When Frisk awoke, she was still on Sans' lap. She smiled when she remembered what had happened the night before. She lazily looked around the room, making eye contact with Papyrus. He had his phone out again.
"Good morning, Human!" He said, his voice actually quite quiet. "I'm curious, why is Sans here with you?"
"Oh, I had a nightmare. He came to help calm me down. Then I accidentally called him dad. I was really tired, so for some reason I thought he was gonna be angry, but he said I could call him dad as much as I want!" Frisk exclaimed, practically floating with happiness.
"Dad~" She said the title again, giving Sans a hug. "He let me call him Dad..."
When Frisk hugged him, Sans woke up and smiled down at her before looking back at Papyrus, rubbing the sleep off of his eyes. "heh, still kinda expecting to wake up anytime now, to find this was all just a dream." He mumbled quietly, not knowing what else to feel but glad.
Frisk laughed, before hopping off the couch and running to give Papyrus a hug. He was actually speechless, but when Frisk hugged him, he finally broke out of his stupor.
"Does that mean that you will call me Uncle?" He asked, before his grin grew mischievous. When Frisk gave a happy "mmhm!" of assent, his grin grew even more. He then suddenly attacked Frisk with tickles, ruthlessly taking her down until she was a giggling mess on the floor.
"Uncle, Uncle!" Frisk laughed out, even though she knew that the pun would just draw out the ticklefest. And true to thought, Papyrus seemed to redouble his efforts, and Frisk could barely even breathe any more.
Sans simply laughed at the scene in front of him, leaning back against the couch and savouring the other's giggling. This felt amazing, the two people he loved most in- He stopped thinking then, eyes darting to the child dissolving into a laughing mess on the floor.
Love? He loved her, right?
And suddenly all his happiness melted away. He loved this child and she was stuck here, underground. And she was in danger. She would die. Again. And again. And again…
"Dad?" Frisk asked, worried, "What's wrong?"
All of a sudden the air seemed too heavy to breathe. Still, he smiled at her, but it didn't reach his eyes anymore. "it's nothin', kiddo. just thinking." He said, avoiding her gaze then.
It hit him like a ton of bricks. If his reaction at Grillby's the day before was any indication, something really bad had happened already. And what was stopping something bad from happening again? He hid his face in his hands, lying down on the couch hoping they'd think he was just going to take another nap.
Sans felt like the world could come crashing down on him at any moment. It was just a matter of when. For some reason, he knew with an unbearable certainty, his happiness wasn't going to last.
Frisk went to ask Sans more, to pry a little, but she stopped when she saw Papyrus giving her a look that said to leave it.
"Human! I recently acquired some eggs. Would you like to come cook them with me?"
"Sure, uncle Paps." Frisk started following Papyrus, then paused for a moment before going over to give Sans a quick hug. She then went to the kitchen, leaving Sans alone.
The short skeleton hugged back, turning his head to see the two of them disappear from view. As soon as they were gone, he let his face fall entirely. He curled in on himself and pulled his hood over his head in hopes that it would block out the rest of the world. He should be happy now. He found someone that made him feel good, that he actually mattered.
But deep inside his being was this notion that it was all just an illusion. That in the end things would go back to the same old boring routines. That somehow, all of this didn't matter. And deeper still, he felt like something horrible was about to happen, if it hadn't already and he'd simply forgotten somehow.
Sans whimpered quietly. Something was going to make this all go away. Something was going to take all his happiness away from him. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. He felt it as if it were imbedded into his bones. Like a darkness looming over him, waiting to take everything he cared about from him.
And he felt powerless to stop it.
Frisk walked back into the living room for a moment, pausing when she saw Sans. She couldn't think of anything to say, so she didn't. She hopped on the couch, before leaning into Sans.
"Love you, Dad. It'll be alright."
He couldn't bring himself to say anything, but her words filled him with hope. Sans slowly took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly. It was all he could manage, but he hoped it was enough. He wanted so badly to believe it, that everything would be fine…
He let out a shuddering breath, sockets closing further. He felt really tired. He just wanted to stop thinking. Maybe that would make all these feelings, these fears, go away. He wanted to ask her to stay with him but couldn't find his voice. So he just squeezed her hand again.
"I know it will, 'cause I've got an awesome dad at my side, and if we work together, we make sure it'll be alright." Frisk hoped that was what Sans needed to hear. She couldn't really tell what was wrong, but she hated to see Sans sad.
He brought himself to look at her. She was trying so hard to be strong. He could tell. And for him. He chuckled. "yeah kid. you're right." He sat up and wrapped his arms around her. "and it's all because of you. you're going to make everything alright, i know it."
He still felt like things were messed up, and that anything could happen. But Frisk was right. If they stuck together, everything would be okay. Sans would do anything for her, he realized.
"i love ya too." He finally told her.
"Ok, lets see the damage to the omelet Uncle Paps and I were making. I managed to protect at least the first one, so you can have it, but he might have done something to it while I was out here." Frisk said, changing the subject to something more lighthearted.
She led Sans to the kitchen, keeping her hand in his. As long as he was by her side, she would be happy.
He dragged his feet as he trudged along behind her. They were surprised to find that Frisk's aforementioned omelet still lay untouched where she had left it. He slumped down on a seat and pushed it towards her.
"you can have it. not that hungry." He said quietly, smiling softly.
Papyrus immediately frowned at his brother's refusal to eat, but said nothing. He knew that when Sans was having one of those days there was no point trying to get him to do anything. It was a miracle that he was actually standing.
"We can share it! I'll give you a few bites. You should eat something, at least. You're nothing but bone!" Frisk offered, using a well placed pun to hopefully get him to at least eat a little food. She gave his hand one last squeeze before running up and grabbing a couple thankfully normal omelettes. She went back to sit at the couch, grabbing Sans' hand on the way over.
She had two forks on her plate, and after settling down with Sans at her side, she handed him one before grabbing her own and digging in.
Sans laughed a little at the joke. But when it finally got down to it, he just poked at the food with the fork not actually doing anything with it. Eating was really the last thing he wanted to do.
When he looked at Frisk, however, he saw her eyes staring at him, almost glistening. She almost looked like she was begging for him to at least try and get something down. He couldn't disappoint a face like that. Sighing he shoved some of the omelet in his mouth.
"there, ya happy?" He asked, the grin on his face giving his feigned annoyance away.
Frisk nodded excitably, before turning on her side of the plate, scarfing down the food as if she hadn't eaten in days. When she noticed that the other side of it wasn't being eaten, she looked up at Sans for a moment, before sighing. She shifted so that her back was to him, leaning on him. She went back to eating, not bugging Sans with words or looks.
She just sat back against him, silent.
They both jumped slightly when the couch sunk, Papyrus having come to join them. They couldn't help the small chuckles when they heard him mumbling something about it 'not being nearly as great as spaghetti'.
Sans let his head fall back against the back of the couch. His body still felt heavy and his mind was still troubled. Even so, he allowed himself to relax, Frisk and Papyrus' presence bringing some peace into his soul.
Slowly, he let his mind shut down, one arm resting lazily over Frisk's shoulders.
Frisk ate in silence, happily squished in between her two new family figures. When she was down to her last bite, she turned back to Sans.
"Last bite?" She asked him, her tone saying that she felt it to be his last bite. When she got no answer, she realized that Sans was falling asleep. She sighed, plopping the bite in her mouth and setting the plate on the floor in front of the couch.
She turned so she could lay down with her head in his lap. She was curled up tight, but Papyrus gently pulled her legs on his lap, before settling into a comfortable position himself.
"I guess we could take a short after meal nap. But it must stay short!" Papyrus acquessed. Frisk gave him a small smile, before allowing herself to drift off into sleep.
Sans was rudely awakened by the loud knock (down) on the front door. At the entrance stood Undyne, the captain of the royal guard, mouth open and one good eye wide. His gaze went to Papyrus and then to Frisk before stopping back at the fish monster. Her expression went from confusion, to disbelief, to anger and settled there.
Her yellow cat-like eye was fixed on the human.
Without a moment to think, Sans got to his feet and stood in front of Frisk. Undyne was already charging forward, with a newly conjured spear in hand. "Get out of my way, punk! I'm not afraid to take care of you if I have to!" She shouted.
"Dad?" Frisk said, groggy "What's-" She cut off when she looked up to see Undyne. She had just a moment to register the spear coming towards her.
When he saw the weapon hurtling at Frisk, full speed, all he had time to do was jump in front of it. He fell to his knees, the excruciating pain knocking the breath right out of him. He looked back at Frisk, she looked horrified, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. But she was fine.
She wasn't hurt. That's all that mattered to him. At least… At least he wouldn't have to see her die… He felt so selfish. He reached for her weakly.
"NO! DAD!" Frisk shouted. It only took a quick glance up to see the angry fish lady looking completely shocked to tell her that the wound was fatal. She sank to her knees in front of the couch, heartbroken.
She reached a hand up to his face, softly pushing his forehead to meet with hers. "I'll fix this, Dad. I promise. Just wait for me. Don't let the void consume you. From what that voice said, I will have to go back, I can't risk the void taking you over. Sorry this sacrifice was for nothing."
She then reached forward, pulling Sans into one last hug.
He could feel himself fading, his soul breaking. Frisk's words sounded distant but they still made him panic. no, you can't do it. you can't die. please live. He wanted to tell her, to make her see that he didn't matter, she did. But he couldn't speak. It was like he wasn't in control of his body anymore.
He felt like he was being pulled down into an all consuming darkness, and all he could think of was how much it hurt to know he was going to lose her. Even if he didn't witness it.
Sans wanted to convince her to stay. But it was too late. He was already sinking further and further into the black void of death. He was already turning to dust.
When Sans disappeared in her hold, Frisk grabbed his now dusty jacket, holding it close to her. She looked up to the woman who killed him.
"Why? Why is everyone trying to kill me? Why did you kill him?"
"6 Human souls. That's how many we have. When we have 7, we can break the barrier. I won't let ANYONE stand in my way, not even Sans." As she said this, Papyrus hesitantly hugged Frisk close. He looked up at Undyne, his eyes starting to glow a dim orange.
"Not even me?" He asked, tone dangerous.
"What?!" Undyne asked, confused.
"You won't let anyone get in your way. Does that include me? Because I won't let you hurt my niece. She made my brother happy. And you killed him. I won't let you take her too." His voice was dangerous, angry.
In this state, Papyrus looked regal. Like he wouldn't stop at anything short of getting what he wants.
"Are you BLIND?! That's a HUMAN! She's the last thing we need to leave the Underground!"
"If she's what we lose, then the surface isn't worth it. Nothing can be worth the life of an innocent child."
"This is why I never let you in the Guard. You're too innocent, too trusting." Undyne was still angry, yet Papyrus... Papyrus put her anger to shame.
"You have taken my brother. You want to take my niece. The only bad person I see here is you, Undyne." Then, without warning, he sprung. The fight was short and brutal. Even against someone who was after his family, Papyrus hesitated to strike. Undyne seemed to have no qualms striking him down. She used a few calculated moves to lower his health, before trapping him with green magic.
"I'll deal with you later."
Frisk didn't fight against the spears that came her way. She also learned something new.
