A gentle warmth lulled Frisk to a deep rest that felt like ages in coming. When she finally woke, it hadn't felt like too much time had passed, but she was still satisfied. She found herself on Sans' lap, his arms wrapped snuggly around her and his chin rested on her head.

It filled her with a warmth that she hadn't felt in far too long. Not since long before she had grown into an older child. It let Frisk feel more loved than ever before. She even felt that might be the right word, even though she knew Sans for a short while.

She shifted a bit, unable to tell if Sans was awake. When her small movements got no reaction, she settled down for a little bit longer. As she waited, she realized that she was steadily growing colder. How had she been so warm for so long? When she started shivering, she knew it was time to wake Sans.

"Sans? I'm getting cold. We should move on. Besides, who knows how long Papy-" Frisk stopped talking abruptly when she looked up. Papyrus stood there, with his phone pointing towards them.

"Nyeh heh he! I just got the perfect picture!" Papyrus said, turning the screen to show Frisk and a now very awake Sans.

"Aww man, my phone can't do pictures! That is a great picture!" Frisk said, excited. She got up off of Sans' lap and went to look closer at the picture. It was the only picture taken in years that she actually looked happy in.

Embarrassing situation or not, Frisk loved it.

Sans' eye sockets went dark as soon as he heard the word 'picture' come out of his brother's mouth. As if being found like this wasn't bad enough, now it was recorded on a phone forever.

"gimme that." He immediately said, getting up and reaching for the phone in Papyrus' hand.

In turn, the taller skeleton lifted his arm as high as he could, which much to Sans' dismay, was far higher than he could ever hope to reach. "Now brother, the human obviously likes the picture, you're not about to delete it."

"who said anything about deleting anything?" Sans muttered in his own defense.

"Or have the phone mysteriously fall into the core."

"that was one time." Sans said angrily. A soft giggle pulled him out of his thoughts and his head snapped in the direction it came from.

The human had her hand over her mouth, trying desperately not to break down laughing. Sans scowled. He was starting to regret every decision he made since she walked out of the ruins.

"Thanks for letting me sleep, Sans." Frisk said, after Sans seemed to be steaming instead of trying to destroy the picture.

"Let's keep going. I'm sure Papyrus has more awesome puzzles up ahead!" This seemed to excite Papyrus, and they went forward so Frisk could solve more puzzles.

Because they were walking in a group, the dog couple simply gave them an odd look(sniff?). It didn't take long for Frisk to solve the other puzzles, and soon they were standing at a long bridge. Papyrus seemed nervous about something.

"Human! I have one last puzzle here for you. However... I'm not sure it's suitable for a puzzle master such as yourself!"

"Why do you say that, Papyrus?" Frisk asked, confused.

"Well you see, This is the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror! However, you are too nice for this puzzle! I didn't think humans could be so nice when I built this one... Despite all of his grumbling, it would seem you have made Sans happy. I wouldn't want to hurt you, so this puzzle is Not Good." Papyrus said, somewhat subdued.

His heartfelt speech really struck something in Frisk. She looked up at Papyrus, awed. "I guess Sans isn't the only one happier. Honestly, the reason I like that picture so much is because that's the happiest I've been in a long time." Frisk looked down as she said this, fidgeting a little.

Sans pulled his hood over his head as his brother spoke. Happy… Why would he say that? If anything she was making Papyrus happy, which in turn made him happy, so really it was more because of Papyrus that his mood shifted…

But when he heard her talking about the picture, and how it was the happiest she'd been in a while, he couldn't help but notice how his grin grew slightly. Maybe she did make him at least a little happy… He looked at the other two from under his hoodie and pointed forward.

"snowdin is up ahead. you look like you could use a meal." At the mention of food Papyrus' face lit up.

"Oh yes! That's a wonderful idea, Sans! I should feed the human!" He grabbed the human's hand and started dragging her behind him.

"oh no… i'm sorry, kiddo…" Sans grinned at her sheepishly and she just stared back confused. "i'll treat ya later." He winked.

Frisk quickly learned why Sans was sorry. She struggled to keep a straight face as she ate the rubbery spaghetti.

"How high did you have the heat?" Frisk asked, somehow keeping the disgust out of her voice.

"As high as it would go!" Papyrus responded, glad to share his cooking secrets.

"Hmm," Frisk started, "Usually I keep it at halfway. Takes a bit longer, but helps keep it from getting too soft."

"Interesting. I might try that in the future, Human"

Mission: Improve Papyrus' cooking without hurting his feelings successful.

Sans was impressed. That was some next level sneaking to actually get Papyrus to consider cooking anyway other than how Undyne taught him. And without telling him his cooking was uh… less than impressive. He chuckled to himself, hiding his face in his arms as he leaned forward, closing his eyes. What better way to celebrate than by taking a nice long…

"SANS!" He snapped out of his already drowsy state at the sound of his brother's reprimand. "Sleeping while we have a guest? I ought to teach you some manners."

The smaller skeleton groaned, but stood up anyway. He looked at Frisk and noticed that she was still trying hard to keep the spaghetti down. Considering his options he started for the door of his house.

"come on, i'll show ya around. there's an inn you can rest up at and a shop where you can get treats." He smiled at her waiting for her to respond.

Frisk was all too willing to go with Sans. And more than a little relieved that Papyrus hadn't come along. Especially when the first place Sans went to was decidedly NOT the inn or shop.

When they went into Grillby's, they were met with an excited chorus of "Sans!"s. They ended up buying a couple things of fries("I don't think I could stomach an entire burger after that).

Frisk laughed when half the bottle of ketchup landed on their fries. Sans offered her his in payment for the prank, but Frisk just waved him off, grabbing a ketchup soaked fry and sticking it in her mouth. Sans tried to stop her, but it was already too late.

"Is this... Kool-aid?" She exclaimed, to Sans' bemusement.

"If you didn't take the bottle, I was gonna drink out of it. I've been waiting to try to play this prank for ages..." Sans said, amused. "I'll admit, pranks are usually Papyrus' thing, but I drop a good one every once and awhile. But you should have seen the King's face when I just chugged an entire bottle of 'ketchup'. It was great."

Sans laughed to himself at the memory and then sighed sadly. That was all before… He shook his head, there was no point in dwelling on the past, what did it matter anyway? He turned his eyes to the counter, playing with a fry absentmindedly.

"y'know, your arrival is kind of a change of pace around here. usually everything's the same all the time. we have nowhere else to go. there's only so much you can do here." His gaze drifts to Frisk for a long moment. "and for people like you…" He drifts off, the mention of the King of the Underground brought a painful realisation to the short skeleton.

If she was here, it wouldn't be for long. He promised the lady behind the door he'd protect her, but what was he to do when she finally got to Asgore?

"welp, what are you going to do now?" He finally asked.

"I'll admit, I'm kind of scared. Monsters keep trying to kill me, and I don't understand why. And it is just so much. Dying may not hurt as much when caused by monster hand, but it still sucks. Like a black void. If there is an afterlife, it's out of my reach.

"And the thought of never dying... To be honest, it terrifies me. What if I can't even die of old age? We'll be stuck like this forever. If I have kids, I'll never get to see them grow up. They will NEVER grow up.

"And, this isn't a power that anyone should have, even for other reasons. O-One of the repeats, I killed Icecap. It was by accident, I didn't know that simply pushing him away and wishing he was gone could even do that. But... I felt so strong in that moment.

"I killed someone... And I enjoyed it. Then, I killed myself, and it never happened. What if there is ever a point that I can't stop myself?

"I-I'm scared, Sans..." Frisk said, looking away for a moment. She then turned back to Sans, meeting his gaze. Her expression had hardened.

"Please promise me that if I can't stop myself... That you will. I don't ever want to get to a point that I would hurt Papyrus, or... you."

"heh…" Sans laughed darkly. He slowly turned away from her, his hands clenching to fists. "promises… i'm no good with promises kid. i already made one i shouldn't have and you're asking me to promise you something that would go right against it."

He fell silent.

"Please... If I get like that, I won't hardly be me anymore. I mean, it feels so different than any time before. There were a few times that I managed to turn the weapons of an assassin on them before, but it never felt like it did in that moment.

"I think there was something there, when I fell. I get urges that are so strange, and not like me at all. I mean, I hate chocolate, but when I saw a bar of it a while ago, I was halfway through it before I even realized it." Frisk bared her metaphorical heart to Sans, trusting him more than she ever thought she would trust anyone.

The mention of chocolate caused a few cogs to start turning in Sans' head but with everything she was asking him to do he couldn't think of anything else. He fixed his eyes on her, jaw clenched.

"and… what makes you think i can stop you?" He spoke through gritted teeth. "what even gave you the impression that i'm the one to ask for such a thing?"

"You're the strongest monster I've... seen?" Frisk started off confident, before trailing off.

"Huh? Wait, how do I know that? I've never seen you fight. Not once... This doesn't make sense."

"I can't figure out what's going on, Sans."

At her last words anger rose in Sans. The skeleton grabbed her by the collar and pulled her close to his face, his pupils nowhere in sight. "what are you hiding from me kid? are you having fun? did you befriend me and my bro just so it would hurt more when you turn against-" He stopped dead in his tracks at the look of pure terror on her face.

Why was he suddenly so angry with her? She didn't do anything, not really, she was letting him know she was scared and he was just… He slowly let the grip loosen on her shirt.

"i'm…" He couldn't get any other words out. At this point everyone at Grillby's had fallen silent.

Frisk shrunk back from Sans, before realizing that he looked just as confused as she was. And just as scared. She let out a half sob, before surging to hug Sans. She hid her face, but it didn't do much good to hide her terror when she was sobbing hysterically. And out in public, too.

"Sans you may be my best customer but you know the rules no threats or fights in my bar! And pay your tab!" Turning to Frisk Grillby asked

"What can I get you? Maybe hot chocolate?"

"heh… sorry grillbz, got a little hot headed there. But uh… she doesn't like chocolate." Sans nodded towards the crying girl holding on to him. He poked her slightly to get her attention. "maybe we should go somewhere else, kiddo. and sorry… really…"

He turned to the bartender and smirked at him. "i'll pay it next time. you know i'm good for it."