Chapter 28: Almost Abduction

Maybe he could help me forget my feelings for Sans.

It had been over a month since Kody and I had met, and we quickly became very close with each other, soon becoming a couple. He was incredibly sweet, as funny as some other comedian I knew, and was very understanding and empathetic with me. He was a great shoulder to cry on, and we told each other almost everything. He also introduced me to some great books and great music artists. And though he was everything I could ask for, I just... wasn't completely satisfied, like I would've liked. I found myself longing to be in a relationship with someone else at times, and I hated it. Longing for someone else while currently in a relationship was just... wrong; it wasn't fair to the other person in the relationship. But if I shoved the feelings down and away, and stayed in a relationship with someone, the feelings of longing would go away. Right?

Right now I was out with Kody and Melody at the mall, shopping for clothes that Melody wanted. Kody wasn't originally going to tag along since I had planned on just me and Mel today, but Melody wanted to invite him along. Even though it's hard to find time for us all to be together, I made sure to make time no matter what, because Melody really loved Kody, and Kody was just so good with her.

"Frisk! Can I get that journal? Pretty pretty please, with cherries on top!" Melody was currently looking in a store window, pointing to a blue leather bound journal with anchor charms.

I looked at the price: $9.98. "Um..." I only had $30.50 for groceries for the entire household, but I didn't want to say no. "Um... You know what? Sur-"

Kody stepped in before I could complete my sentence, "Actually, Mel, I think I have just enough money for that journal. Lets see..." Kody pulled out $11. "Yep, just enough! Here kiddo, go wild."

Mel took the money after giving Kody a big hug, squealing as she ran into the store. I gave Kody a relieved smile, "Thank you. I'm sorry about having you have to spend money, but I just can't say no to her."

Kody gave me a kiss on the cheek, "Don't worry about it. I know that you're in a bit of a pickle with money and such. Besides, I like spending money on Melody. She just seems to..."

While Kody looked for a good word, I provided. "Glows? Brightens? She just lights up? Her eyes seem to gleam, glimmer, glitter, glisten, shine, twinkle? Yeah, no wonder we have a hard time saying no to her."

Kody nodded, entwining his hand with mine. "Yep. And not to mention, you just want to give her everything she desires since your parents didn't." I had told him about my past. I nodded and watched as Melody came out of the store with her bag. Kody squeezed my hand before letting go, "I know. Now, let's prepare for a happiness overload."

Melody was beaming, a huge smile on her face. "Frisk, guess what! The guy at the counter gave me some pens that look like quills, and he gave me some pencils, and some erasers, and it was all for free!"

I chuckled as Melody squealed as Kody picked her up and set her on his shoulders, "Oh yeah? I bet I know why." Melody gave me a questioning look, "I bet it's because you're simply adorable."

Melody waved a hand dismissively, "Well duh, we already knew that. Now Kody, to the next stop!"

Kody chuckled, making sure Melody wouldn't fall as he got ready to run with her on his shoulders. "And what is this, next stop, you speak of?"

Melody's voice was a whisper, and she was deadly serious. "The ice cream parlor."

Kody chuckled, shooting me a look that said he would take care of the money once more. "Okay, if you say so madam. And now, away we go!" Kody shot off towards the ice cream parlor, Melody laughing and squealing the entire time.

I laughed as I ran after, apologizing to anyone who was bumped into along the way. When we were about 30 feet away from the ice cream parlor, both me and Kody had to stop for breath as Melody just stood there, eagerly waiting to get ice cream.

Kody was out of breath, but smiling as he told Melody, "You can head to the ice cream parlor, we just need a minute."

Melody was hesitant, but had a mischievous smile. "But if I leave now, you guys might die since you're so out of shape."

I gave her a look, and warningly said, "Melody, if you don't want me to chase and tackle you, I suggest you get your booty over to that ice cream parlor."

Melody shrieked, and ran, laughing, to the ice cream parlor. I looked over at Kody as we sat on the bench to catch our breaths, and I just admired him. His relationship with Melody was just adorable, and I truly did like him, so my heart filled with love and warmth as I looked at him.

The moment was cut a bit short when I heard a familiar voice though. "Frisk, Kody, hey you love birds!" Pandora came jogging over, with a frowning Sans behind her. "We saw you guys running over here, so we thought to drop by and say hi. But real quick, Frisk." Pandora pulled me aside and whispered, "That was so freaking adorable with Melody and Kody! What did I say, he's a keeper for sure."

My cheeks heated up slightly as I swatted Pandora playfully on the arm, "Oh shush up. We shouldn't leave those two guys together any longer though, they look like they're ready to kill each other." I pointed to Sans and Kody, who were glaring at each other with intense dislike.

I made my way over to Kody and tugged on his shirt, getting his attention. "C'mon, we should get to the ice cream parlor, Melody's probably waiting for us." I turned to Sans, who was still glaring at Kody. "Hey Sans, sorry to cut this short, Mel's waiting for us in the ice cream par-"

I was cut off when I heard a shrill, piercing scream that made my blood curdle. I hadn't heard that scream since that day, that day when we ran away from home. I whipped around to see Melody struggling against a man who had snatched her into his arms, and was sprinting away from us.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, I couldn't think.

I was only spurred into action when I heard Kody yell out, his voice booming, "MELODY!"

I began to run, willing myself to be faster, using whatever magic I could to speed myself up. As I ran, I could see the people ahead clear a path for the man with Melody, and for me as I ran. Why weren't they doing anything? Why weren't they stopping him?! My voice came out strangled and pained, "MELODY, MELODY I'm RIGHT HERE SWEETIE. DON'T WORRY, I'M RIGHT HERE!" I kept going, not stopping for anything, not stopping to wait for the others. My only objective was to get Melody back, and beat the hell out of whoever had snatched her up.

I didn't even stop as I tried to cross the street like the man with Melody did, but I slammed into an invisible wall, all air and hope being knocked out of me. I pounded my fists against a wall, that had a familiar blue tint to it, and I felt cool boney hands yank me back.

I was absolutely livid, tears streaming down my face as I felt like I were going to suffocate. "Sans, what dID YOU DO?! I WAS SO CLOSE, SHE WAS RIGHT THERE!"

Sans yanked me toward him again, trying to get me away from the busy street. "if i hadn't pulled you away, you would've gotten hit by a bus. you would've died!"

I jerked myself away from him, fists clenched. "So what?! I don't care about that, I only care about getting Melody back! Who knows what that man is going to do to her?! And you, being the jackass that you are, just let him get away with her!"

Sans' pupils had all but disappeared, a dark smile on his face, "better her than you."

I smacked Sans across the face so hard, that I knocked him off his feet, and I was surprised that his HP hadn't gone down. "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT! DON'T EVER SAY THAT TO ME AGAIN, YOU- YOU-" Kody wrapped his arms around me, picking me up and getting me away from Sans. "LET GO, LET ME GO, NOW!"

Pandora dropped to her knees beside Sans, examining him for injuries, before defensively standing between me and him, glaring at me. "Frisk, what the hell?! He just saved your life!" Then she looked toward Kody, her features softening slightly. "Kody, control your girlfriend, now!"

But that wasn't necessary. I felt all the fight go out of me, and fell downward to the concrete. I wrapped my arms around me as Kody released me, and held on for dear life.

I will never be able to describe the agony or guilt that racked my body at having lost Melody to a stranger.

It had been over a month before I could reset.

Sans and Kody, along with the others, had been keeping an eye on me 24/7. Kody and the others knew that it was a very real possibility that I would hurt myself if they weren't around; Sans was the only one who knew that I could reset, and did everything he could to keep me from dying. He even went as far as to have Pandora block my teleportation powers, so as to make sure I couldn't get out of their sight.

But their attempts to prevent my death were futile.

Papyrus was supposed to be watching me that day, but he ended up going out when I requested that he get some ice cream. When he left, I had quickly gone to the kitchen, seizing the opportunity of being alone. Somehow, Sans had known that something was wrong, and had teleported home to make sure Papyrus and me were okay. He tried to stop me, but he was too late.

Now we were back to the day of Melody's abduction, when everything was still okay.

Everything had gone the same way as last time so far, but this time, I made sure that me and Kody had gone with Melody to the ice cream parlor.

My heart still twinged with guilt and sadness, but my happiness at being with Melody again had overrode it. Now Kody, Mel and me were sitting at the window of the parlor, indulging in our sweet treats. Melody's face was one of pure bliss, and Kody's was one of admiration and awe of the family that he had now entered.

I was content. But my satisfaction quickly went out the window when Sans and Pandora entered the ice cream parlor. Sans gave me a dirty look, quickly followed by a painful one. He remembered the abduction. He remembered my death. But I remembered what he had said, about it being better that it was Melody instead of me, and I was filled with indignation, my blood boiling.

Pandora and Sans approached, pulling chairs up to the table to sit with us and catch up.

"So Frisk, how's work going?" Kody had gone to Pandora about concerns about my well-being when he had learned that I was working multiple jobs. And Pandora was genuinely curious as to what I've been doing in the sessions at the compound.

I shrugged, taking a bite of ice cream and avoiding eye contact with Sans. "It's slow, and exhausting like always. The last session over with Natalie was good, I'll tell you more about it later. What about you?"

Pandora rolled her eyes as she spoke, "Alexandra's been on my ass- excuse me, butt, sorry Melody- Alexandra's been on my butt about a lot, and honestly, she's really starting to get on my nerves. But everything's been good otherwise, slow and tiring, but good. So, Frisk, Kody, how've you guys been?"

I was sure my cheeks were lightly tinted as Kody spoke. "Well, me and my lady have been swell. Isn't that right princess? Cuddlebug? Love muffin? Sugar boogar? Baby cakes? Doll face? My little cutie patootie?"

I burst out laughing at sugar boogar, dying from the look of disgust on both Melody's and Sans' face. I could feel myself go red from all of my laughing, and heard Kody's victorious chuckle as I shook from silent laughter. I was gasping for breath, tears in my eyes. "Kody?"

Kody supported his head with his hands as he gazed at me, "Yes, honey bunny?"

I looked up at him wide-eyed, and smiled innocently. "Call me any of those names again, and I'll just have to beat the stupid out of you. Maybe stab you for good measure."

The day with Kody and Melody had ended all too soon, leaving me a quite sad that the day had to end.

I was also a bit irritated though, since Sans wanted to speak with me tonight. He had pulled me aside in the ice cream parlor, telling me that we were going to talk tonight, no matter what.

So I was sitting in my room on my bed, waiting for Sans to finish up saying goodbye to Pandora. When he had finished up, he came into my room and closed the door behind him, pulling my desk chair near the bed and sitting down.

Sans let out a sigh, and locked his tired eyes with mine. "kid, what you did last run... was not okay. what you did, was really, really, really not okay. we could have gotten Mel back, authorities were out looking for her, the monsters and people were out looking for her. we could have found her, and gotten her back. it was absolutely unnecessary for you to ki- to do what you did, especially right in front of me."

I was quiet for a moment, digesting this information. "You're right. I was totally out of line."

Sans looked a bit relieved, "i'm glad you're not trying to fight me on thi-"

I narrowed my eyes at Sans, my voice was as sharp as a hatchet. "But so were you. What you did, was-" I cut myself off, trying to contain my anger. I took a breath, "What you said, was out of line. You never, never should have said that."

Sans sighed tiredly, rubbing his face in his hands. "i know. you're right, i shouldn't have said that. and i didn't mean it, you know that. but smacking me as hard as you did, knocking me off my feet, in response to what i said was unnecessary as well."

I laughed bitterly, "Yeah? Well, guess I was just returning the favor for when you smacked me in Snowdin that night. Y'know, actually, it was a bit of payback for being the unpredictable and absolute asshole that you were before you found out that it wasn't me who killed everyone."

"frisk, you know that i didn't mean it. i was just- it was- my emotions were all over and i was very unstable, because i was trying to wrap my mind around why you weren't murdering everyone. i just- i didn't know how to handle my conflicting emotions and stuff. you know that, right?" Sans looked at me, his eyes pleading me to say something instead of another jab at him.

I looked at my feet, "I know. I know, you didn't mean any of it. Just-" I was trying to think of what to say. "Just don't do what you did in the last run, ever again. If I'm trying to protect someone, or I go after someone who's snatched Mel up, anything like that, don't get in my way. I'm not weak, I can fight, I can protect people. And even if I do die, I'll come back. I always do."

Sans shook his head, "no. you don't always come back. i remember, frisk."

My breath caught in my throat, my voice barely a whisper. "You- you remember? You remember me getting shot, me not coming back, time progressing here, you remember all of that?" Sans nodded, his eyes filling with pain at the thought of me not coming back. I laughed, shocked. "When? When did you remember all of this? I thought- I thought only me and Grillby remembered." My gaze sharpened, my voice more harsh as I realized that I could've spoken with Sans about what happened. "When did you remember?"

Sans came and sat next to me on the bed, "when you were chasing after Melody. when you almost died. everything just... came rushing back and hit me all at once." We were silent for a few minutes, before he spoke again. "frisk... what happened?"

I bit my lip, debating on whether I should go into this right now or not. After a few minutes, I took a deep breath. "When I died, I appeared in the void. And when I saw that I hadn't reset, I panicked, wondering what happened. I ended up seeing you and Chara with my dead body... and Sans, I'm so, so, so sorry you had to go through that." Sans held my hand, giving it a squeeze so I knew to continued. "In the void, I met... Gaster." Sans seemed to jump, and looked at me wide-eyed, before motioning for me to continue. "He tried to help me, he said he had accumulated enough power to help me get back here. But something went wrong, and I sort of... went to an alternate universe." My heart throbbed painfully at the thought of the other universe with the other Sans. "Everything was probably the exact opposite of here. Flowey and Chara were... good, while everyone else was cruel and hateful. And, it was bad. I died. A lot. And everytime I died, a buttercup grew somewhere on me. I couldn't take the buttercups off, if I tried to, it would cause me physical pain and probably kill me."

Sans scooted closer, rubbing soothing circles onto my hand. "... how'd you die?" He flinched immediately when he said that, "i'm sorry, you don't have to answer that question. it was dumb to ask that, really."

I smiled a little bit, "It's fine. It doesn't really bother me; dying, that is. I know that I'll be back anyways, so. But anyways, at first, it was Toriel. She killed me quite a few times. And then, it was Papyrus, and he killed me quite a few times as well."

Sans turned and looked at me, disbelief on his face. "tori? paps? how the hell did they kill you? they love you for pete's sake, so i just don't understand."

"Alternate universe, remember? I know, it doesn't make much sense, and I know that it's unsettling to think about it. Just keep in mind, the other Papyrus was head of the Royal Guard, and one of the most feared in the underground; even the other you was afraid of him." Sans looked like he was starting to get a headache, so I gently said, "I can stop if you want. We don't need to go over everything today, and a lot may be difficult to hear."

Sans shook his head, "no, just continue. it's better to get it all over with. answer me something quick though... where was i during all of this? when you were being... murdered."

I sighed, I knew this was coming up. "You need to remember, it wasn't you, it was an alternate you. And the alternate you, just... stood by. The other Sans didn't kill me, so you don't need to worry about that. But at first, he just didn't interfere." I took a breath and smiled, "But after a while, I started to grow on him, and he just couldn't resist helping me. I had an amazing effect on the monsters there, and I like to think that they're following in my footsteps and becoming kinder people."

Sans was quiet for a moment. "how did this other sans feel about you being there? and everyone else for that matter?"

I felt a sort of longing, and sighed. "Well, the monsters in Snowdin and such didn't try to kill me, so I don't think they seemed to mind my presence. And as for the other Sans, well..." My heart panged painfully; I missed whatever I had had with the other Sans. "I think... I think I accidentily made him love me."

Eyyy, another chapter!

Is everyone still hangin on to see how this story turns out? If so... why? Kidding, kidding.

This one was more like a filler chapter for now, so stay tuned!

Until Next Time~