With the help of Alphys, and Frisk's genuine knack for puzzle solving, the two of you quite easily make it through the many reactivated puzzles.
You weren't too big on the steam vents that had enough power to not only blow your much smaller and lighter sibling, but also your much larger and older self along with them. Whatever heat the "Core" was releasing, it was something you didn't want to ride or breathe in.
Running into Mettaton periodically was also something you weren't keen about. His weird stage-like dramatic personality was growing on you, as you were a bit excited to see what show he was going to parody next. The only problem was all the trying to kill you and your sibling. There was something about his programmed personality that seemed all too...real. Alive. He couldn't just be a robot, right? Something about watching him try so dramatically to kill your sibling, along with the extreme fascination Frisk had for him, you were sure there was more than met the eye.
When you mentioned your idea to Frisk, they gave you a giant smile before running ahead, refusing to answer you. Though, you guess their reaction was enough to tell you that Mettaton was another one of Frisk's many monster friends.
Mentioning monster friends, you two wound up stumbling upon Sans once more. You noticed, walking up to his stall, that it had snow covering the roof. As Frisk talked to him you wound up getting distracted, playing with the snow above your head. By the time you turned to your sibling, you noticed Sans had started stacking hot dogs on the kids head.
When you asked him why he thought it'd be a good idea, he had shrugged and just gestured to the look Frisk was giving him. The kid looked way too determined for their own good.
Other than the monster or two coming to say hi, and Mettaton trying to kill you two, you did eventually run into the two armored suits you had noticed outside of Alphys's lab. Like you had predicted they hadn't been any actual issue. In fact, the kid had somehow convinced one of them to confess their feeling for the other.
You still didn't understand how everyone understood Frisk's sign language. It did make you happy, though. This was probably the most people Frisk had ever been able to talk to in all of their life. Few people in your town above ground knew sign language. There was you, a teacher specially hired for Frisk at their school, and an old next door neighbor who had a deaf grandchild who didn't speak. Even your mom hadn't gone through the "trouble" of learning ASL. Frisk was isolated. They were ostracized for their lack of normal communication, being uncomfortable being labeled a girl or a boy, and their living situation. Kids mocked Frisk for only having a mom, who was known by the PTA to very rarely be sober, and a sister who was infamous for her childhood. Frisk was bullied. Even without them telling you, you knew. You couldn't do much, as marching into Frisk's elementary school to fight kids would probably be frowned upon. But here, in an underground massive cave system filled to the brim with magically sealed away monsters, Frisk had found a place that understood them. Both them and what they were signing.
The more you explored, even through traps set by a human killing robot, the more you came to realize why saving every single monster in the underground was so important to Frisk. Why they became so attached to Toriel so quickly. Why they wanted to visit two walking skeletons at every and all points during your adventure. Though it was such a short time Frisk had known everyone, they were already a hundred, a thousand, more times caring and accepting than any single person back home. Frisk had never had this.
Honestly, you hadn't either.
It's an elevator ride that startles you out of your thoughts. You had noticed Frisk was pretty excited about the floor your two just stopped at. Which, for you, meant pulling out your bat to get ready for another large fight.
Any time Frisk was excited, it usually came to you having to fight. Or… not fight? A peaceful fight. Either way, you put up your guard as Frisk left the safe confinement of the elevator to step onto a… Rug?
The floor was much darker than the others you had ventured through in Hotland, no light from the lava reaching you. It was also cooler, as for once you didn't feel like you were being cooked alive. You follow Frisk, searching for a sign to tell you who you were about to meet.
As you walk it gets darker, and darker.
And yet darker.
Frisk starts slowing down, their face scrunching up in confusion.
Something's wrong.
They move to your side, curling their small hands into your shirt, pulling themselves closer to you. You feel one of their hands let go, to quickly tell you something.
"This isn't right." They say. It's so dark now you can't see even the bat you held in your hands. "I don't remember this."
"This doesn't even feel right." You mutter, trying to keep quiet-
Wait, what? You look to Frisk and frown when you can't really make out more than their head shape. You swore you had just had Frisk sign to you. You knew what they said or… had you imagined it? They definitely had signed to you just now…
A light blinds you and you flinch at the brightness. Frisk had their phone out that you had gotten from Alphys clutched in their hands, shining it to light your pathway. For once during the trip through Hotland you were happy Frisk had the thing. They'd had their face buried in it since the beginning, signing to you all of Alphys's and Papyrus's status updates and whatever texts they had with Sans.
"Are you sure you're not forgetting this place?" You ask softly, eyes following the light Frisk started to shine around them. Instead of a walkway suspended, like all the rest, this one had walls. Walls that were very close and confining. They were a colorless grey and at some point while you two were walking the carpet had turned into a pitch black floor that made your footsteps sound like footfalls.
Frisk shifts the light to try and sign to you, but immediately gives up and hands the phone over.
"We should have found Muffet by now." They say once you've turned the phone onto them. In the fluorescent light they look terrified. You hope part of it is just because of the weird lighting casting odd shadows and not because Frisk was actually that scared. Just to be safe, you pull them close to you, letting them hug your hips as you held the light in front of you and your bat at the ready.
Ever since you started this adventure with Frisk, they had known every outcome. They knew what to expect, how to solve traps and puzzles, and what to say to people to get the best results. At first it was eery, because it proved how many times the kid had been through this underground, how many times they reset or… Or died.
Just thinking about it made you sick.
To have something happen that they hadn't stumbled across was a very, very slim chance.
Or maybe by appearing you've changed something. Every possible route Frisk took to escape the underground had never involved you until now.
The air grows cold enough that when you breathe in it burns. The darkness around the light has grown unnatural and even the phone screen had stopped cutting through it like it had just seconds ago. You two could only see maybe an inch in front of the phone.
Something moves. Or maybe it's a breath, or a breeze from the cold. Either way you jerk to your right, scanning for whatever it could've been. Frisk whimpers, but with your hands full you can't hug them to your side. Something has caught in your throat too and any verbal reassurance is lost.
A noise this time. Like static. It groans from in front of you, coming from something you couldn't hope, or really want, to see in the darkness.
Your soul moves in your chest. You can feel it. It was being tugged, coerced to come out. It stayed in the confinement of your body but bumped around, jostling your ribs and your throat in an odd tingling not-quite-physical feeling.
Frisk suddenly pulls at your shirt, making you pause. You freeze up, waiting to see if you could figure out what made them stop.
The static is louder. Had been growing louder as you walked. It was only when you stopped did you realize it wasn't just white noise, but music. An odd jumbled piece of song that, for some reason, reminded you of the music you had heard when you fought Undyne. They weren't similar in any way, shape, or form, but… Something about it told you that it wasn't from any radio or phone.
Then there's light.
Light from the lava far below starts filtering into your vision, the odd darkness ebbs away from you and Frisk and you walk into an open walled walkway. The familiar sight of Hotland structure doesn't do anything to make you feel better.
Looking over your shoulder, searching for the reason for the unnerving event, you're met by a long open-walled landing. There's no grey walls. No black fog. No music.
Nothing.
You look to Frisk and any doubt you had about experiencing… Whatever that was was washed away by the panic and unsettling, blatant fear on the kids face. They stared at the ground, hand trembling where it still loosely clung to the edge of your shirt.
You pulled them closer, sheathing your bat so you can scoop the child up into your arms. You hold them tightly, trying to imbue them with your own bravado, hoping they'll take it as real courage.
Muffet was cute. Extremely cute, young, and a savvy entrepreneur. There was also something about all of her spider pets- er, friends? Business partners? That you found kind of endearing.
Well you did until Frisk pointed out a few had stuck to you out of adoration.
You believe the power and restraint it took to not immediately flail is the strongest you'll ever be ever again.
You're also glad that Frisk had bought Muffet's spider branded food back in the Ruins. You had questioned why Frisk was so intent on throwing money at a spider web and why they were so keen on eating a donut spiders had given them.
The bigger issue at hand was that someone had spread lies about you and Frisk. Or really payed Muffet to get your soul. Her description that she saw them "change in the shadows" unnerved you, especially after the incident right before you met her. Though, you had an inkling that the person who wanted your soul and had paid Muffet was most likely Mettaton. You weren't sure how her description matched up just yet, but you had a gut feeling that those earlier shadows had nothing to do with Muffet. Especially since Frisk didn't remember them.
Muffet ended up giving you both her business website and her more personal information. Which, after a minute, you realized was just her updating her status to tell everyone about her business.
"And this is why I don't kill spiders." They signed as you finally entered a place with walls. You stop to look at a poster hanging up, recognizing a certain grey robot.
"No, you're just too nice to literally everything. You wouldn't even hurt a fly." You reply, laughing. Frisk grows quiet at your side. "Look at this." You say, tapping a finger on Mettaton wearing a dress. "Star crossed lovers? I kinda wanna see who Mettaton would let perform with him. Maybe he's doing both roles himself." You grin. You could easily imagine the grey box switching between leading roles because he didn't think anyone else would do it right. Plus, it'd definitely be entertaining. A true show.
"Probably someone pretty, like Mettaton." You raise a brow. You hadn't really considered the literal box of hardware "pretty", but if you thought about it, you could. Polished metal and flashing light, what's not to love? You laugh and pat Frisk's head of hair.
"Probably."
The wall dips back to form an elaborately painted backdrop of a night sky over a dark town. It's a stage prop, obviously, but it was extremely beautiful. You stared at it as you walked, looking up to find stars hung by cords, casting a cool glow.
It doesn't click until you see the column of vine covered stone at the end of the room do you realize you're on set. Specifically a star-crossed-lover set for none of than-
"Oh, that human… Could it be? My one true love?"
Mettaton.
The robot peeked over the edge and then quickly made his way down the stairs of the tower. As he went, you noticed the dress he wore was absolutely stunning. Layers of silk with a final dusting of gems on the baby blue exterior, making it shine under the light of the hung star lights. He makes his way over to you and you nervously shift your weight between your feet. You knew because he was here, that a camera was somewhere, filming.
You look to Frisk hoping they'll take one for the team, but you notice they're not at your side. In fact, there nowhere to be seen. You quickly look around, but find them off to the side, laughing their little ass off. You give them a look, but you're interrupted by Mettaton picking up your hands with his white gloved ones.
This couldn't get worse.
But then he starts singing.
And then he starts dancing.
Oh, but not alone, of course not. He starts totting you around in a sorry excuse of a waltz, pushing you and pulling you along with him. If he had feet and not a wheel, you would've definitely stepped on them multiple times. You feel awkward and uncomfortable and can't even look him in the eyes to convey it because he doesn't have any.
He dips you and you feel like crawling into a hole. Partly because of how embarrassed you were, but also because by the end of the song he started going a little weird with the lyrics. A dungeon? Dying a lot?
"So sad." He says, his song over as he rights you and holds your shoulders at arm's length. "So sad that you are going to the dungeon." He then rolls away from you. "Well, tootles!"
There's a screech and suddenly there's not a floor under you anymore.
Luckily it's not a far drop, so not too much damage, but the hip you landed on screams at you as you pull yourself to your feet.
Mettaton flies down through the hole you fell through, and it shuts above him. You glare, immediately on edge without your sibling in eyesight.
"Oh no! Whatever shall I do? My love has been cast away into the dungeon..." The mock in his voice grates a bit at your nerves, but watching his dress poof up around him because of his jet soothes you. "A dungeon with a puzzle so dastardly, my paramour will surely perish."
Ahead of you is a one way conveyor belt to a grid of flashing colors. It looked… Oddly familiar to that puzzle Papyrus had used on you and Frisk back in Snowdin.
"O, Heavens have mercy! The horrible colored tile maze… Each colored tile has its own sadistic function." You purse your lips, wondering if you were going to listen this time or ignore it like you had last time.
You start for the conveyor belt.
"Oh, you remembered this puzzle from almost a hundred rooms ago?" He asks, amused as you freeze up. "Then I won't bother and waste your time." He laughs and you pull out your bat. "You have so little time. See, if you don't finish this puzzle in less than thirty seconds-" You make a noise at the short time limit. You jumped when you hear gas and then fire being lit, turning you spot a row of flames behind you. "-you'll be incinerated by these jets of fire!" he starts laughing maniacally and you have a sinking feeling of dread.
His laughter dies as Mettaton realizes he's still supposed to be playing a roll of a heart broken lover.
"My poor love!" He says, sniffling. "I'm so filled with grief, I can't stop laughing! Good luck, Darling!"
You sprint over the conveyor belt, ignoring the digital timer that dropped from the ceiling. It was counting down for the fans of his show at home to see, not you.
You knew pink were fine, and that red seemed to be impassible. The blue also was literally a mini pool of water. There was a clash of fruit smells, along with the smell of live burning electricity from the yellow blocks. By the time you put together the puzzle was most definitely unsolvable, the timer goes off. It's only then you realize he might've been singing while you scrambled towards the hypothetical exit.
The tiles go grey and you hesitantly move to the middle, facing Mettaton's hovering form.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! It looks like you're out of time." The fire roars from the jets, a row on either side of you chugs closer and you audibly swallow.
You could feel the intense heat lick at your arms.
"Here comes the flames, Darling!"
You whip back around, watching as they grow closer to you. Your arms start burning but you still try to push your bat against the metal that held the jets. Almost immediately you give that up, as the fire burns your forearm and your wooden bat starts smoking.
Being stabbed through with a spear was bad enough, but being burned alive? Even knowing you could reset you never wanted to feel that.
You curl into yourself and shut your eyes tight, waiting to feel the burning feeling to increase.
...
…?
You open your eyes back up and look at Mettaton. You then look to your right and left and see the jets of fire have paused. If you moved even a centimeter you worried either your clothes or your hair would catch on fire.
Mettaton coughs awkwardly.
A phone rings and you flinch. You had forgotten you had taken it from Frisk earlier. As gently and carefully as you can, you maneuver the phone out of the side pocket and hit speaker.
"Watch out! I'll save you!" It was Alphys. "I'm hacking into the firewall right now!" She'd been avoiding calling you and Frisk after she realized how easily Frisk figured everything out. You'd felt a little bad and reminded Frisk to text her updates and to update your status so she wasn't left out. Hearing her sparked a dash of hopeful relief.
The jets flicker and then die.
You almost cry at the prospect of not dying. You uncurl yourself, examining your red arms. You had a couple of burns (one which looked and most definitely felt severe) and your bat had burnt. It hadn't caught on fire or anything, but it definitely had a charred scar at the end of it.
"Oh no! How could this happen?" Mettaton dramatically asks the audience. "Foiled again by the brilliant doctor Alphys!" You raise a brow at that comment.
"That's right!" She said through your phone that you clutched in your shaking hand. "Come on Mettaton, give up already. You'll never be able to defeat us… Not as long as we work together!" Something was wrong. "Your puzzle's over… Now go home and leave us alone!" Why wasn't Alphys stuttering? Why did this sound so much like… a script? Your stomach did a flip and you pull your hurt arms closer to you, feeling uneasy.
"Puzzle? Over? Alphys, darling, what are you talking about? Did you forget what the green tiles do? They make a sound, then you have to fight a monster." He pauses dramatically. "Well, darling, that monster is me!"
As the bot comes rushing towards you, your recently-healed soul appears in front of you, as if it was trying to shield you from his attack.
You wield your semi-burnt bat and his robotic music fills your ears.
Your phone rings again and you frown at it, not knowing when you or Alphys had hung up. Being a little preoccupied with trying to figure out if denting a robot would upset Frisk or not, you ignored the ringing.
"That's your phone," Mettaton says, as if you couldn't see it flashing in your palm. "You should get that." It was in the hand of the arm that you were currently dubbing as out-of-commission because of the searing burn on it. You glance between his unmoving form, patiently waiting for you to answer, and the screen that flashed the name Alphys.
Betrayal gnaws at the back of your mind as you answer.
"H-hey, this seems bad, b-but don't worry! There's one last thing I installed on your phone. Y-you see that yellow button?" You nod. Either she saw it on TV or she was still watching you with her hidden cameras. She continues. "Press it!"
As soon as your thumb hits the button, you feel your soul pulse. It's resonating with Mettaton, you can almost see something tangible consume your green soul. Ever so slowly it turns in the air until its upside down.
And then it's yellow.
You feel a sense of Justice fill you.
A justice to not only please the audience you know is watching you, but to put Mettaton and Alphys in their place, knowing that they were working together.
You raise your hand, somehow already knowing what to do, and aim towards Mettaton. Your soul follows your hand precisely, your fingers acting like cross hares. Interrupting Alphys's explanation on how to use your changed soul, you fire at Mettaton. Somewhere in the back of your mind, in the same place that had explained exactly how to use the yellowed soul, you knew you hadn't actually done any damage.
"Oh! Ack! How can this be? You're stronger than I thought, excetera."
You blinked and your soul was back in your body, the music and Mettaton gone, and your phone was ringing.
Of course Alphys is the one calling you.
"L-Looks like you beat him! You d-did a really great job out there." You stare at the phone in your hand.
Did she think she was good at lying? That Mettaton was, with his half-assed acting just then? Or did she just think you were that gullible or stupid because of how kind you were? The want to call her out, or to hang up, was incredibly strong.
"All thanks to you." You say, instead, lifting your arm to assess your burn fully now that you weren't in harm's way.
"What?" She sounds surprised. "Oh, no, I mean… Y-You were the one doing everything cool! I just wrote some silly programs for your phone."
You pull a bandage from your bag. You've used it several times, the last for the magical burns from Toriel. You're glad you kept it and that the burns from Tori had been blisters that hadn't popped so the bandage was pretty clean and dry. You sandwich the phone between your shoulder and ear as you gingerly wrap the new wound on your forearm. It was already blistering and looking like your skin was trying to boil off. The bandage hurt, but it was better to cover it then let it get infected.
"... Um, h-hey, this might sound strange, but…can I tell you something?" Her words cut off as you stifle a hiss of pain by biting the the inside of your cheek. You make a noise for her to continue. "B-before I met you I… I d-didn't really like myself very much."
You freeze. Her words strike something familiar inside of you.
"For a long ti-time I felt like a total screw-up. L-like I couldn't do a-anything without… Without ending up letting everyone down…"
A memory of a smaller you watching your parents fight appears behind your eyes and you can't move as the memory eats at your vision. It was a smaller you that thought you were the problem and that's why your parents fought. You had let them down and so your mother decided to have another kid, a kid that they would raise to replace you.
A smaller you who got into trouble at school and let your parents and teachers down over and over again. A smaller you that, for a period of time, couldn't look at your own reflection because it'd make you sick.
A smaller you that hoped you wouldn't let Frisk down like you had everyone else; who craved to protect them and be a part of Frisk's life as if it could redeem you.
A smaller you that was desperately Kind.
"B-but! Guiding you has made me feel a lot better about myself… So… Thanks for letting me help you."
You swallow and taste bile in the back of your throat.
"Uhh, anyway, we're almost to the Core. It's just past MTT Resort. Come on! Let's finish this!" She hangs up, and you listen to the static of the phone before lowering it and sliding it into your bags pocket.
With a deep breath, you refocus yourself, reminding yourself that you needed to go find Frisk.
Leaving the room with the deactivated puzzle, you climb red rocks stairs to come upon the two guys in their suits of armor, holding hands as they ate nice cream. Just next to them was the blue bunny from the snowy outskirts of Snowdin, with his same nice cream cart. You aren't too surprised to see Frisk in front of him, them signing to him and and him happily nodding in return.
"Frisk." You call. The two of them look over to you. As the rabbit smiles, ears raising high as he waves, Frisk immediately makes an upset noise.
"What happened to your arms?" They ask quickly as you approach. The nice cream man notices too, because he frowns, his ears wilting.
"Burned them a little." You say nonchalantly. "No big deal. It's just showbiz." Frisk grunted as you laughed. You then look to the nice cream man. "Any nice cream?" He blinks and then shakes his head.
"Sorry, those two bought all my stock." He gestures to the pair of armor clad soldiers. You shrug, having asked more out of sake for conversation than a want for anything cold. Frisk grabs your hand, waving their other pudgy one towards the nice cream man as a signal of their decision to depart. You smile and wave at the rabbit too as you follow Frisk's lead.
A large building sits before you further along the path. It's soft, warm light glowing from the glass double doors and large windows makes the area seem dark in comparison. If you hadn't just been wandering around lava pits, you would've almost been fooled into thinking you were walking outside on a cool, dark night.
Frisk pulls harder on your arm, getting your attention to fall from the building front to the certain someone standing lazily next to it. He leaned his large body against a large set of planters, hollow eyes closed as if he was enjoying an imaginary breeze.
As if he hears Frisk and your silent footsteps getting closer to him, his eyes open and the white pinpricks center on the two of you. His forever smile widens at the sight.
"Hey." He says shortly, voice rumbling out from under where the edge of his jacket covered part of his mouth. He met Frisk's eyes and then had to tilt his head up to meet yours. He straightened up a bit.
"Hey Sans." You say, smiling. "What're you doing here?" You gesture to "MTT Resort".
"About to head to dinner." He states matter of fact-ly. "Heard you're going through here to the Core."
"Yeah. Still heading towards the castle." He nods and then jerks his skull to the side.
"How about grabbing some dinner with me first, you two?" You smile, feeling your stomach tighten at the idea of a real meal. You tilt your head down to Frisk.
"You hungry?" They nod quickly, both hands tugging on yours excitedly.
"Calm down kid, or you'll pull your sisters arm out of it's socket." Sans says, puffing out a few laughs before turning towards the alley next to the Resort.
"Um…" You begin, slowly following as Frisk leads you. Sans, hearing your confusion, stops and turns a grin your way.
"It's a shortcut."
The three of you walk into the dark and, less than a second later, you're walking into a softly lit dining room.
There's murmurs from monsters all around, all sitting with one another and enjoying their own company. Not a soul notices you three walking in from a doorless wall, nor do they seem to notice anything but the ones that they're with. They're all in their own worlds. Sans pulls a chair haphazardly out as he passes, as if he decided at the last second not to sit in it. Instead he goes to the opposite side. You sit down in the chair he yanked out, immediately picking Frisk up to sit them in your lap.
"Well, here we are." He says, looking between you and Frisk, who was wrapped up in your arms. "So. Your journey's almost over, huh?"
"Here you go." You look up to see a monster set two plates down in front of you and frisk, and a bowl in front of Sans. You stifle your laughter when you see it's just a bowl of red sauce. Frisk immediately picks up their burger, stuffing their face before you can get them to sign thank you to Sans, for ordering.
"Thank you." You say, giving Frisk a look. They release one hand to sign and then immediately grab their burger again.
"Kid's got a big appetite." Sans says. "That was supposed to be yours." The other plate had a comically small kid-sized burger on it and you roll your eyes. You don't stop Frisk though, even when they sign sorry.
"Not that hungry anyway." You say, your stomach immediately gnawing at itself in protest. Sans picks up a spoon and sticks it in his bowl.
"You two must really want to go home." He suddenly says. You pause mid bite of your burger. "It's been about a day and you're more than halfway across the Underground already."
A day? A whole day since you've been down here? You had assumed it'd been a while, having fallen asleep at Toriel's and all, but… It felt much longer because of how many new bruises, scars and cuts you'd gotten (and even healed) in only around twenty-four hours. In all honesty you'd been put through the ringer both physically and mentally and as soon as you got home you were planning to not move for a long while. Now that Sans was saying it'd been a day you felt exhaustion creeping up on you. You'd been able to push it back with all of the crazy events, one of which was literally you dying, but now sitting in the warm and dimly lit room your eyelids drooped.
"Hey, I know the feeling buddo." Sans says and you force your eyes all the way open to focus on the skeleton across from you. "Wanting to go home…" He trailed off. You had assumed Papyrus and him had always lived in Snowdin. Hadn't they?
Did he just call you "buddo"?
"Though, maybe sometimes it's better to take what's given to you." He noisy slurps his bowl of ketchup, making Frisk almost choke on their food.
"What'dya mean by that?" You ask, patting Frisk's back at the same time you pull their glass of water closer so that they can reach it.
"Dunno." He shrugs. "Down here you've already got food, drink, friends…" His pinpricks are solely on you, now. "Is what you have to do… really worth it?" Your face sours and he nervously glances away. "Ah, forget it." He amends quickly, meeting your eyes again. "I'm rootin' for ya, kid." He then looks down to Frisk, giving the child all of his attention as you lean back. "Hey, let me tell you a story."
You're glad Frisk took your food, because you don't know if you could stomach anything anymore.
You'd been thinking about this for a while and something had recently clicked for you… The Underground was good for Frisk. It had everything home didn't. People who understood and accepted them, a safe environment, loving friends and even a loving mother. It seemed that the only reason why Frisk had wanted to leave the Underground beforehand was because they had missed you. Now that you were here too… Was there a reason to go home?
Sure. You had school… but you already put Frisk before that on a normal basis. You had your mother too, and guilt gnawed at your kind soul at the idea of never returning to her, but… Would you ignore that feeling for Frisk's future?
Of course you would.
Frisk came first, always.
You would bring this up later to the kid. You remembered they had said "save all the monsters". Now thinking about the monsters safe and sweet home, what were they needing to be saved from?
"So, naturally, I respond: 'dishes'." You tune back in to the story Sans was recounting for Frisk. " 'Dishes who?', she asked and I said, 'dishes a very bad joke'." Frisk laughs and you snort, rolling your eyes. "Then she just howls with laughter, like it's the best joke she's ever heard in a hundred years. So I keep 'em coming, and she keeps laughing. She's the best audience I've ever had." You wish you hadn't tuned out the first half of the story, because you wanna know who Sans was talking about. "Then, after a dozen of 'em, she knocks and says…'knock knock!', I say, whos there?, 'old lady!', old lady who?, 'Oh! I did not know you could yodel!'."
Frisk almost chokes on their water and both you and Sans laugh at their reaction to the joke.
"Wow." Sans says, back to his story as you gave Frisk all three of the set out cloth napkins. "Needless to say, this woman was extremely good. We kept telling each other jokes for hours. Eventually I had to leave. Papyrus gets kind of cranky without his bedtime story, but she told me to come by again, and so I did." He crosses his large puffy sleeves on the table. "Then I did again. And again. It's a thing now, telling bad jokes through the door." He chuckles. "It rules." He trails off then, eyes going between the two of you. You raise a brow, nodding for him to continue.
"Sans?"
"One day," He abruptly begins again. "I noticed she wasn't laughing very much. I asked her what was up. Then she told me something strange. 'If a human ever comes through this door… Could you please, please promise something? Watch over them, and protect them, will you not?'."
With a jolt you realize he's been talking about Toriel.
"Now, I hate making promises and this woman, I don't even know her name." His eyes meet yours. "But someone who sincerely likes bad jokes… Has an integrity you can't say no to. Do you get what I'm saying? You know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything?" Frisk stiffens and you instinctively hug them tighter. Your brows furrow as you look between the two of them.
Something chills the air and…. Where did the white pricks in Sans's eyes go?
"You'd be dead where you stand."
"Sit." You say instantly, without thinking, and the white pricks pop back.
"What?"
"We're sitting." You say and any malice he had that'd been there a second ago vanished. However, yours multiples tenfold. Here Sans was again, threatening you- threatening Frisk. He seems to notice your sneer over the kids head.
"Lighten up, bucko." Sans says, giving a forced laugh that proved your glare was making him slightly nervous. At the very least uncomfortable. "I'm just joking with you two."
Did he just call you "bucko"?
"Plus, haven't I done a great job protecting the kid?" He gestures to Frisk's unscathed form. However, Frisk immediately pulls your arm up above their head, showing the skeleton your bandages.
"I don't count." You say, laughing, pulling your arm from Frisk grasps. Their brow furrows and they pout.
"You came out of the door with me." They protest. You make a face.
"Where'd you get that?" Sans suddenly asks and you give him a look. You're surprised to see his brow bones have pushed together in mild upset. In fact, his pinpricks start scanning you, as if looking for other wounds.
"I was a guest on Mettaton's show."
Sans's face sours even more.
"Papy loves that guy. I didn't know that getting filleted was a complimentary gift if you got casted." Though he jokes, his tone hasn't returned to it's normal light tone and his eyes haven't moved from your arm.
"I need to go to the bathroom." Frisk signs, raising their tiny hands into your view. You nod and scoot the chair back. Before you can get up with them, they wave for you to stay seated. "I know where it is!"
"Frisk-" But they're already speed-walking off, heading into a side door that was still in the restaurant. You sigh but scoot back in, looking to Sans.
"Bathroom." You tell him.
"Heard." Sans replies and you frown at his word choice. "Sorry." He says and you purse your lips.
"For what? Your bad sense of humor?" He shifts in his seat. "Look, I don't get what's up with you and my sibling, but you need to lay off."
"Kid-"
"Don't." You snap. "What if I went around threatening Papyrus? " Sans goes so still, so quiet, so suddenly, you pause briefly. His reaction is unnerving, how the lights in his sockets die at even the thought. Good. Maybe he'd stop messing with Frisk. "You're scaring them," You stress, lowering your voice after you hear how loud and heated you'd gotten. "They've been through a lot, okay? I can only protect them from so much. I don't need you, someone who they genuinely consider a friend, messing with them like that. They're nine."
Sans nods slowly and you sigh, hoping it'll actually be the end of it. You watch as he sits straighter and his smile dims.
"The kids hasn't died this time around."
"Wh- of course they haven't." You snort. "You saw them walking just now, right?"
"But you did." You freeze, going silent. "Once, right?"
For a quiet, long, drawn out minute you two simply stare at each other.
"What?" Your voice is quiet and sounds broken. You don't hear it over the noise of the dining room.
"Was it to protect the kid?" He asks and you can't find yourself able to answer.
How did Sans know? You'd reset, started a new life at the shining star. Even Undyne, your killer, hadn't remembered. You were sure even Frisk wasn't aware of it. But he could tell? And how he said it… You'd been right that on Frisk's other runs they had…
"Yes." You answer. "In a roundabout way." You pick up Frisk's water glass just to squeeze it between your hands. The coolness doesn't do anything to calm your racing heart.
Sans sighs, but his smile returns to normal.
"Guess I haven't been showing off my skills that well." He slouched back into his chair. "Didn't think I needed to keep my eye on you."
"You don't…" You shook your head, refusing to finish his punch line for him. "I have enough backbone for the both of us, I don't need you babysitting me."
The good mood Sans was trying to salvage had died. Whatever budding friendship you two had started back at Grillby's was quickly dying.
Something was going on between Sans and Frisk, something much bigger than just a skeleton being a bully to a nine year old. All if jibes were specific. They were aimed towards whatever happened with Frisk before they brought you underground. Sans knew something that you didn't, about your sibling, and it bugged you to no end.
Sans understood what it was like being an older sibling. A part of you genuinely wanted to believe Sans was better than what he was showing you in those small moments with Frisk. In fact, most of his interactions with the kid and you were A+. But then something… Would happen, and then he'd cross a line. It was confusing. You were missing something, something important.
You're sure neither of them would explain it to you if you asked.
"Take care of yourself, kid." Sans says and you jump when you realize you got lost in your thoughts again. He stands up, having to hop off of his chair because of how short he was. He starts walking towards the back wall you three had come from. You also stand.
"Sans…"
"'Cause someone really cares about you."
"Mn!" You spin around finding Frisk just behind you. Their eyes stay on you for only a second before looking around you. You turn back around to see Sans had vanished.
"Where did Sans go?" Frisk signs to you. You shake your head, shrugging. They don't look too surprised at Sans disappearance. "You okay?"
"What?" You ask, confused. "Yeah, why?"
"You look like you're going to cry." They sign, looking worried. Laughing, you pick them up into your arms, bouncing them.
"Maybe 'cause someone stole my food." You tease. "Now, come on, we're pretty close, right?" The child smiles and nods. Setting them back down, they rush ahead of you, signing something fleeting about exploring the resort. You didn't get to see the other half as they ran out the restaurant doors.
You breathe in, trying to stop your eyes from stinging, swallowing, willing the ball in your throat to leave.
Sans was right. Frisk really did care about you.
So it was your job to make sure they had a future worth how amazing they were.
Either you gave up your life above ground and stayed underground with Frisk, or you gave up your soul to return Frisk and the monsters to the surface.
…. You never were someone who could be selfish.
There was only one real option.
Imagining Frisk's smile, you take a deep breath and find a bounce has added itself to your step.
The time to prove how Kind you really were was nearing and something about that filled you with Determination.