[[ Ahhhhhh hey guys, Brit here! I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while (so has bro honestly), so I really, really hope that you guys like it! Finally, a little positive in this time of darkness! ]]

Footsteps were muted as his slippers shuffled across the carpet, the darkness awaiting them foreboding while also being comforting. They were alone. Here, he was free to express whatever he pleased without having to worry about how it might look in someone else's eyes. His eye-lights were mere pinpricks, incredibly dim in his weary sockets. Toriel had told him that it was an unknown, whether she would- …when she would wake up. He cursed himself for even daring to allow his mind to wander to such a negative place. 'There is no if. She is going to wake up.' The pie tin floating just above his shoulder landed gently on the dining room table as he walked past it without breaking stride, cutting straight through the living area of the apartment and down the small hallway that led to her bedroom.

It hadn't even been that long since he was last there, but, for whatever reason, it felt like it had been much, much longer. Was it really only a number of hours ago that he'd stormed out in a fit of childish anger, fleeing to Grillby's to try and drink away his problems? It had been quite a while since the last time he'd tried to do that, and…oh stars, Papyrus! As he passed the doorway to the kitchen he couldn't help but recall the conversation he and his brother had shared there. Well, it had really been less of a conversation and more of Sans being stubborn…fuck, he's been such an asshole lately. 'Gotta apologize to Paps somehow…' he told himself firmly, even though he knew that Papyrus wasn't upset with him for it. If he knew his brother, he'd been forgiven mere seconds afterward. That was just how he was. A brave and patient and loving soul.

He edged the bedroom door open with one of his slippers and moved to lay the unconscious body on the bed, cursing as her head fell limp the instant he moved her off of his shoulder. If it weren't for the shallow movements of her chest signifying her breath, he might've been thinking she'd gone and died on him. His eye-lights dimmed even further until they were practically absent. It didn't help that she so closely resembled someone who had 'fallen down'…but she hasn't fallen down. She was going to wake up and get back up and…and their lives were going to carry on the way they had been. They were going to put all of this bullshit behind them and move forward.

'This will be the last time I ever let that demon child anywhere fucking near you.' He brushed a few stray auburn hairs from in front of her face, thumb gently tracing the swell of her cheek. The marks and injuries had all been, for the most part, healed, but her already pale skin had lost what little pinkness and glow it had. She was ashen-looking, her skin looking almost grey in contrast with the soft brown freckles smattering across her cheeks. His eye sockets ached and stung as the desire to cry washed over him. Alone, with her, he actually could. "Lena…" He drew in a slow, shaking breath as his hand lowered from where it was cupping her face, resting just atop her sternum. He wanted to see her soul, wanted to check on it and see that it wasn't cracking or fraying at the edges. Maybe it was because of her outward appearance, a little bit, but it was also because the last time he'd seen it, it had been so badly hurt.

'Did you know that a soul is able to scream?' he'd asked Toriel, and, from the way her complexion paled the slightest bit and she averted her gaze, he wondered if she actually did. That high-pitched whine, a frequency so impossibly complex that ears couldn't pick up on it, had practically deafened his soul. Even still, he could feel his own soul pressing against the inner ridges of his ribcage, wanting to rush forth and make certain that she was alright.

Just as he was about to summon it forth, however, a sharp knock from the front door startled him from his thoughts. He withdrew his hand, casting her a lingering glance before he shuffled out of the room, not wanting to leave her side even for a moment. The knock persists and he huffs a slightly aggravated sigh, his lumbering steps not quickening in the slightest. "I'm comin', hold on," he mumbled loud enough for whatever impatient person it was to hear, and the instant he twisted the knob and pulled the door open, he wished he'd ignored it completely.

Brit looked like shit, if he were completely honest with himself. Her eyes were puffy and swollen and red from crying, her cheeks rubbed raw, and there were still obvious damp spots on the bottoms of her long sleeves where she'd wiped her eyes and nose. Despite all of this and expecting her to immediately lash out and punch him, she was standing uncomfortably still. Her green eyes narrowed the instant they landed on him, her mouth setting into a firm downward curve and her eyebrows furrowing.

"Heya bub, wassup?" he asked as casually as he could muster, only stumbling a little as the human shoved past him to stride into the living room. He breathed a small, silent sigh as he closed the door behind her, hands sliding into his pockets. "You want somethin' to drink? Water? Ketchup?"

"No." Her voice was hard and obviously had a lot of effort behind it to keep it so controlled, and even he couldn't help but respect her for trying to keep her cool in a situation like this. He obviously didn't do as well. "It was good hearing from you to let me know that Lena had been found," she said pointedly, sarcasm dripping cold and stinging from every word. He flinched inwardly a bit but otherwise maintained his composure, giving a small shrug.

"Busy. You know how it goes." She glanced around the room for a moment, as if searching for something. When she apparently couldn't find it, she began to walk down the short hallway toward the bedrooms, and it took Sans only a second to catch up to her, snagging her wrist in his hand easily. "Where ya goin'?" She whirled on him and he could feel the hand in his grasp trembling, the muscles and tendons going taut beneath his fingers.

"I'm going to see Lena," she said simply, enough determination in her tone that he knew he wasn't going to be able to prevent it. …Still-

"Not right now. She's resting." The human pulled against him, trying to free herself from his grasp, and he sighed as he tightened his hold. He really didn't want to have to do this. "She's had a rough night, alright? Just let her sleep for a few hours." She stopped short, drawing in a slow, measured breath through her nose before releasing it as a heavy sigh.

"...What happened?"

"It- … She got kidnapped by some pretty bad people. Turns out she wasn't the only one, either. All those disappearances you've been seein' on the news? It was them." He chose his words as carefully as he could with her staring him down so intently. After a moment he sighed, the grin he'd been keeping up slipping a bit at the corners and, from the way her eyes darted about his face, he knew she noticed. "She…got hurt. Her injuries have all been healed, though. It was nothing too bad physically." The arm within his grasp trembled more strongly and, glancing up, he saw that she was about to cry. He didn't know how to handle that sort of thing, so he awkwardly released his hold on her, allowing his hand to return to his pocket.

"She's okay now, though, right?" It took him two seconds too long to answer, and he wanted so badly to just blurt out 'yes, she's going to be fine, no problem' but he couldn't. Because, honestly, he had no idea…and that terrified him. She could sense all of this, he knew, because she suddenly pushed past him and tried to make her way to the bedroom again.

"Let her rest. Going in there won't do any good."

"Move." He took a small step back, the fabric of his hood brushing softly against the door, and he clenched his jaw stubbornly.

"Look, I'm tryin' to be nice here, but you're not makin' it easy-"

"I said, 'Move.'"

"Leave her be. There's nothin' you can do for her-"

"I could do better for her than you have!" she snapped finally, tears rimming her eyes and her face flushed with anger, and Sans felt something within his soul shudder. "If she had stayed with me, then she wouldn't have gotten hurt like this…" He felt her push past him and heard the bedroom door open, but he couldn't seem to move his feet from the spot he'd been left in. The words hurt, but only because they were the same words he'd been saying to himself since he found out she'd been taken- hell, he'd been saying them all along, and having them voiced out loud by someone else just made them even more real.

'No, I can't do this right now. I need to keep an eye on her…'I Giving his skull a small shake to try and dislodge the hateful thoughts, he moved to follow after the human, pausing just inside the doorway as his soul gave a mighty squeeze. Brit was sat on the bed by Lena's head, her fingers lovingly brushing through the messy auburn hair. Her voice was soft and warm as she spoke to Lena, even though they both knew she couldn't hear them.

"-and I swear to god, that child is so much like me, it's scary. She'll look you straight in the eye as you tell her she can't do something and goddamn, she'll fight you until we're all blue in the face." Brit gave a tired chuckle that Sans couldn't help but smile at, leaning heavily against the door frame as he watched and listened to this human who loved his human almost as much as he did.

"-but, naturally, there's no way that that's going to happen. It'd just be too good, y'know? Can't have a day without the kids throwing a tantrum. They're kids, that's just how they are, I know. Still, some days, it's like…like I can't even handle myself, y'know? Much less two little humans that I have to teach how to be people." There was a pregnant pause, and Sans almost considered stepping in, asking her to leave and let Lena sleep, but a pronounced sniffling sound broke through the silence. "I… fuck. I really, really need for you to wake up…okay?" Sans' breathing stilled, chest becoming paralyzed as he watched the human lean down and press a kiss to the unconscious woman's forehead. The fact that she didn't stir only furthered the unease already spreading the air thin in the room, and the distraught human choked back a loud sob as she knelt down to press her forehead against Lena's, tears dripping to land on freckled cheeks and getting caught in dark eyelashes. He listened to this human cry and felt his own sins beginning to crawl on his back, burrowing into the depths of his skull to take rest in his mind. "W-we promised, remember? I said I'd be here for you as long as you were here for me. Y-you…you said you'd never leave. Wh-what am I supposed to tell my kids?" A sorrowful cry spilled past her lips and she mumbled something unintelligible, moving to bury her face in Lena's chest. "They're g-gonna wonder what happened t-to their Auntie L-Lena…" This was his fault. This was all his fault.

"...'m sorry." The rough voice obviously startled her as much as it surprised him, and when he looked up he realized that it was his voice. He stood in the doorway, looking and feeling so helplessly lost and he felt so guilty but he wasn't sure of what he was supposed to do. "It wasn't… I-I was bein' an asshole. I was scared for her, Brit, I didn't-" He wished he had a throat so that he could try to swallow past the lump that would surely be there, try to lessen the pressure that was slowly building up in his chest. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen to her. None of this." He raised his hands to his skull and dug the sharper, bony tips of his phalanges into it, a frown overtaking the smile there. The soft clattering of his bones rattling together disturbed the terse silence. "I'm sorry-"

He wasn't sure when the human had gotten off of the bed and crossed the room, but the next thing he knew, he was pulled into a tight embrace. She wasn't nearly as soft as her, as soft as his Lena, but the desperate way she clung to him almost made it feel better. He hesitated to return it, his hands floating above her back as the lights in his eye sockets went completely dark. "It's not your fault…" came the mumbled reply, and he wanted to laugh. She had just gotten finished letting him know just how badly he'd fucked up. "I'm sorry, Sans. I…fuck, I didn't mean what I said. It's not true, okay?" His arms dropped to his sides and she pulled away, grabbing his shoulders in a firm grip and giving him a hard shake. "You were trying to protect her! But you just…you gotta talk to her, dammit!" She was still crying, and her nose was just starting to run, but the pathetically earnest expression on her face made him stop, made him want to listen to her. "She's the most understanding and caring person in the fucking world! No matter what you need to tell her, she'll get it. And even if she doesn't get it, she'll try so hard to that you'll feel better anyway!" The tears increased the more she talked, her voice becoming more choked, but she pushed on anyway. "She's going to be just fine, Sans. She…sh-she's a strong cookie, y'know? So even if you're feeling crumby about it-" A watery laugh, and he couldn't tell if it came from him or her. She was giving him a teary smile and squeezing his shoulders, her expression still taut with worry and emotion.

There were suddenly a hundred cast shadows as pale green light bathed across the room, and Sans felt something deep within his chest lurch painfully as Brit turned to regard the new light source curiously. The green heart-shaped soul was floating just above Lena's sternum, bobbing up and down as if it were floating on invisible waves. "…What is that?" He opened his mouth to answer, but all that ended up leaving it was a strange, choked sound as panic filled his skull to the very brim. Why was it there like that? It hadn't been summoned. Why was her soul leaving her body? It only did that if you were dying or in a confrontation. His expression must have been fearful because she was suddenly shaking him again, trying to get his attention, and it was only when her voice heightened in panic that he managed to tear his gaze away from it. "What the hell is that?"

"It's…her soul…" He expected her to be confused, and she probably was, but the way she calmly released her hold on him and stepped closer to the bed made him wonder if maybe it wasn't her first time seeing a soul up close. She reached out, though, and he was quick to step forward, snapping at her a bit louder than he intended. "Don't touch it!" She drew her hand back as if she'd been burned, eyes wide for a fraction of a second before she sent him a light glare. "It…w-we don't know what's happening with it right now…"

"Is it…supposed to be out like this?" she asked cautiously, though he was certain she already knew the answer; that certainty was sealed when he shook his skull slightly and she nodded in understanding. "What…what do we do? Can we put it back?" He dragged a hand along his skull, the faint grating sound of bone against bone bringing some small amount of comfort. "It's not good for it to stay out, right? So we should jus-"

A bright flash enveloped the room, and Sans could hear Brit cry out in surprise as she stumbled backward, running into the bedside table and knocking the lamp set there to the floor. He might have worried if it was intact, but the soft pulling sensation in his chest had his attention front and center on the current situation. His white inverted heart-shaped soul gently floated from beneath his t-shirt, and he was quick to utilize his magic to grab a hold of it. Even without looking, he could tell that her soul was trying to call his in. He could feel it, and that desire from weeks before, that desire that was a steady undercurrent to everything he did and said and thought about her, was surfacing, hard and strong. Her soul slowly began to move toward him, and he panicked, flinging an arm out to stop its movement while also holding his own soul as far away from it as possible.

"What's happening?!" He turned to look at the human who was now standing nearby, hands hovering out in front of her, as if she wanted to do something but wasn't sure what. The gentle nudging of Lena's soul against his palm sent a shiver down his spine, and he struggled to grasp onto any cold logic he could use to calm his racing soul and mind. "Sans, what do we do?!" He squeezed his sockets shut, trying to block out a little of the chaos and try to just think, but-

"SANS? I AM HOME!" The muffled voice came loud and clear through the walls of the apartment, and he felt pulled between wanting to call out to his brother and asking him to stay away. What if him coming in summoned his soul, too? What if it summoned Brit's, and then something terrible happened to the four of them, and he couldn't- 'Stop it!' He shook his head, and, as it turns out, he wouldn't need to contemplate what he should do, because it took Papyrus all of ten seconds to show up in the doorway. "BROTHER, WHAT IS-" His voice died out instantly, eye sockets widening as he took in the situation he'd just walked into. Brit's panic-stricken face and his brother's struggling expression were all he needed. Sparing only a second-long glance at Lena's soul, he strode into the room and promptly scooped the conscious human up in his arms, carrying her over her shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"Wha- Papyrus, put me down! What the fuck is going on?! Papyrus!" She shouted at him and banged on the back of his battle body, looking even more panicked than she had before, but Papyrus ignored her cries for the moment, eye sockets already exuding a soft orange glow as he headed for the door.

"Sans." The uncharacteristically soft voice made Sans' skull snap up so he could look at him, and his soul visibly swelled at the reassurance and confidence on Papyrus' face. "I believe in you." Then the door was locked and closed with a loud slam, and Sans could hear Brit cursing and screaming as she was carried out of the apartment. Surely his brother would take her to Toriel's to talk things over, get her to calm down…hopefully. She wasn't the most reasonable of humans at times. 'Then again, what have I done over the last few days that's been anything close to reasonable?' He shook his head and quickly climbed up onto the bed, sitting beside the unconscious Lena. He gently tried to coax her soul to return to her body, but it shook against his palm and refused, pushing back insistently.

'Why won't it go back? What am I doing wrong?!' Gritting his teeth loudly he tried again, and again, and again, only for it to fight back against him even harder with every attempt. "Lena. Lena, hey, c'mon. Y-you need to wake up now." He wanted to reach out and touch her face, brush his fingers through her hair…something, but trying to keep their two souls apart was enough of a struggle on its own. The little green heart nuzzled warmly against his palm and fingers and he cursed under his breath, squeezing his eye sockets tightly shut as he felt his magic thrumming heavily within his bones. "Please, Lena. Please…please wake up." A small tendril of pale green aura left the soul, reaching out for his, and despite his attempts, he could feel his own soul responding, trying to reach out in kind. "No! Lena! God, please, wake up! I can't keep this up, you need to wake up!" He tried to return his own soul to its safe spot beneath his ribs, but it refused, it rejected the motion, and he was terrified of what that meant. This wasn't how he wanted this to go. This wasn't how he wanted this to happen. 'How can I even think of bonding at a time like this?! Stars, I'm disgusting.'

"...Sans?"

Shock broke through the shame washing over him as his skull whipped around, eye sockets opening wide as he looked at her. Her eyes were heavily lidded, hazy with lethargy and drowsiness, but stars, it was so good to see those eyes again, no matter how tired they were. He felt a smile pulling up at the corners of his mouth without his consent, relief palpable as it came from him in waves. She was awake. That relief was short-lived, though, as she winced, and she closed her eyes slowly, brows knit in discomfort. "Hey hey hey, keep your eyes open for me, c'mon…" He wanted so badly to rush forward and kiss her, wrap her up in his arms and hold her there and keep her safe forever, but-

"Why…why is my soul…?" The question, though incomplete, was easily understood, and he gave a bark of dry laughter, shrugging his shoulders as he struggled even more to keep the two apart. He'd already used a good deal of magic during the 'rescue mission'. "It…something feels wrong…" she mumbled, and he felt fear spike through his soul, could feel in the way it shivered in the grip of his magic. "There's something…something that I need, but I…I-I don't know…" She swallowed thickly and gave a shaky sigh, mouth turning down into a frown. "I need something but I can't…I can't quite reach it." As if her words prompted it, there was another thin green tendril of magic that reached out from her soul, and he felt his face grow hot at the implications it gave. 'There's no way…'

"My soul belongs to you."

He shook his head, bones rattling as he tried to keep the two souls apart. 'She didn't know what she was sayin'. She…she deserves so much better, she-'

"Sans." He looked up at her and, with that questioning look on her too-tired face, he caved.

"Alph told ya a little bit about monster relationships, right?" She gave a slow nod and his brow bones furrowed as he tried to carefully choose his words. "It- …they're, ah, trying to um…bond." A small flash of understanding passes through her eyes, but he has to be sure. She has to understand. "It's a process that uses magic to uh…well, it creates a link between our two souls, a-and…it's really hard to undo. Breeching a bond is incredibly dangerous." He wanted her to know, that even if there was a way out of it, it would be painful. When she realized she'd made a mistake…

A wave of warmth washed over him, comforting, and he could feel the desire through the way her soul nudged against him, seeking for his own. She was looking at him uncertainly, but everything he could feel coming from her was certain and steady and loving and so much longing that it made his chest ache. "I told you…I'm yours, as long as you'll have me…" she mumbled, and he felt his eye sockets burn as wetness began to overflow from them, dripping down the soft ridges of his cheekbones. His left eye socket flared to life as the fiery blue pupil formed and he used as much magic as his body could withstand after having already used so much, keeping the souls as far apart as he could as he climbed up onto the bed. He laid along his side next to her, turning her to do the same so that they were facing one another. He could feel a flutter of nervousness, and he wasn't sure if it was his or hers, but he felt a certainty underlying it that he hadn't felt in a long time.

"You're sure…?" he asked, because he had to, and he couldn't help but crack a small smile at the way she rolled her eyes at him. She didn't need to say her answer out loud when he could feel it coming from within her, and she knew that, but somehow she still knew that he needed to hear it. She leaned forward to press a kiss to his nasal ridge, mumbling a soft 'yes' as she pulled him close. "Heh…dunno how I ever got so lucky…" He closed his eye sockets and allowed the magic to fade.

There was five seconds of silence and stillness before everything suddenly became overwhelmed.

He could feel the way his forearm was resting a bit uncomfortably against her hip bone as if her sensations were all his own, and he struggled to move it higher up on her waist for it to be comfortable despite the onslaught of sensation and thoughts and feelings. He could feel how her eyes burned when she cried, and how different a sensation it was to have tears dripping down skin than it was across bone. Her bangs tickled her skin slightly in a pleasant way that made him want to bury his hands in the softness of her hair and play with it, and he wondered what it would feel like to scratch her scalp the way he knew she liked. There was slight anxiety, and guilt, and forgiveness, and love. So much love. He felt like he was going to drown in it. It was warm and comforting and soft and yet also incredibly powerful. It flooded his bones and filled his skull to the point of overflowing. She gave a watery laugh and he could feel the way it had been pulled from her, so naturally and freely, and he found himself doing it, too. They laid in her bed, laughing and crying and holding onto one another so tightly that they lost track of which limbs were his or hers.

"Sans…look." Her soft awed whisper managed to break through the flurry of things going on in his mind and he cracked one eye socket open, looking at the bright light floating above them and feeling struck and awe-inspired and so incredibly wondrous. Their souls were embracing, pressed so tightly together that he was certain they intersected at some point. The energy whirling around them was gentle and careful, a soft mix of blue and green that reminded him of catching glimpses of the sky through the trees, and it was beautiful. It was them, and they were beautiful, and he couldn't tell if those were his thoughts or hers, but he couldn't really care. Slowly, though, the green light began to fade, and it was with an agonizing slowness that their souls parted. Hers had a single band of transparent blue going from the top left crest of the heart-shape down to the right side of the point, just barely covering up the small, faded off-white crack in the very center where the needle had pierced it. He felt a rush of pride burst through him at the sight, and he was certain it was all his own, but a short glance at her face made him think otherwise. Her gaze was so firmly set on his own soul, cracked and marred as it always had been, but it now held a faint green vine-like spiral wrapping around it, almost like it were trying to hold him together. It was poetic and accurate, he couldn't help but think; she was what kept him together during the worst of times. As their new souls gently faded back into the depths of their chests, they approached the new darkness that filled the room with a sense of understanding that they hadn't had before.

Before he could even think of anything to say, she had pulled him to her chest in a crushing hug, arms trembling around him. "Sans, I'm so sorry." She was apologizing…? But why? What on earth could she possibly have been- "I understand now. I get it. I'm sorry I- …y-you just try and keep us safe the only way you know how…" Oh. …Oh. Sans sucked in a breath as he realized that she had seen something, though what exactly, he couldn't be certain. "It wasn't your fault. None of it was your fault. You…y-you did what you had to…" He buried his face in her chest and huffed out a laugh that sounded more like a sob, bony fingers digging into her shirt as he pulled her closer. "I love you so much, Sans…so, so much. There's…things we have to work through and talk about, but we'll do it together…okay?" He nodded, feeling far too elated that he actually had the chance to do that, and also terrified of what she had seen, but that could wait for another time. That talk could come later. Right in that moment, he just wanted to lay there and bask in the feeling of the new bond he'd forged.

He didn't say it, but he had a feeling that she knew, anyway.

It had taken a lot of convincing for the human to calm down enough to listen. Brit had been angry and said many curse words at him, but Papyrus still felt like he had done the right thing. …right?

Concern began to needle at his skull the longer he sat at Toriel's, and it must have been obvious, because the goat woman had offered for him to join her in the kitchen to make spaghetti…at two in the morning. Bless the motherly concern of his good friend and ex-Queen, but he was far too nervous to cook. Something big was happening, he could tell, but he wasn't certain of what. There was only one reason that immediately came to mind that told him Lena's soul would leave her body like that, and it was not a pleasant one. He had relayed what he'd seen to Toriel and, though the matronly monster had been smiling and seemed less concerned, he couldn't help the worries that arose in his mind. He was just glad that the human Brit had headed home after having a private talk with Her Majesty, though he didn't understand why it needed to be so secretive…

"I AM GOING TO GO CHECK ON THEM!" he announced suddenly, hopping up from his spot on her floral-print sofa and bolting from the door. She called after him, of course, but it wasn't long before he was out of hearing range. All of those training sessions with Undyne really had paid off!

He climbed the stairs to their apartment three at a time, not bothering to knock or announce his presence as he went straight for Lena's bedroom. It had been left ajar, so he pushed it open the rest of the way, mouth open to speak, but his words fizzled out and died in his throat, eye sockets widening as he found himself staring. She and his brother were asleep in eachother's arms, their faces tear-streaked and peaceful. Well, certainly his brother would not be so at ease if something were wrong! Even if he had been crying, that didn't mean something awful was about to happen. …But what was this new, strange glow he saw? He squinted his sockets as he stepped closer to take a better look, only for them to be blown wide open once again, and he slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his gasp.

Even if he wasn't the most adept at seeing souls, like Frisk or Sans, he could tell that the two of them had bonded.

He carefully and quietly crept out of the room, closing the door behind him and heading into his room. The door quietly clicked closed and he threw himself onto his racecar bed, shoving his skull into his pillow and trying his best to squeal quietly. He hoped that they would want to tell people soon, because keeping this a secret might actually kill him.

[[ Annnnd it's happened! The bond has been formed! ;w; I might go back and edit this a little, clean it up some. But I hope you all enjoyed it anyways! Let me know what you think on my Tumblr or leave a nice comment! It makes my day to hear from you guys. Love ya! ]]