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"When is Mom coming home?" Chara asked for the fifth time, sitting curled up in one corner of the sofa.

"Whenever she decides to come back," Sans answered tiredly. Papyrus had already taken off for work a couple of hours previously (after a very lengthy discussion with Sans about speeding tickets) and had left Sans in charge of watching the child. Sans flipped through another channel on the screen, utterly unaffected by every advertisement. Papyrus had carefully prepared a meal for both of them consisting of large quantities of spaghetti, complete with microwave instructions.

Which was specifically why they ordered pizza instead.

"... I'm bored," Chara frowned.

"Me too," Sans shrugged.

"When is my Sans coming back?"

"Whenever he decides to come back."

"You are the worst person to try to talk to," Chara's frown deepened. "I mean, seriously. You can't just give me one detailed answer?"

"Alright," he shrugged again without looking at her. "Toriel had better things to do than babysit a potentially dangerous child with serious unresolved split personality disorder and your Sans is a lackadaisical lollygagging lumbering lumpheaded lazybones. How's that for a detailed answer?"

"Bet you can't say that five times fast."

"You're on," Sans didn't even blink. "Lackadaisical lollygagging lumbering lumpheaded lacka- damn it," he chortled. "Kind of is a hard one to say."

They sat in silence for a little while, the quietly waving rustle of the television screen washing over them. Chara curled up with their blanket, face expressionless as they stared at the screen.

"... So is this just what you do every night?" Chara asked eventually.

"What, sit around and watch television?" Sans glanced over at them. "Nah. I always was more of a night owl anyway. Plenty of projects to keep me busy. You know, like the one that brought you n' other me here."

"Why bother?"

Sans blinked, looking fully at them for a moment.

"... What?" Chara stared at him. "What did I say?"

"What d'you mean by that, kid?" Sans asked quietly. "Why bother?"

"Well..." they started awkwardly, unused to the sudden stare. "I mean, there's no point to anything, is there? It's all just going to be reset anyway, so what's the purpose?"

"How would you know-" Sans began before running a hand over his head. "Ah. Your version of Frisk."

"Could reset the timeline just like yours inevitably will, yes," Chara nodded, looking back to the television screen where a game show of people picking suitcases was playing. "And now my Frisk is angry."

"... Why?"

"They haven't been able to reset ever since I jumped dimensions with my Sans," Chara explained without looking at him. "Ever since I gained the strength to take over. So they're stuck in our head."

"I've been meaning to ask about that..." Sans crossed his legs together and rested them on the coffee table and folding his hands over his stomach, but Chara merely pulled the blankets tighter. "How exactly does that work, being two separate entities sharing a single body?"

Chara didn't answer for a long while. It was absolutely silent in the living room aside from the television, and for a bit Sans assumed that they simply weren't going to answer.

"It's... difficult," Chara said at last, earning an odd glance from him. "You wouldn't understand."

"Does your Sans understand?"

"Well, duh."

"Is that a duh yes or a duh no?"

"Yes," Chara rolled their eyes, the red irises flashing in the dim light. "He gets it."

"So there's a good chance that I will too..." Sans cocked a skeletal eyebrow at them. "Who knows, maybe it'll do ya some good talking about it."

"Who knows," Chara scowled. "Maybe I don't like giving my whole life story."

"So give me the abridged version," Sans shrugged, looking back to the screen where a blond woman was cheering at winning a prize. "Or don't. Whatever. If you don't wanna talk about it, you don't have to talk about it."

"... That's it?" they blinked in mild surprise.

"Well, yeah," Sans gave a half shrug. "Won't do any good forcing you ta talk about things you don't wanna. Everybody's got things they'd rather keep to themselves. Some people, more than others."

"... That was a bit cryptic."

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well, me neither."

They fell silent once again, both staring straight ahead.

"... So," Chara said after yet another bout of silence. "I can't help but notice that my brother is alive. So that's weird."

"Really?" Sans glanced down to them. "All of the things you could have said, and that's what you picked?"

"So?" they scoffed. "What were you expecting?"

"I dunno," he shrugged yet again. "An explanation as to how you're alive after going through the void. How your mom recognized you literally the moment that she laid eyes on you. How this universe's Frisk doesn't seem to be possessed by the ghost of a dead child. But instead," he grinned down at them widely. "Instead, you're worried about your brother."

"What's so funny about that?" Chara glowered up at him.

"Nothing," he waved them off, looking back to the TV screen. "Just gives me a little hope is all."

Chara grumbled quietly, but didn't say anything else.

"And to answer your question, or statement actually," Sans started slowly. "Asriel did technically die in this timeline."

"So then how is he alive now?"

"Alphys had a little project going on," he explained. "Where she would inject determination into objects and observe the results. One of those objects just so happened to be a golden flower. When a monster dies, their dust is scattered over their favorite object so that their essence lives on in that object. And Asriel's dust-"

"Was spread on a flower?" Chara blinked.

"Bingo. So when it was injected with the determination, Asriel came back. Sort of."

"... Flowey," they said after a moment.

"Right again."

"But that still doesn't explain-"

"Hang on, hang on," Sans ran a hand over his head. "I'm getting there, yeesh. Man you're impatient."

Chara only stuck out their tongue at him before rolling their hand through the air for him to continue.

"So," Sans continued at a slow pace, as if to deliberately antagonize them further. "After we all got out of the Underground, Frisk decided it would be a good idea to bring Flowey along with us. Second chances and all that," he shrugged with one shoulder, as if rolling some weight off of him. "Didn't take me long to figure out who the kid actually was. Just kinda surprised that his consciousness wound up in a flower, of all things. Long story short, Alphys made a prototype that could maintain both a monster's soul and consciousness simultaneously, but it had a few drawbacks."
"Like what?" Chara asked quietly, completely immersed in his story. "How is that even possible?"

"Well," Sans steepled his fingers together. "It didn't, at first. We figured out that it would take more than simply transferring Asriel's consciousness from one thing to another. He needed something to bind his consciousness and body together. He needed... a soul."

"So..." they asked. "Now he has a soul?"

"He has part of a soul," Sans corrected them. "I said it was a prototype for a reason. Alphys... constructed an artificial soul using a part of a complete soul. Like creating a brand new monster from scratch, except that it was molded to perfectly fit Asriel's new form."

"So where did the soul piece come from?"

Sans didn't reply, at first. Then he slowly pulled up his shirt, pointing to his missing rib. Chara's mouth dropped open when they finally caught on, staring as Sans pulled his shirt back down.

"... Oh my god."

"So, yeah," Sans shrugged coolly. "We used part of my soul to develop a new one for Asriel."

"That's... wow," Chara rubbed their eyes. "Did-didn't that hurt?"

"Oh," he nodded. "Oh yeah. Hurt like hell. Thought I was dying for a while there," he admitted. "Probably one of the most excruciating moments of my entire life."

"But why would you do that?" they pried. "Why not just use an easier part like from your arm or your hand?"
"Because I don't want holes in my hands," Sans answered darkly, looking away from them for a moment. "And besides, it wasn't like anyone else was offering to give the kid a soul."

"So is that why Asriel was drinking that purple stuff?" Chara asked.

"Yeah. It's this gross gel that Alphys whipped up," he explained quietly. "Keeps his body from melting."

"He could melt?!"

"Well, yeah," Sans shrugged without looking at them. "That's just what happens when you have a broken soul."

"But-but-but...!" Chara fumbled, pulling at their hair. "But if he m-melts...!"

"Take it easy, kid..." Sans shook his head slowly. "He's not gonna melt. He'll be fine, so long as he keeps drinking that concoction. He just has to wait a while for his body and soul to acclimate to each other is all. He'll be fine."

"How do you know?"

"Alphys and I have had some... experience with the subject," he answered tersely. "Just trust me, kid. He's gonna be alright."

They fell silent once again. Chara sat numb and stiff, their eyes wide.

"... Jeez, kid, breathe already," Sans gave an awkward laugh.

"You both say that a lot, without any reason to," Chara said after a moment. "'Just trust me'."

"We do?" Sans blinked. "Hmm. Haven't noticed. Speaking of lazybones," Sans checked the clock above the mantle. "Since he's still not back, wanna go with me to Grillby's to drag him home?"

"It's going to be like pulling teeth," Chara said with a frown. "So no thanks."

"Let me rephrase that," Sans said as he stood. "You're coming with me to Grillby's."

"What? Why?"

"Because duh," he shook his head, holding his hand out to them. "You're used to teleporting, right?"

"My Sans calls it jumping," Chara tentatively took his hand. "Because you jump from one place to another."

"Call it whatever you like," he shrugged for the millionth time. "Just make sure you've got a good grip."

And with a click of his fingers, they were gone.

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