:):

Thank you for all of the wonderful reviews!

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(I realize this update is extremely late, but with all of the horrible things that have been happening lately, it's been nearly impossible for me to focus.

Don't worry, I haven't abandoned this story, nor do I intend to. It just might take me a bit longer to update.)

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(My heart goes out to all of the people of Ukraine.)

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Trust Goes Both Ways

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Consciousness reemerging from the darkness, Frisk's hazel eyes slowly opened to the falling of red leaves. Where was she...? Looking around, she noticed the vague familiarity of the surrounding area. This was where the house was... or where it was supposed to be... A chill ran down her spine as she stared at the giant hole a in the ground a little ways away. So, it really had fallen. It wasn't just in her head.

How had she survived that? Wait... Where was Sans?

As she attempted to sit up, Frisk finally became aware of something draped loosely around her waist. Startled, she quickly ceased her actions. Lowering her eyes, the mute girl looked down to see what was ensnaring her. Hidden within a pale blue jacket sleeve, a boney arm was wrapped lazily around her middle.

Untensing slightly, Frisk tilted her head to peer up at her friend. Skull drooping close to her shoulder, the skeleton was sound asleep. With his eye sockets closed and his toothy grin lessened into a lazy smile, he looked completely relaxed. Taking a moment to stare at the slumbering monster without reservation, the mute girl's expression softened. It was strange, but she couldn't help but find the sight oddly adorable. Who would have thought a skeleton could look so peaceful when they slept? Judging by the dark circles under his eye sockets, though, this nap was long overdue.

Deciding to let her friend rest for a little while longer, Frisk gently leaned back into him. The jacket he was wearing wasn't padded very well, so she could easily feel his ribcage pressing into her back. Truthfully, it wasn't really that uncomfortable, but he definitely wasn't a pillow. Still, the feeling of being close to someone was enough to soften any minor discomforts. At least she wasn't alone right now.

Letting her eyes wander, a familiar glow caught her attention. Streaming through the bones of a skeletal hand, the light of the Sunstone could be seen. Frisk stared at the odd sight for a few seconds before slowly opening her left hand which was tucked snuggly beneath his. Becoming brighter, the light seemed to permeate his bones making them appear to glow from the inside. Shamelessly fascinated by this, the mute girl repeated the action a few more times.

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The first thing Sans noticed when he finally came to, was just how warm and comfortable he felt at the moment. The second thing he noticed was... something else entirely.

Eye sockets slowly opening, Sans became aware of the unusual sensation of someone fiddling with his hand. Mind still a bit foggy from sleep, the skeleton's eye lights drifted to the source of the disturbance. Held within two smaller hands, his left hand was being carefully examined. Ever so gently, his phalanges were being bent forward one by one before they were returned to their original resting position. Once finished, a soft thumb glided lightly over his metacarpal bones, curiously feeling each one.

Resisting the urge to squirm, the ticklish skeleton forced himself to remain as still as possible as his eye lights wandered over to the mute girl's face. From this position, all he could really see was a small smile on her lips. It appeared like she was thoroughly enjoying herself.

Well, it looks like somebody found a way to entertain themselves, Sans thought as his grin grew a little. heh, guess this is what he got for accidentally letting his guard down around this girl. He had to admit, though, this wasn't really a bad way to be woken up. Sure, it felt a tiny bit weird, but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

When her fingertips moved to his small carpal bones, however, Sans couldn't stop the involuntary twitch in his hand. He was just too ticklish! Almost immediately he felt her flinch in response and pull away. welp, guess that ends that, he thought with slight disappointment.

As Frisk tilted her head back to peek up at him shyly, Sans couldn't help but grin a bit wider at her guilty expression. "you were gettin' kinda handsy there, sugar." He teased "at least let me take ya to dinner first."

Flushing in embarrassment, the mute girl quickly sat up, and, taking her warmth with her, drew away from the sarcastic skeleton.

Chuckling in spite of himself, Sans tried to ignore the coldness creeping back into his bones. "heh. i'm only kidding." He reassured as he pulled his aching body back into a more alert position. Damn, now he understood why he had fallen asleep before. Her body was so warm, it must have inadvertently lulled him to sleep without him even realizing. Some lookout he turned out to be. At least he had had the forethought to put the Sunstone into her hand just in case he accidentally zonked out.

Making the mistake of trying to stretch, Sans was quickly reminded of his recently broken clavicle. Wincing, he stopped the movement midway and carefully lowered his arm again. Great... This was just going to make their delightful little adventure into the bowels of hell even more hectic. It wasn't like they could stop now, though. This kind of damage would take weeks to heal and the kid didn't have that much time left. He would just have to grin and bare it. At least he hadn't broken anything important, like a femur.

Catching the look of concern on Frisk's face, Sans tried to downplay his own discomfort and gave her one of his usual smiles. "it's nothing." he lied. "just got a little stiff sitting in that position." Getting back to his feet, the skeleton betrayed no signs that anything was wrong. "we should get going. i'd estimate we probably still have at least an hours walk ahead of us."

A small frown slowly formed on her lips as Frisk silently studied her friend. She wasn't at all convinced that it was just nothing. After a moment, though, she finally gave him a reluctant nod and stood up as well. Even though she was worried, she wasn't going to argue with him. He was right, they needed to keep going.

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Holding the Sunstone out in front of her, Frisk led the way through the next area. This used to be a series of rooms that were unlocked by colored switches. Now, however, it was just a maze of crumbled pillars and collapsed walls. There weren't very many vines in this location, so the worst danger was posed by the cracked ceiling overhead. Every so often, a chunk of it would come tumbling down and they would have to wait until they were sure that there wasn't more to follow.

Some of the areas in this room were so tight that Sans had been forced to scrape by. Squeezing wasn't really something a skeleton was known for, so he was just lucky that he could fit at all. This kind of activity was doing his sore and aching body no favors, but despite this, he knew he needed to push on. Once this was all over, though, if they made it out alive of course, he was seriously gonna need some time to recover. His lazy bones were in agony right now.

Stealing a glance up at her friend, Frisk caught sight of the brand new scratch on his skull. Feeling instantly regretful, she vowed to fix that when she could. For now, though, she needed to take into consideration that he was a bit bigger than she was, so some of the areas that she could squeeze through, he might have greater difficulty fitting. They needed to find a safer route. Reaching down, she carefully took him by the hand before leading them in a new direction.

Peering down at their linked hands, the skeleton shot the shorter human a look of chagrin. He could be wrong, but he was getting the distinct impression that maybe she was babying him a little. jeez, all because he had had a little trouble just now? He was secretly glad that nobody could see this, because right now he felt like he was losing a bit of his credibility. Even so... Sans couldn't bring himself to pull away.

Taking the long scenic route through the crumbling room, the two finally came to the exit. Unfortunately, there was an obstacle waiting for them. Blocking their path out of the area, they came across a large stone column. The cylindrical hunk of rock had toppled over but had somehow managed to remain mostly intact.

This... was a bit of a problem, Sans thought as he stared at the cracked pillar. It wasn't really that high, but it was still too high for either of them to climb over by themselves. There wasn't enough room for him to summon his blasters, either. Teleporting might also be a bit too risky because of the vines. Not to mention, he didn't know what was on the other side. What to do...

As Sans was deliberating on how to best resolve this problem, Frisk had already come up with a solution. Tapping her hand on the side of the stone column, she got his attention before pointing up. Giving him an expectant look, she patiently waited.

It was obvious what she wanted, but Sans was still a bit reluctant to comply. Maybe he was being a bit paranoid, but not knowing what was behind this hunk of rock made him a little nervous. What if he helped her up there and something grabbed her? Sure, it had been awhile since they'd last seen one of the larger vines, but he knew they were still lurking around somewhere close by; he could feel it.

Not only that, but this really didn't help him out at all. Even if she got over, how was he going to follow? He was pretty sure that she wasn't strong enough to lug his boney ass up there with her, so what would be the point? There had to be another way.

Bringing the skeleton out of his pessimistic thoughts, Frisk tapped the column again, a little harder this time. Giving him a determined look, she mouthed the word *Up.*.

"eh, i don't know about this, darlin'." Sans balked stubbornly as his smile lessened.

*Trust me?* She implored silently as she placed both hands to the cool rock.

Sans stared at the mute girl for a brief moment before releasing a slow improbable breath. After everything he'd asked her to do so far, it was only fair that he reciprocated some of that trust. "alright, alright." he relented "just try to be careful up there and don't wander off."

Deciding on the best way to go about this, Sans bent down next to the girl and held his hands out. She gave him a subtle look of concern before laying a hand to his shoulder and carefully placing her foot onto the makeshift step. Feeling a painful twinge in his damaged clavicle, Sans was privately thankful that Frisk was so deceptively light. Raising his hands, he gently lifted the human up onto the fallen pillar.

Once there, Frisk sat on the large cylindrical rock for a second or two as she scanned the area. Not seeing anything dangerous, she turned her attention back down to the waiting skeleton and patted the spot next to her. Holding her Sunstone to her chest, she began to channel her magic into it.

Lifting an eyebrow bone, Sans gave the girl a look of incredulity. Did she actually want him to teleport up there? She must be joking. Didn't she remember what happened the last time he teleported? He wasn't exactly eager for a repeat of that. As the light became brighter and brighter, however, Sans knew that she wasn't kidding.

Looking above her, to the ceiling that was previously shrouded in darkness, Sans cringed slightly. There they were. Those vines had probably been there all along and they just hadn't seen them. They were just waiting. This was really going to suck, he thought as he lowered his sight back to the shining human. She was giving him as much cover as she could and he was just going to have to trust that it was enough.

Steeling himself, Sans crouched down before blinking out of existence in a quick pulse of magic. Reappearing beside Frisk, a plume of smoldering dust particles rained down over them in a shimmer of sparkles. Tilting his skull, the skeleton watched as the deadly vines retreated back into the shadows. That had been another close call, but it looks like Frisk's plan had actually worked.

"guess i shoulda trusted you from the start, huh?" Sans said as he grinned appreciatively over to the quiet human. "heh, sorry for being such a bonehead before."

Frisk simply gave him a small smile as she dimmed the runestone. Once done, she then lifted a hand and pointed at her own head mockingly before smirking. *bonehead.* she mouthed.

"hey, now.." Sans replied, his grin faltering for a moment before turning slightly passive-aggressive. "only i get to call myself that."

Rolling her eyes, Frisk simply gave him another smirk before carefully sliding down from the stone column.

Grinning in spite of himself, Sans felt his fondness towards her grow a tiny bit more as he followed after the surprisingly snarky human. Underneath that calm exterior, this girl actually had a sarcastic streak hidden somewhere inside of her. Who would've guessed? And, secretly, he had to admit he kind of liked it.

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Bonehead~

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In the next chapter, things get downright scary!

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Sheii Bae~