I'm Sorry Kiddo...
A/N: Here we go again, another story that I'll most likely never finish just like the rest of my stuff but fuck it writer's block is a real pain in the ass when you just can't think of anything so we are doing the Ol' reliable of Undertale. Now before it begins, let me make a few things clear. I know how bad this community can get when it comes to content such as this, I've seen many people get run into the ground for stuff like this. However, you are of course entitled to an opinion, whether I care about it or not is another thing. If you want to leave constructive criticism in the reviews or you actually like it perchance then that's great, if you're just gonna go there to shit on it, go ahead, I might take time out of my day to laugh at it. I do apologize for the people who just want to read it because it looks interesting but if you know this fandom then you know I gotta go over this. Next, any and all characters in this are ADULTS, I'm not trying to hear the "child" word at all. Lastly, I have given characters who are "Genderless", genders, it's just the way the cookie crumbles I'm afraid. Once again sorry for the long note but these formalities need to be out of the way before we begin. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this first and hopefully not the last part. Have fun and don't do drugs people.
A cold stormy night ensued outside, rain lashing against the window as the wind howled like a feral beast out in the forest. In contrast, inside was calm, still and dark, only faint echoes of the chaos outside drifted around. In the midst of this calmness, something was draped under a blanket on the couch, only the heaving of the body underneath from breathing indicated that it was alive. Getting closer to the blanket, a faint blue glow could be seen resonating from underneath, pulsing like a heartbeat. Murmurs could be heard like whatever it was underneath was dreaming.
"...Paps…. Where…. Are you?…" A low voice said softly
The body started to shuffle and twist, malforming the blanket till the upper half of it was exposed. A small skeleton lay on his back now, the blue glow from before now coming from underneath his closed left eye. His t-shirt was ruffled, exposing the bottom of his spine and bottom rows of ribs as his body imitated breathing, even though he did not need to. His hands grasped the corners of the blanket, his dream becoming more intense and vivid, and it was distressing him.
"Not again…. You cant be gone again…." small tears started to form where the pits of his eyes would be.
The blue glow began to intensify, what could only be described as embers of blue flames creeped out from under his eye and rose into the air before dissipating. Breathing became more ragged and fast as it seemed he was reaching his breaking point.
"No...nononononono….." The flames grew stronger, his voice getting louder
Just as he reached his limit, his eyes flicked open, the room completely illuminated by his raging eye. His body shot upright, almost screaming at the top of his imaginary lungs.
"Papyrus!" He burst out, completely out of breath and soaked in sweat.
He quickly scanned around the room, figuring out where he was, still convinced what he just saw was real. Everything was just as he remembered, the light was off, the coffee table with the bottle of ketchup on top was still there, the storm outside continued. He looked upstairs for a moment, checking to see if anyone had woken up from his little outburst, luckily it looks to have gone unnoticed. He sighed deeply and sat on the edge of the couch, holding his head in his hands as the blue glow of his eye subsided and his regular two white pupils returned to each eye.
"He he he…. Just a dream buddy, just a dream…" he murmured to himself
He got up from the couch, his t-shirt still snagged on his rib and black and white shorts hung off his hips a little. He slipped into his pink slippers and shuffled his way into the kitchen, lifting the ketchup bottle off the table and taking a swig of it as he went. He flicked the light on, returning the bottle to the fridge and then over to the sink, splashing his face with water and rubbing it clean with a kitchen towel. He stared at his face in a pocket mirror that had been left on the table.
"Just can't seem to get rid of these nightmares huh…" he spoke as he examined himself
A few moments later, he could hear someone entering the kitchen.
"Sans?, Brother, Is everything alright?" A higher-pitched and slightly more raspy voice called to him
Sans turned around, finding his brother Papyrus talking to him from the entrance to the kitchen
"Oh hey, Paps, what are you awake at this time for?" Sans said glancing at the clock on the wall, 2 AM
"I heard you shouting out my name so I came down to check on you…" Papyrus said, sounding worried.
Sans' eyes blacked out for a moment as he internally cursed, he thought he had managed to keep quiet enough. To not make his brother worry, he tried playing it off.
"Nah that wasn't me bro, dunno what you're talking about" Sans couldn't look his brother in the eye
"Sans… I know what you're voice sounds like, do not feel like you need to hide anything from me brother, The Great Papyrus is always on hand to listen to peoples troubles" He claimed valiantly
"I…" Sans wanted to say something, but he didn't want Papyrus to worry about him "… It's nothing bro" Sans plastered on his usual grin "You don't gotta worry about it, I'm just BONE tired right now…" he chuckled
Papyrus sighed a little, completely ignoring his pun, he knew Sans didn't want him to worry but he wished he would let him help out.
"Well… Alright then, as long as you're sure brother. Anyway! We need to get back to sleep! It's the human's big day tomorrow." Papyrus said, sounding back to normal as they both walked out of the kitchen.
"Yeah, the kiddo's birthday, she's finally 20 now" Sans said as he returned to the couch
"Indeed, she'll be the same age as Master Asriel and Miss Chara" Papyrus said marching up the stairs but quiet enough not to wake up Frisk who had been sleeping in the guest room all this time, or so they thought. "What did you get her?" He asked, stopping halfway on the stairs
Sans stopped for a moment in realization about what he forgot to do "Yeah, um… about that… is there any chance we could say your gift Is from the both of us? I was a bonehead and forgot…" Sans said, winking and scratching the back of his skull
If Papyrus had eyes, they would be bulging out of their sockets "SAAANNNS! You lazy bones!" Papyrus tried shouting at the top of his voice but also didn't want to wake Frisk up. He marched back downstairs and stood in front of Sans, who looked guilty as hell. "You knew it was her birthday, you had loads of time to prepare!"
"Hehe, looks like you can see right through me bro…" Sans replied, trying to cover up his guilt with more puns
Papyrus sighed, facepalming and holding the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. "I suppose… I could say MY gift was from the both of us, but you owe me for this Sans!" He said, pointing down at his shorter brother.
"Thanks a bunch, bro, don't worry I got you, put it on my tab" Sans chuckled again
"This isn't Grillby's Sans!" Papyrus turned around, heading back up the stairs and stopping at his room. "However, if you are as good a friend as you say you are, you will find a way to get her something…" He then entered and closed the door behind him.
Sans rubbed the back of his skull as he lay back down. He knew that not getting Frisk anything was a poor performance from him, especially lazy even for him.
Frisk meanwhile was sitting upstairs by her door, listening in on the whole conversation after she was woken up by Sans' screaming. She felt a little hurt by the fact Sans had forgotten or just didn't want to get her anything. She wanted to go down and say something to him, but it would just make matters worse at the moment. She turned around to go back to sleep, frowning, until her phone buzzed on the bed. She knew exactly who that was, she smirked and bit her lip, almost completely forgetting everything…
Downstairs, Sans' mind raced, formulating a plan of action on how to go about this. He was almost about to turn the TV on and give up and fall back on Papyrus until his mind struck gold.
"Bingo…" He said as he grinned widely and picked up his phone from the coffee table. He pulled up his contact list, with a bit of difficulty, he was still getting used to these high-tech phones from the surface. Eventually, he got it, the line rang for a few moments before it connected.
"Hey, Doc? I got a favor to ask, it's urgent.."He spoke to the person on the other end.
Within a couple of seconds, the room momentarily was lit up with a flash of blue, just as fast as it came it was gone, so was Sans.
Frisk stirred in her bed, the sunlight from outside shining in onto the bedsheets. She sat up straight and stretched her arms up, letting out a hearty moan. Reaching for her phone, she checked the time, almost having a heart attack in the process.
"How the fuck is it already 12 PM?!" She almost screamed as she threw off her covers, frantically running around to try and find something to wear. "I swore I put my alarm on, how could I have slept in?!"
Although it wasn't glamorous like she should be on her birthday, she threw on her pink and blue striped sweater and brown boots with a skirt and leggings. She made sure she at least looked presentable and freshened up before heading towards her door out to the rest of the house. Without even looking, she barged out, tripping on the rug in the hallway and sliding down the stairs to the ground floor. She banged against the side of the wall and was dazed for a few seconds until she looked up.
…
"SURPRISE!"
Frisk jumped at the sudden outburst of noise, unable to tell what it was as her vision was still blurry from the impact. When her eyes returned to normal, she gasped at what she saw.
Everyone she knew was there sitting in the skele brothers' living room: Sans, Papyrus, Toriel, Asgore, Asriel, Undyne, Alphys, even Mettaton was there! She started tearing up as she stood up and smiled brightly. Toriel came to check on her after her fall.
"Are you all right my child? That looked like a nasty fall" The tall goat lady said, rubbing Frisk's head and side where she hit the wall
"I'm fine mom, don't worry about it!" Frisk called out, overjoyed at what she saw
Sans watched as Frisk was greeted by her friends, many of who she had not seen in ages while living at Sans and Papyrus' house. He slipped away into the kitchen momentarily and pulled out a little silk pouch, looking down at it. There was something inside it. Sans grasped it and sighed
"I hope this is good enough…" Sans muttered to himself
"You better not be in here stealing cake brother!" Papyrus marched in
"Nah 'course not bro, I ain't got the stomach for it" Sans winked up at his brother
Papyrus groaned "This is supposed to be a happy day, do not ruin it with your puns!"
"No promises" Sans grinned widely
"Now… do you still want to share OUR presents with the human?" Papyrus kept his voice down
"Don't worry about it bro" Sans slipped the pouch out of his pocket and showed it to his brother briefly before putting it away "I got it covered. What you said last night, you were right. So I did somethin' 'bout it"
The tall skeleton beamed at his smaller brother and gave him a big hug at the sight of him using his initiative for once, lifting him off the ground
"I'm so proud of you Sans! I knew you would find a way… Speaking of that, how did you do it?" Papyrus said, it almost sounding too good to be true.
"He he he… I'll tell you later bro, don't be so `Nosey'" Sans snickered
Papyrus took deep breaths, trying his best not to lash out at Sans. "Ac-hem… I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that"
Sans and Papyrus then peeked out of the kitchen, looking at Frisk get showered with love and affection, she was enjoying it thoroughly. Although… it seemed like someone was missing. Sans noticed it first as Papyrus went back to preparing everything for the rest of Frisk's party.
"Hey, Paps…" Sans turned back to his brother "Did you see Chara out there?" He said quietly, sounding concerned
"The other Human? I saw her come in with Queen Toriel and the others, however, I have not seen her since" Papyrus replied as he hid Frisk's cake for later
Sans turned back and thought for a few moments. He was also sure that he saw Chara arrive with the rest, but she disappeared as soon as everyone settled and waited for Frisk to wake up. Now the relationship between Chara and Sans had been shaky at best, due to what had happened in recent timelines, which only he, Chara, Frisk, and Asriel could remember. Sans decided to put everything that happened behind them, providing Frisk promised to never reset again. It had been four years since the barrier was broken by Asriel and Frisk and they managed to bring everyone back, including Chara who had been following Frisk around on her journeys in spirit form and "allegedly" made Frisk do a "Genocide" to the underground. Sans bought it at first and used to resent Chara, but after spending years above ground with her and her family, he found it hard to believe that was true, she just didn't seem like the kind of person that would want that even if she was a little crazy at times. Frisk was sixteen years old when she fell into the underground, the same age as both Chara and Asriel when they died many years before, somehow through Frisk's sheer determination, she was able to will them back into existence with the help of Asriel's powers.
"I'm gonna go look for her, can't have anyone missing out on the fun" Sans said as he left the kitchen in the not-so-capable but very eager hands of his brother.
Sans peered into the crowd, no Chara, where could she have gone? The house was the exact same as the one the brothers lived in back in the underground, with a few modifications, like a guest room and a garage for Papyrus' car. So Sans looked up at the catwalk above the TV, no one there either, perhaps she was in a room. Sans quickly hopped up the steps, to the first floor and peered into each room…
Frisk meanwhile was sat down on the sofa, telling Toriel and Asgore all about how life was moving in with the skeleton brothers. Frisk had managed to find a job working for Muffet and Grillby at the new monster diner that had opened up after she completed the last years of high school and wanted to move on to college, therefore needing some money in her pocket to go ahead with that.
"… Now also, I hope you have been brushing your teeth my child, it's very important" Toriel continued to rant at her
"Of course I have Mom, I'm not a kid anymore" Frisk laughed a little bit at Goat Mom's overprotectiveness
"I know my child, it's just hard to think you're all grown up now and don't need your silly old mother anymore.."Toriel said, tearing up a bit
"Aww c'mon Mom you know that's not true" Frisk turned to her mother and threw her arms over her shoulders, bringing them both in for a tight hug.
Frisk held Toriel tightly as the goat lady wept into her child's shoulder. Frisk was facing the stairs as they did this, noticing Sans jogging upstairs like he was looking for something? Or maybe, he was avoiding her out of guilt…
Sans checked in Frisk's room, Papyrus' room, the bathroom and his room. Still, she was nowhere to be found. Sans walked over to his window and rested on it for a moment
"Where could the kid have gone? There's nowhere left in the house…" Sans said, almost sounding tired from the minuscule amount of exercise he had to do.
Just as he was about to leave, he looked down into the back garden of the house. The brothers had a large tree placed at the very back which sat just behind the crest of a hill and some other bits and pieces that were scattered around. The brothers also had a tree swing that hung down from the lowest branch which appeared to be swinging… with someone sitting on it. That's when Sans finally noticed it.
"He he he… There you are" Sans' eye changed to blue for a split second as he used his Shortcut to teleport down into the garden
Sans looked up the back where the tree sat upon the small hill. On the swing was a woman, she wore a green and yellow sweater with one stripe, similar to Frisk's. She wore a short black skirt that hugged her legs and stopped halfway down her thigh, the rest of her legs were covered with black leggings and brown boots on her feet. Sans looked at the back of her head, she had shortish brown hair, stopping just before her shoulders which was blowing in the wind slightly. Sans started to approach the tree, he didn't want to startle her but ended up stepping on a twig anyway, causing her to turn her head back. The first thing sans saw was her eyes, her huge red eyes, from what Sans knew red should be an impossible natural colour for a human to have. The rest of her face exposed the only bit of skin she was showing, it was pale white, almost deathly white. That only confirmed what Sans already knew. He found Chara.
"So…" Sans started off as he approached her "Wanna tell me why you're sitting out here all by yourself?"
"Piss off bonehead, leave me alone" Chara spoke back, her voice was deeper than Frisk's, more like a womanly voice as compared to Frisk's girly voice, even if she didn't normally act like one
"As charming as ever…" Sans said as he was now standing beside her, looking off in the same direction she was, enjoying the view
"Why do you care anyway…" She sounded upset
"Well, I'd hate to see you miss out on all the fun, what's the big deal anyways? I know you like to mope kiddo but this is new" Chara looked up at sans out from the corner of her eye
"Kiddo? He he he, you're only four years older than me Sans, you cant call me Kiddo" Chara said, appearing to lighten up a little
Sans Shrugged "Eh, it's a habit" Sans turned around. He looked back at the house, noticing a few deck chairs sitting outside. His eye then turned blue, enveloping his magic around one of them and brought it to him.
When Sans' eye turned blue, it triggered something in Chara, forcing her to jump off the swing and take cover behind the tree. Sans dropped the chair halfway when she made this sudden move, startling him as well
"Kid what's wrong!?" Sans called out, very freaked out
He received no reply. Everything had gone eerily quiet, Sans didn't know what was happening but he knew that he didn't like it. He slowly approached
"I'm all one for jokes kiddo, but this is too far, what's going on.." No response again
As he got closer, he could hear Chara's heavy breathing… then he could hear sniffling, like she was...crying? He slowly walked around and saw the human curled up in a ball on the ground, back against the tree, crying into her lap. Sans was confused as hell, what had gotten her so worked up?
Until he realized what had happened. He placed his hand over his left eye, where it had turned blue moments ago. The only time Chara had ever seen that was when… well, back in "that" timeline. Immediately guilt washed over Sans, he had frightened her beyond belief. He sighed and knelt down next to her.
"… I'm sorry kiddo, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm just a bonehead" He said quietly, giving her enough space.
Chara looked up slightly at Sans next to her, letting out a little laugh and smile through her tears. Sans was couldn't help but let out a huge grin, he had never heard her laugh genuinely before.
"'Tibia` honest… I should have realized that you don't want to hurt me..."Chara joked back through her tears
Sans couldn't believe what he had just heard, someone else making a bone pun? Surely he was dreaming. Somehow his smile grew even wider than it already was, why had she never shown this side before? She obviously really likes it. Sans extended his arm down to Chara as he stood back up and she gladly accepted it, getting herself back onto her feet. The two were almost perfectly level with each other, they had quite a growth spurt since leaving the underground.
"C'mon kiddo, let's get back inside, don't wanna let everyone else have all the fun" Sans bumped Chara with his shoulder as the two walked side by side
"How long are you gonna keep calling me kiddo for?" Chara glanced at Sans as they walked back
"Until it doesn't annoy you anymore" Sans shrugged as he heard Chara sigh "So… What's it been like living with Tori and Gorey"
Chara lost her smile and frowned a little bit "It's… really great but… I dunno, things just haven't been the same lately"
The two stopped outside the door to the garden "How? What's wrong with it, I would have thought living with the King and Queen would be pretty great" Sans replied
"I-It is!" Chara said trying to defend her mom and dad "It's not them that's the problem. It's me and Asriel…"
"You two have a falling out or something?" Sans said, leaning against the door
"No… I don't think we did? He's just been acting really distant from me these last few months and I keep thinking its something I did" Chara said, looking away
"Huh, well, that's interesting…" This sounded more or less the same thing that was happening to Frisk from Sans' point of view
"How is it interesting?" Chara looked back at Sans, intrigued
"That's pretty much what Frisk's been like with us, she doesn't engage with me and Paps that much anymore"
"Surely that can't be a coincidence… What do you think?" she asked
"I dunno kid… but you're right, there is definitely something fishy going on" The skeleton said as he pushed open the door which lead into the kitchen "Let's just keep an "eye socket" out for now" he said grinning.
Chara sighed and shook her head, but she smiled also. She was actually enjoying Sans' jokes and not complaining about them, and he noticed this
"You're uh, quite a fan of the bone puns huh kid, 'think your the only one that actually enjoys them" Sans said, still amazed that she hadn't scolded him for using them
"Yeah well..."She looked off to the side as if she was embarrassed to even think about it "I always enjoyed them, even if they're cheesy and terrible"
"Aww you're gonna make me blush at this rate" Sans joked
They were both now standing in the kitchen, it seems that everyone else was sitting down with Frisk in the living room. The air between Sans and Chara became a little awkward, neither party being able to think of anything to say. Beautifully in sync, the pair looked at each other and stared into their eyes. Even if it was only for a moment, it felt like an eternity, one that neither Sans nor Chara could pull away from. Chara's eyes dilated as she stared directly into Sans' vacant eye sockets where his little white pupils looked back. She didn't know why she couldn't look away, what was making her, and him, act like this. Although, before the moment was allowed to continue, Papyrus burst into the Kitchen.
"Brother! Did you find the Hu-" The lanky skeleton stopped mid-sentence as he saw his brother and Chara
"Ah! There you are Miss Chara! I was wondering where you wandered off to" Papyrus jogged over and hugged Chara tightly, lifting her off the ground and breaking the trance between her and Sans
"Oh, hey there Paps, good to see you" She replied, choking out the words as Papyrus squeezed her
Sans' mind went back to normal also, although he was just as confused as Chara. "Found the kiddo moping around outside, couldn't let 'er miss out on the fun" Sans grinned
"Sans, she is not a child anymore, 'kiddo' is not appropriate" Papyrus let go of Chara who was moments away from passing out and began scolding his brother
"See! Even Papyrus agrees with me" Chara said peering over Papyrus, grinning as she had won the argument
"Oh c'mon bro, throw me a bone here" He chuckled as his brother's tolerance for puns had been more than met for the day
Chara couldn't help but smirk and laugh a little bit, to which Papyrus looked over his shoulder at her "Do not encourage him! He's already a menace by himself!" Papyrus stormed out of the kitchen, his mood now ruined for the next few minutes till his mind switched to something else to think about.
Sans and Chara looked at each other, both smirking and giggling at the tall skeleton's antics. They were about to make their way into the living room when Sans spotted a box hidden away at the edge of the kitchen counter. He motioned Chara over and pulled the box into the light looking down at it. It was just a plain cardboard colour, only a few inches in height and hadn't been opened yet, which meant it could only be one thing. Cake.
"Should we take a quick peek?" The skeleton whispered
Chara grew a grin on her face and nodded, her mischievous side taking over common sense.
Sans' finger slipped under the edge of the box and made a slight tear, hardly even made a sound.
"A'chem…"
The pair froze in place, even though they couldn't see who was behind them, the voice alone was enough to strike fear in them both. They both turned around slowly, at first seeing the colour purple. They looked upwards and found Toriel staring back down at them. Sans immediately went into bullshit mode to try and get them out of trouble.
"H-HEY Tori! Great to see ya! W-We were just checking out this neat box we found.." Sans held it out in front of him like a child that had just won a medal at a school sports day. Chara just nodded like the evil accomplice she was.
Toriel looked them both up and down and sighed "You're always up to something Sans aren't you, you're a bad influence on Chara"
He just grinned as Toriel took the box from him and placed it back down on the counter "Lucky for you two, I was just coming in here to get this"
She finished off what Sans started and peeled back the edge of the box, opening it up and pulling out a foil tray which if Sans had to guess, was a Cinnamon and Butterscotch cake. He pulled back a drawer and brought out an unopened box of candles with a big number 2 and 0 in it and handed it to Toriel. She opened up the box and placed the candles in the center of the cake, lighting them with her flame magic.
The goat mom began to put some finishing touches on the cake.
"Chara dear, would you mind heading through to the living room and getting everyone ready?"
"Sure thing mom" Chara turned to the living room and went to head through but stopped in the doorway, frozen
Toriel didn't seem to notice but Sans did. "Kiddo, what's up?" he asked, got no reply. Sans walked over to her
"You got "cold" feet or somethin'? Whatcha looking a-…" His pun was immediately invalidated when he gazed into the living room.
Both him and Chara stood side by side as they saw Frisk and Asriel, standing together in the center of the room in one another's arms, with their lips connected….