Frisk felt disoriented and sick the moment everything came back into her vision. The feeling was similar to whenever Sans used his "shortcuts" back underground, but ten times worse. It felt like they'd gone over miles, or at least some long distance she couldn't traverse on foot. She might throw up if she wasn't careful. Her arm released, the child fell to her knees and leaned over the ground, breathing slowly, struggling to fight the dizziness.
In front of her Sans stood trying to regain his own composure, the skeleton taking a few steps back. Frisk looked up at that sound of his own heavy breathing, sweat on his skull and toothy smile turned down. He'd stopped looking at her. He really did look sick now. She stared with wide, studying eyes while her stomach turned.
Sans' big red left eye caught on to hers. "what the f-fuck-" he wheezed, "are you looking at?" No matter how many times she blinked, that eye didn't go back to a white pupil, and the other socket stayed dark like a blind person. "i'm fine, kn- - knock it off! give me a fu- fucking minute..."
Sans seems to be having trouble breathing.
Among other things.
Frisk looked away from him as instructed, instead rolling up her poked sleeve. After assuring she wasn't bleeding from his claws holding her earlier, the child glanced around at their surroundings. At first, seeing no sky above, she thought them underground. But then she recognized the stone walls around them, the faint dampness and round exit some distance away. Opposite the exit was a passageway faintly adorned with weathered stone messages in the walls and pictures made with old paint. Some were vandalism, but some were much older than that.
"where the fuck are we," Sans said breathlessly, following her lead in looking around.
"... This is the cave I went in when I first climbed Mt. Ebott," the child said. "Farther in is where I fell down." She frowned. "I showed you... last week..."
Sans sneered, "no, that cave's a bit to the le..." he smacked his face, then, with a clawed hand, and broke off in a final wheeze. While Frisk watched, he murmured, "...hahah, the mountain's configured differently than my world... shit, i coulda just killed both of us." Dragging his hand down, Sans smiled brazenly again. "sorry 'bout that, twerp."
"What are you talking about?" Fearing that he would approach her again, Frisk struggled to get her legs back under her and stood up, taking a step away as he grinned at her. "What do you mean your world? Are you an alien?"
The skeleton monster looked upon her for a brief moment while her question sunk in. Apparently she had said or done something funny, then, because he broke out abruptly in uproarious laughter. Laughter which she didn't know whether to stand or just run from. This terrifying new version of Sans replied, only after some of it had calmed down, "an alien? really? that's your first guess? you think i'm an alien?"
Actually, her first guess had been that he was sick. Or a vampire- despite the fact that she didn't know how exactly a skeleton could turn into a vampire when they had no blood to start with. She looked at her shoes and back, face turning a little pink as he laughed. Quietly, the child said, "... you mentioned 'your world,' so I..."
"ahahahahahahaha!" He covered his face with one hand as he laughed, almost doubling over. "you little nerd, what do you think this is, invasion of the body snatchers? don't you have listening comprehension? ahahahahaha!" The child said nothing, fighting the dark blush on her cheeks and tightly wringing the bottom hem of her sweater. Sans' usual laughter was much gentler, even if a lot of it sounded immature. These guffaws, in contrast, sounded mean.
Eventually, it stopped. Sans wiped a tear from his eye socket and said, "nahh, i'd love that but, unfortunately kid, monsters don't come from outer space. i mean world in a different sense." When Frisk didn't reply, he continued, "not that you need to know any of that, really. the less you know about how i got here, the better."
The words fizzed in her head and didn't pick up. Despite her fear, her embarrassment, and nausea, Frisk tried to smile at him. "... S-sans, are you playing a prank on me?"
"boy, i wish," Sans said. "that sounds a lot more fun than what i'm doing right now. nope... ... listen," in response to that terrified face, he waved his hand and her SOUL turned blue. Frisk yelped as a strong force pulled her to the ground, making her sit, and Sans began to talk with a sigh, "you weren't supposed to find this-" he gestured to his face, "-out. especially so fucking quickly. i guess that that's kind of my fault, so i'm not mad at you or anything. still, i don't know what i'm gonna do with you now."
Although not afraid of death, the child shook nonetheless. Suddenly the tug on her SOUL went in a different direction, and she slid on the ground over to Sans.
He held out his hand. "okay... first, give me the phone."
Frisk didn't move.
"give me the phone now."
She still didn't move.
Sans grabbed the front of her sweater and lifted her up off the ground, with empty eyes. "Give me the phone."
With a whimper, the child held the cellphone up to his grasp. Sans snatched it from her and threw Frisk back on the ground. Then, with a nasty grin, he smashed the phone under his sneaker. "there we go." He looked back over at her, sneering, and taking a step back, "pretty clumsy of you to break your own phone, twerp."
"Ah-!" Frisk crawled to the smashed phone, as if thinking she could salvage it somehow from its own remains, and Sans laughed again. All of her pictures, not to mention all of her contacts. They were lost to her now, and her stored items were beyond her reach in this cave.
"still, doesn't solve the problem one hundred percent," Sans murmured as Frisk whimpered on the ground. He hesitated at the sound. "... what, are ya gonna cry? 'cause that'd be hilarious."
But she didn't cry. "... Who are you...?" She asked instead, looking up from the pieces in her hand. "Why are you doing this?"
"well uh your phone had photographic evidence as we'll recall."
"Sans," she snapped. And then quickly amended, "Or whatever your name is."
He raised a brow at her as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "still sans. just, maybe you're not used to this one. but you know," he added, trying to affect a more friendly expression on his face, "i can be a lot like that other guy if i tried. if you give me a chance."
"You just broke my phone!"
"yeah," he snorted at her indignant face. "but that was nothing. just think of what i can do to you, or to something else you like," His red eye disappeared, sockets black. "If, like that phone, you try and show people the truth."
Frisk didn't say anything to the threat, just staring with wide eyes. Sans relaxed, his red eye returning. "but, like i said, if you're a good kid i won't have to do anything like that."
The silence carried his words a long way in her head, but they seemed to affect her just as little as the threat. Looking away from him, Frisk missed how much he was starting to sweat. Instead she wrung her sweater hem and then forcibly gripped her locket, as she finally replied in a soft voice, "I... still... don't understand." Who was he? Where was the real Sans? Why did this... evil Sans show up in his place?
"you don't have to. all you need to know, squirt, is that i'm here to stay. and, uh, kidnapping, blackmailing, and broken phones aside," he chuckled a little at his own list, "i don't want to cause trouble. i just want to live here. you can understand that, can't you?"
"... ..."
"well, that's all you're getting for now," he said. "but y'know, if i'm in a good mood later, i might at least tell you what happened to your buddy."
Still no response. She looked over at him and then back down.
"aw c'mon, twerp, you're making me nervous." Sans poked her in the side and she yelped, taking a step back but keeping her eyes on the floor. "i need to know you won't tell. this could actually be fun, yknow? if you don't tell."
No answer.
"...cause if you do tell someone it's going to get very nasty really quick."
"You'll tell me where Sans is if I don't... ?" Frisk said, at last, looking back up.
The tension slipped from the new Sans' voice, just a little. "yeah, sure. that's what i said, right?"
She sighed, and said quietly, "I won't tell anyone. For now."
You totally intend to tell Alphys.
Sans was still looking her over as he relaxed, smirking. "... heh, you've got that creepy way about you too. not phased by much, are you pipsqueak?" She wrinkled her nose at him, but didn't know how to answer that. So he shrugged and kept going, "yeah, well i just started thinking that as long as you know, maybe you can actually help me."
"Help you?"
"sure? i mean why not?" He said with a wolfish expression, "i'm clearly having trouble fitting in, and you would know more about this world than i do. so just... give me some tips, every now and then, so that people stop asking me if i'm sick or somethin'. i don't think that's asking for much."
It'd be asking for a lot, considering that essentially she would be helping him to replace Sans. Frisk shook her head, keeping her eyes averted. She could keep a secret-well, kind of-but actually helping him was too much. She could also hear her gut telling her to say no, which only confirmed her conviction.
The other Sans grunted. "if this is about the phone, i can replace it." The child looked up, curious if he really meant that, he uttered, "... at some point." Frisk looked away again and he went on, "besides, it would put me in a good mood, y'know? and i already told you, i'll tell you what happened to your sans if i'm in a good mood." He then said as a final note, his teeth bared in a snarl and red eye flaring, "and if i'm in a bad mood i might just cut your face up."
Frisk's hands went to her face.
"capiche?"
He wasn't fighting her. If he was fighting her, it would be easier to know what to do. Odd as that sounded.
"Mmmh..." Was all Frisk said.
Not-Sans smiled again. "i'll take that as a yes. how about we start right now?"
"I have school tomorrow..." the child mumbled.
Now he scowled, "fuck school, this is important to me."
"Toriel's going to wonder where I am," she tried again, with a light frown.
This time, it made him hesitate. "hm." He looked up at the ceiling thinking, eyes almost closed. Before he resumed his regular stance, finally shrugging, "yeah i don't give a shit."
"The real Sans doesn't curse like that," Frisk grumbled, glaring at him.
"'ey," he said, winking at her, "there ya go twerp, that's the spirit."
"He doesn't call me twerp, either."
"i get the feeling that a lot of the pointers you're giving me are specific to you," the toothy Sans mused. "how about we broaden this out a little bit? for instance, i'm having a lot of fun with papyrus as it is, but i-"
The child couldn't help it; as the phone call and that morning's conversations came back to her she blurted out, "Papyrus!" And although this new Sans- really, she needed a name for him- looked irritated at being interrupted he stopped and allowed her to continue. "What's wrong with Papyrus? Was he also replaced- I mean, that phone call you got- and-"
"oh," he shook his head at her. "nah, squirt, don't worry about-uh, that wasn't him over the phone. right now, he's fine. right now. now being the key word."
So he hadn't lied after all... Frisk was relieved, albeit briefly. She let out a breath, one that had been lodged in her chest. She couldn't let it all out though; after all, she still had a huge problem with Sans. And even if her phone wasn't broken, she would have dreaded looking at it and seeing the time, remembering that both Toriel and Leo were waiting for her back home. This Sans was still glaring expectantly, though. She sighed. "Then... You have to stop picking on him. The real Sans wouldn't do that."
He scowled. "i'm not picking on him. did he tell you that i was picking on him?"
"No... Not in those words... but..."
"well fuck, then i'm not picking on him, am i?"
The child chewed on the inside of her cheek. "He told me that you made fluffy bunny a... cannibal?" As the monster's grin got wide, she continued with a red face, "and apparently you don't normally do that?"
Evil Sans(?) began to chuckle, as if at the memory of it. "i'll say i don't! you should have seen the look on his face..." He then cleared his throat, adding, "noted, though. what else?"
"Um..." It wasn't as if she knew the intimate details of their relationship. "I dunno... I guess you're usually... a lot sleepier. And I think, Papyrus scolds you a lot, but you're both always nice to each other. So as long as you're nice..."
Something about his expression changed that she couldn't identify; Sans himself was the one who read expressions, not her. He grumbled, "doesn't seem worth it to be nice to somebody who's nagging you all the time."
"He got you lots of orange juice just because he thinks you're sick!" Frisk snapped.
He blinked. "yeah. he, uh, he did do that." Dark Sans relaxed. "question. is papyrus obsessed with setting traps?"
"Traps? I don't think so," Frisk said, scratching the back of her head. "He likes puzzles."
"puzzles? hrrh... puzzles aren't as much of a pain in the ass," Sweaty Sans murmured. "uh. anything else? and if you lie to me, I'll rip your face up," he added, taking his hands out of his pockets and showing off his sharp bone claws.
Frisk blanched; she wasn't good at lying. That warning had been completely unnecessary, though. "... I can't think of... Anything else right now," she murmured. "But you, you just don't sound like him at all."
"yeah, yeah, i know that much. i heard his voice enough times, it's just, hah, taking a while to imitate it." So saying, Red Eyed Sans looked over the sullen child and then the broken phone between them. His smile faded down. "you look tired, so we'll pick this up tomorrow."
"Yeah?" She avoided looking too grateful at that. "Are you going to take me home..?"
"well you already told me that you won't tell anybody else," Not Sans mused, regarding her warily with his big red eye. "so as long as you hold yourself to that, i don't see the harm in it. as long as you hold yourself to that."
Frisk began to sweat.
You're still totally going to tell Alphys because she is totally going to know what to do yes.
Cursing Sans looked at her for a long time, before finally shrugging and saying, "welp, i'll be keeping in touch, kid. heheh good luck explaining this to toriel." He then held his hand out to her.
Frisk smiled weakly at him, bending down and scooping her phone into her arms before extending one hand to meet his bony claws. His red eye flashed, and they both left the cave in a whirl of motion sickness. In the next second she was standing outside of her own house, feeling sick and dizzy, and Sharp Sans let go of her hand. His eye flashed again, and then he was also gone the moment she blinked. Leaving her alone, hoping that Toriel had not woken up despite the fact that it was very likely past the point where Leo was supposed to go home.
It was silly to be worried about that at all when New Sans' cruel laugh and threats was still in her ears. Yet she was capable of worrying about many things at a time. If only because, while she was trying to think of a strategy for talking to Toriel, she kept having other thoughts about Sans butting in.
You don't know what's happened to Sans. He could be dead, hurt, or locked up somewhere while this other monster's walking around in his place.
You don't want to fight Fake Sans.
Frisk put a hand up to her head, wishing that the thoughts would go away. But really, it was her stomach that hurt. She wasn't feeling queasy anymore, but she was a bundle of nerves there. And it kept her frozen in place, while a piece of her phone dropped from her arms and on the sidewalk.
Maybe, just maybe, you can persuade him to tell you where the real Sans is.
Any minute now, Toriel could open the door and see her adopted child standing there with no clue what to say. Mayb she could say she wanted to take a picture and she got lost and- or, better, she could not say anything at all.
Maybe, if you're careful, you can persuade him of something else.
After all, if fighting him is not an option...
She took a deep breath and turned the knob, scooping the fallen piece of phone back up off the ground before she did. She could also tell her that she had been kidnapped by an evil version of Sans who said "fuck school" and the whole lot of other things. ... But no, she couldn't tell her that. She was already going to be upset, and she had already been upset.
Another parent had called Toriel after dinner that day; their child would not be able to go to school for the next week. They caught the flu.
You think that even now you can do what you always do.
Toriel was in the kitchen waiting for her.
What you do best.
Perhaps, in this situation it might be better to not say anything at all. That was something else that she did best.
Next Chapter: Kindness and Patience
