisk was smiling at him, pressing a finger into the corner of their mouth to make it wider. It was a gesture that had no translation, but yet, was always understood between Sans and Frisk:

"Don't worry. Smile."

Slowly, Sans gave Frisk a small grin.

"You're right, kiddo. Worrying won't change anything. If we wanna know for sure, we gotta look."

He stepped out of the house, into the cool frost of the morning. "Let's go."

Aeris wasn't anywhere.

Asgore and Toriel texted and called Frisk, since Sans had forgotten his cell phone at home. They reported that no one had seen Aeris in person, only through the missing flyers that dotted some shops. And those shops had never laid eyes on Aeris themselves, so it was a bust.

Papyrus, Undyne and Alphys had headed into Monster Town, checking everywhere they thought Aeris might be. Papyrus had even volunteered to go to Grillby's II by himself to check, something he never would have done if the situation weren't so dire. He asked everyone from Heats Flamesman to Grillbz, but no one had seen Aeris.

And Sans' dread was increasing with every tree and thicket they checked in the forest that surrounded their home. Frisk kept shivering in the wind, but they refused to give up, and so they and Sans pushed on, steadily making their way through the mountain paths. The whole time, Sans had a terrible feeling that he knew where Aeris would be, if she was anywhere in the forest. But he put it off, desperately wanting to prove himself wrong as he and Frisk checked every nook and cranny of the forest, even by the river, where Sans had first encountered Aeris. But when they came up empty-handed even there, Sans couldn't hold off any longer. Frisk was freezing, and everyone else was at their wit's end. He couldn't delay forever.

"C'mon, kid. One more spot," Sans said quietly, leading the way as Frisk followed, rubbing their hands together for warmth. "I know a shortcut."

They arrived at the cliff. Sans experienced a staggering clash of emotions when he gazed around, squinting in the light of the sun, and found the cliff empty. There was no Aeris. There wasn't even Aeris' body. There was nothing. Nothing at all.

Something was beginning to build inside Sans. He thrust it to one side, viciously ignoring it as he approached the cliff. His eye sockets scanned the sea below, wondering morbidly if Aeris had decided to jump after all.

None of this made sense. She was just with him, just last night. She had smiled and said that she loved him…why would she vanish so suddenly?

Sans suddenly recognized with a painful twinge that Aeris must've known she wouldn't be here in the morning. She had written all those letters the night before, had maybe even finished his before she came over, intending to spend what he was beginning to realize was her last night here. And she had said nothing. Instead, she disappeared to god knows where, expecting him to be okay with a simple letter. Did she really love him at all if she thought he would honestly be all right with this? How could she, who knew him better than anyone, who knew him better than he knew himself, possibly believe that he could be fine with this conclusion?

The pressure building inside him spiked. Still, Sans fought, shoving it back, trying to stuff it away with every other unpleasant feeling that attempted to plague him at one point or another. He didn't need this right now. He couldn't succumb, not here. There was still so much he didn't understand, so much he was unsure of—

A tug to his sleeve distracted Sans. He seized the excuse to not think gratefully, turning to face Frisk. The child's face was concerned, and they began to sign as soon as they had Sans' attention.

"Sans? That necklace…didn't it belong to Aeris?"

Sans whirled around, his gaze going to the place Frisk pointed. There was a small tree nearby, a young sapling that grew a little apart from the other trees. It was the first tree that was beginning to bud in this area, miniscule leaves sprouting from its branches. Sans had never seen it before, but it wasn't important—something silver had claimed his attention.

A silver locket was hanging from one of the lower branches of the tree. Sans stared as he approached it, another painful spike driving into him at the sight of it. It certainly looked like it was Aeris'…but if it was…what was it doing here? His hand shaking, he took the necklace down from the branch. Something—he wasn't sure what, and he was in no place to think about it—told him to open it. And so he did.

There was no picture of Alexei in this locket. Instead, it was a heart-shaped cut-out of a photo Sans didn't recognize, though he was in it. It looked like he and Aeris were in mid-conversation, and judging from the grudging smile Aeris wore, he had just told a pun. He was grinning as usual, but there was something more to his expression when he looked at Aeris. Sans never realized it—he never had a mirror handy for when he was looking at Aeris—but the photo didn't lie. The way he looked at Aeris made him feel like he was looking at the very brightest star in the sky—captivated, awed, and silently wondering how he had gone without seeing this star every single day of his life.

His hands shook harder than ever. There was a tiny folded piece of paper wedged in the other side of the locket, and it took longer than it should have for him to wrestle it out of the locket. He clumsily unfolded it, revealing just four words, written in Aeris' handwriting:

In case you forget.

A wet drop fell onto the message, followed by another, followed by more. It wasn't until a cracked sob escaped him that Sans realized he was crying. His legs gave way, refusing to support his weight when he felt so heavy, so damn heavy that standing was a chore. He fell to the ground, his head in his hands, and the pressure that had been building within him came to a sudden and painful explosion. He sobbed, crying out so loudly that nearby birds took flight in fright, his bones rattling so hard he thought they might crack and break. But it didn't matter if they did, didn't matter if fissures would form in his bones, because he was already broken. In fact, it would be fitting if his bones shattered into a million pieces right now, because they would reflect how he felt, bawling in the harsh chill of the morning, his soul feeling as if it might crack in two as well, just like Aeris', a quick break that would be just as painful as hers, if not more.

Sans was so lost in his grief that he couldn't focus on anything else around him. It was only vaguely that he could hear his brother's voice, suddenly an inexplicably there, trying to console him, though he couldn't possibly understand what was wrong, how this felt. And nor should he—Sans wouldn't even wish this pain upon his worst enemy, it was so terrible. He felt himself being picked up and carried, cradled like a child. And still he cried, inconsolable, his hand clenched tightly around the locket, the only piece he had left of Aeris, for now he was sure that she was dead, gone from him forever. There was no way she would have left her locket behind if she was still alive, and the fact that she had left it behind for him, knowing exactly where he'd come to find it—it was clear that she believed she'd never see him again. His voice fractured as he cried, another broken thing to add to the list. Now, he could only weep silently, pressing the tiny representation of Aeris' soul to his sternum, where he could swear he almost felt it beating like her heart.

Time lost meaning. It wasn't until much later, perhaps an eternity, that Sans came back to himself. He was somehow in his room, the sheet spread over him. He wondered if he had been sleeping, if this had all just been a terrible dream that he was just now waking up from…

He sat up as the door creaked open, a tall figure silhouetted by the light from the hall. The light hurt to look at; Sans squinted, shielding his eye sockets with a hand.

"Aeris…?" He asked, his voice nothing more than a Froggit's croak.

The figure hesitated. "…It's me, Brother," it said, and Sans recognized the voice.

"Papyrus," he named the figure, and the tall skeleton entered the room. He watched Sans, love and concern plain on his face. Sans tried to rearrange his expression into a smile so Papyrus wouldn't worry…but it was like he forgot how to.

Papyrus made his way through the room, sitting next to Sans. Neither of them spoke for a moment. Finally, Papyrus took a deep breath, turning to look at his brother.

"Are you…all right?" He asked.

Sans stared at him. All of his old instincts—to grin and assure Papyrus that he was fine, to make a joke about being all left instead, to say anything silly that would wipe the worry from Papyrus' face—had vanished. There was only pain, so many white-hot knives driven into his bones that Sans was surprised he hadn't gone insane yet. He blinked, and tears began to fill his eye sockets.

"No," he admitted, probably for the first time ever to his brother as tears began to slide down his cheekbones. "I'm not all right, Papyrus. I…I…"

Papyrus hugged him. Sans only allowed it because he didn't think he was strong enough to resist. He shivered, his bones rattling as he cried. Papyrus patted his back in a soothing manner.

"There, there," Papyrus urged as Sans gasped for breath, succumbing to his grief once more. "It's all right, Brother. It isn't over. We'll find her."

That made Sans wrench from his brother's grip, guilt overpowered by sudden anger.

"There's nothing to find," he denied, his voice hollow as he stared down at the bed, still shaking. "She's dead, Papyrus."

"Don't say that—"

"It's true," Sans insisted, looking up at his brother and hating the worried look his brother was forced to wear because of him. "Dante told me she didn't have long to live. He said she only had days. Besides, even if we do find her, all we'll find is her body. That's it. It's over. We all knew this day was coming."

"You can't just give up like that, Sans," Papyrus argued, though his tone was still soft. "If we just look a while longer—"

"Papyrus," Sans ground out between his teeth, bowing his skull and clutching his brother's arm. "Please. Stop. Please. I can't—I can't talk about this. If I start to believe that—if I start to think it's true, that we'll find her, only to wake up, again and again, knowing that nothing has changed, that she's still gone, I—I'll—!"

"Okay," Papyrus said softly, cutting through Sans' babbling. "Okay, Sans. Okay."

He made to get up, but Sans' fingers tightened around his arm, the rattling of his bones increasing as he gave Papyrus a stranded look.

"Don't go," he pleaded, his voice cracking. "Please, Papyrus. Don't leave me here alone…"

Amazingly, Papyrus managed a smile. Sans wondered if that was a bad habit his brother picked up from him—to smile even when a situation was terrible.

"Of course not, Brother," he said, hugging Sans again. As Sans buried his face into his brother's scarf, he heard Papyrus promise, "I'll never leave you."

Sans couldn't begin to express how grateful he was for that. Because, even though his reaction to the woman he loved dying was bad…he was always at his absolute worst when Papyrus was taken from him. And he didn't need to become a real monster on top of everything else right now.

Spring had finally arrived. Lush green grass grew all around Mt. Ebott, and the woodland animals dashed through the trees, celebrating the warmth and the return of vegetation. The sun sparkled over the ocean, as if it, too, was rejoicing in the return of the warm weather. Patches of flowers surrounded the cliff, and the young sapling was in full bloom, as if its eagerness couldn't wait for the rest of the trees to catch up.

The view did nothing for Sans, but he still sat here on the edge of the cliff, gazing out on the horizon as if he could see any of it at all.

A month had come and gone, and he still felt the same: empty. He could tell his friends were worried about him, but none of them dared to say so to his face. As per his request, they all stopped searching for Aeris (well, except Papyrus, but he was doing it quietly, and Sans didn't have the heart to insist that he quit.). None of them even mentioned her name in front of him, though there were a couple of close calls and abrupt subject changes because of this. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that Toriel dared to bring Aeris up in front of Sans.

"I was just thinking…it would be nice to have a…a funeral for Aeris, would it not? It would give us all a chance to…to say goodbye," she had said, looking apprehensive as she spoke. Sans had just looked at her, wondering dully why she was looking at him like that.

"O-of course, if you think it is too soon, we can postpone," Toriel had hurried to assure him when he didn't reply. "I just thought it would be a nice idea—"

"Go ahead," he had allowed at last, looking away from her. "You don't need my permission. Wasn't like I was the only one who cared about Aeris."

"I-I see," Toriel had said, looking a little crestfallen. "W-well, if you are fine with it."

She had almost left him alone after that, but her steps had faltered as she walked away. From his peripheral vision, Sans saw her turn back around, gazing at him.

"It would be nice for you to come as well, Sans," she had told him softly. "I know you may not want to…but I think it might help."

Help? Nothing could help him now. Didn't she know he was beyond help by now?

Sans had turned to her, almost intending to say as much, but Toriel looked so worried that all he could do was sigh and agree to think about it.

The funeral had been today. Toriel and Asgore had taken care of all the details, like where it should be held (Asgore's garden) and who should attend (anyone who knew and loved Aeris). Sans' only contribution was the type of flowers to decorate Aeris' urn with—a prop, as it were. He chose white lilies.

Honestly, if anyone asked Sans now, he wouldn't be able to tell them what had actually happened at the funeral. He was vaguely aware of monsters getting up to talk about Aeris and the memories they had of her, and some of them approached him to express their sorrow for his loss. Dante had even come to pay his respects, which was unexpected and appreciated, but beyond that, the short skeleton was only present in body for the whole thing.

The repast was supposed to be taking place at Toriel's, but Sans had declined the invitation, stating that he needed to go for a walk. Inevitably, he had wandered back here, to the cliff, for the first time since he'd found Aeris' locket on the tree. He clutched at it now, hidden underneath his suit, a constant reminder of what he'd lost. Idly, he wondered if Aeris would've been pleased with all the people that had shown up to her funeral, or if she would've been mortified by all the attention. Mortified, probably—she hated anyone creating a fuss over her, didn't she? And yet, when it was for someone else, she allowed the fuss: getting dolled up for her date with Papyrus, helping with Frisk's birthday party, barging into Sans' room when he had a nightmare, dutifully attending Alphys' Mew Mew Kissy Cutie party after getting over her fever, playing piano for a wedding because Undyne had begged her to…

Her kindness had touched the lives of everyone Sans cared about, and only now was he just realizing how much they had all taken that kindness for granted. God, he missed her.

Footsteps crunched behind him. Sans glanced over to see who it was.

"Hey, kiddo," he greeted Frisk, smiling a little as the child came forward, carefully sitting beside him. "What're you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Frisk signed, frowning a little. "Papyrus is getting worried."

Of course he was. Sans sighed.

"Tell 'em I'll be back soon. I just need another minute."

"Tell him yourself when you get back," Frisk insisted. Sans laughed a little at that.

"Heh. I won't need to tell him when I get back—I'll already be back."

"Exactly."

"Subtle," Sans complimented, his grin widening by a centimeter. He ruffled Frisk's hair. "All right. I'll tell him when I get back, then."

He half-expected the child to run along back to Toriel's. But they stayed put, swinging their dangling legs. Sans was forcibly reminded of Aeris, and he turned away, clutching at the locket again. It was such a beautiful day. Birds were singing, flowers were blooming. Aeris would've loved a day like today. It was terrible that she wasn't around to enjoy it.

Frisk tugged on Sans' sleeve to make him look over at them.

"I miss her, too," they signed. Sans sighed and nodded.

"I think we all do, kid."

"Where do you think she is now?"

Honestly, Sans didn't know. He believed in Hell, certainly, but was there a Heaven? If there was, it would be a crime for Aeris not to be there. She had been such a wonderful person.

"…At least she's not suffering anymore," he murmured, more to himself than Frisk. That was the only thought that managed to keep him sane—Aeris was dead, but she no longer had to hack her insides up, blood smeared across her hand and mouth. Wherever she was, he was at least confident that she had to be at peace now.

Frisk tugged on his sleeve again, pressing their fingers to the corners of their mouth and stretching them wide. After a moment, Sans obliged. He was out of practice with this whole "smiling" thing, but it seemed to be enough, for Frisk beamed at him.

"C'mon, kid," Sans said, getting to his feet and pulling Frisk up to theirs. "Let's go back so my bro knows I'm okay."

He wasn't okay. Not really. But he would be. Sans would absolutely be okay.

How did he know? Well, Sans was a time-traveler.

He knew everything.

A/N: ...Guys. As I write this, it is with the knowledge that I have written a story that is over 200 pages in just 15 days. As a person who has struggled all my life with completing anything I write without an RP partner or a deadline, this is HUGE to me. I want to write. For a living, this is what I want to do. And now, knowing that I CAN do it as long as I set my mind to it...there are no words, ironically. I am speechless, impressed with myself, and so very, very grateful that so many of you enjoyed this emotional roller coaster that was my madness taking shape in this fanfiction. Words cannot express how much every single story follow, story favorite, and review meant to me. You guys truly inspired me to tell this story, and it has been my pleasure to write this journey for you, and to go on it with you.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, all the way up to the top, thank you.

~Reyna