It was five o'clock in the morning, still raining outside, and Frisk had an hour before it was time to wake up for school. Overall about five hours of sleep in a warm bed, with a wet coat stashed underneath it, wouldn't be that bad. Although, her sleep filled with endless nightmares of monsters and maniacal flowers, it wasn't the best either. Still, maybe she wouldn't fall asleep in class.
But she wasn't destined to get five hours of sleep, her best being four hours and five minutes. Just as she was being dropped into the maw of a giant spider within her dreams, the child gripping her pillow on the outside in a cold sweat, she woke with a start.
At first, she didn't know what had woken her. She usually couldn't escape from those kinds of dreams on her own, so for one bleary moment she expected to see Toriel standing over the bed with a warm cup of tea.
But standing before her was pretty much the opposite of Toriel. And now the child realized that she had been much too cocky, assuming that this was the last she would see of Red Sans tonight- even if it technically was the early morning at this time. She was thrown from one panicked nightmare into another, and as soon as the fog of sleep was off her mind she threw herself back against the other side of the bed.
Because he was bristling with rage. His red eye was flashing fire-engine red and pale yellow, his teeth glinting in a murderous grimace.
And his voice, which was already usually tense, was indescribable. "you told papyrus," he hissed. "You told Papyrus of all people."
The realization hit and chased away the rest of her nightmare, but replaced it with something worse and, unlike Muffet's pet, very real. Frisk's heart almost stopped. She didn't speak. Red Sans was wheezing again, slow and heavy, air moving aggressively through his permanently shut teeth. The light of his eye washed the child in red. "You told Papyrus."
Her heart, it felt like, had never stopped hammering from the time she woke up to right now, with her back and head pressed against the window. It was so cold outside. When Frisk tried to talk, tried to address his accusation, all that came out was a croak. Her throat was closed, and that explained why she couldn't breathe either. Red Sans was doing all the breathing. She was doing all the shaking.
His voice rose, albeit only an octave. "Answer me, you little shit."
The only words she could get out were monosyllabic, choked from her tight chest, "N.. no-... I..."
"oh, you DIDN'T tell papyrus?" His grimace turned up into a cruel, incredulous sneer. "he just found out i'm not his sans SPONTANEOUSLY, that it? Is that it?"
I don't know what 'spontaneously' even means. Call for Toriel. Call for Toriel. Call for Toriel. The child opened her mouth, but then realized there wasn't any air in her lungs to call with. Frisk took in a breath, and in the process she took in too much, making a noisy gasp. But it didn't want to come back out again. She was too frozen. "T... a.."
Red Sans' expression shifted, his eyes narrowing, and he uttered a low growl at the child. "you remember what i told you. you know what i said i would do if you told anyone else about me."
Her face, her face, he was going to rip her face off. "D-!" Frisk curled up on the bed, whooshing out air and breathing in too much more. "-Don't hurt me-"
As his voice cut into her plea her eyes flung open wide, and she shook violently, "i have to fucking live with this loser and you told him that i'm not his brother i'm gonna fucking rip your organs out you little brat."
From her wide open eyes, her vision was blurring and spinning. "It's not my fault," she squeaked. Even as she managed that, however, Sans crossed the distance between them. His sharp claws latched onto her head and yanked on her hair; with no more air in her lungs, Frisk yelped.
"it's not your fault?" His voice was much louder in her ear. "it just slipped outta ya, huh?"
Flinging her hands wildly, Frisk struggled and pulled her hair from between his bony fingers. Her pulse rang through her head, almost sounding as if it was warning her that her death was near. "You hit- him-"
"That was a fucking accident."
She was about to cry; he was pulling her back by the sleeve of her nightshirt. To hide her tears, and especially to protect her face, Frisk flung her free arm over her eyes. "Sans- doesn't- hit- Paps. I d... didn't..."
Red Sans grabbed her hair again and tugged harder; she cried with a little more air this time, and he snarled in response. "he found out from you. i know he found out from you so stop lying to me you little shit."
"Leave- me alone-" She had to reset. She had to go back, even if it was back such a long time. Surely she could do it right the next time around, make sure that Papyrus didn't find out or that Red Sans didn't find out or that he was put in jail by now or- "I didn't- I didn't-"
"okay, then i gotta different question for ya," Red Sans said suddenly, releasing her hair and pushing the child away. "Who else did you tell?"
Once again, Frisk could no longer speak. She curled up on the bed, covering her eyes and suppressing whimpers, unable to sit still and unable to look at the terrifying, angry other Sans. Call for Toriel, call for Toriel. But her lungs wouldn't obey.
"Was it Asgore?" She heard. And the most she could do was shake her head.
"Was it Undyne?" Again, she shook her head.
"Was it Toriel?" No, no, no. None of them.
"Alphys?" A brief second- a brief second where the child didn't breathe, and shook her head quickly. She hoped that Red Sans hadn't noticed.
"It was somebody, wasn't it?"
Frisk squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head as hard as she possibly could. Red Sans' words then sounded incredibly close. "are you lying to me?"
Somehow, someway, that threatening question gave her a bit of hope. Because, after all, he didn't say "you are." Frisk curled in tighter and shook, her whole body shaking with her. "Just Papyrus," she squeaked.
"so you DID tell Papyrus?"
Shit, to use one of his words. There was no way that she was going to unfurl from this position now. "No!"
Red Sans' response wasn't quite as quick, suddenly. She didn't know what he was doing, now, as he kept breathing heavily and motionlessly in front of her bed. But at least he wasn't ripping her face off.
Pinpricks against her arm alerted her that he had grabbed her arm again, wrenching it away from her face; the rest of her locked in place, Frisk looked back up and found his face awfully close to hers. Her breathing, which had only just returned to normal, hitched. Her locket, or rather the locket that she always wore, was on her bedside table. She would have been wearing it to bed if Toriel hadn't told her it was a choking hazard. It sure felt like she was suffocating right now, without it.
He released her arm. The utter fury in his eyes was enough to hold her still, though. It was a fury that she never saw in her Sans before- heck, she'd never even seen him angry before (annoyed, maybe, but that was all.) And yet he put those sharp claws back into his hoodie and spoke instead, while she sat shivering in front of him. Gradually his words were increasing in volume, "you think you can do something about this, but you can't. i don't want to go back. I am never going back. It doesn't matter how many people you tell or what you do, human, I'm not going back!"
Sans never raised his voice before, either.
Frisk hoped, if he ever did, it didn't sound like this.
But then they both froze; there were footsteps from the hall, and Toriel called out, "Frisk? Are you alright? What is that noise?"
"crap," Red Sans' eyes widened and, before Frisk could say another word, he disappeared. But not before saying, "you say a word, uh- someone's ribs are getting broken."
The sight that Toriel walked in on was Frisk sitting up in bed, trembling and finally crying. "Oh, no-!" Immediately, she ran to her, pulling the child into a tight and warm hug. "Oh no, oh no... what was it? Was it another nightmare?"
She didn't say a word. It was hard enough, anyway, with all the gasps and huffs and problems she was having breathing right now. And then there were other things... Whose ribs? Whose ribs?
You consider calling Papyrus. Or Alphys.
You probably couldn't talk much to them right now.
Although through everything, through her sobbing and Toriel's bewildered attempts to calm her down, through the sight of Red Sans living up to his name, something else made it through into her mind.
Her face was still intact. All of her was completely intact, despite those numerous opportunities.
Only holding on to that was enough to quieten her crying. Unfortunately, Toriel's lullaby didn't have much effect tonight, even if Frisk let her think that it did.
But she still would not be sleeping again.
When Blue Sans refused to move, and unable to raise the voice it would take to tell him to get off, Frisk instead spent a minute checking the food she'd taken out of Undyne's fridge. The skeleton's minor weight bent her back, but she could get into her pockets just fine. And since she wouldn't be going to Gerson's again, she dearly hoped that it was worth all of the trouble. There were five new items she'd taken from that house; first she brought out a package of something red and yellow and limp.
Leftover Spaghetti - Heals 2HP
It's in a plastic bag, like someone couldn't eat all of it. It feels squishy.
Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Frisk moved on to the rest of her haul. None of it was quite so nauseating to her as the spaghetti, thankfully, although it wasn't all good either.
X Lemonade – Heals 12HP
"Adult" Lemonade.
The smell is not for the faint of heart.
Crackers – Heals 6HP
Cookies that crackle like fireworks.
Tuna – Heals 5HP
She eats- fish?
Suspicious Sugar – Heals 0HP
On closer inspection, it's actually bone meal.
It tastes terrible.
Bone Meal – Heals 0HP
It would all have to do, as little as it was; by the time she was done spitting and coughing, the craft she and Blue Sans were sitting on had reached its destination. Through the cavern in front of them, the boiling heat of Hotland was only just visible with a dim red light.
The River-person's song reached her ears again and the boat shook. "Tra... la... la... la... we've arrived."
Frisk catapulted from the boat when it growled at her; left alone, Blue Sans' head conked against the wood and he grunted, startled awake. Frisk studied the tears and thin spots of her clothes while he stepped off after her, chewing the inside of her cheek. When he was again following behind, she walked to the edge of the cavern and took a deep breath.
As soon as she stepped into the red lighting, marking the point where Hotland began and the damp waterway ended, the heat hit her like entering a furnace. Her wet clothes and shoes dried almost instantly, and Frisk resisted the urge to try out what X Lemonade tasted like just for some moisture.
Shortly after, she heard Blue Sans exclaim behind her, "wow, someone turned off the AC."
"It's Hotland. It's hot," the child grumbled into her shoes while she walked up the red steps. It was bright, too. They'd stepped into one of the many stone walkways and rock islands that comprised Hotland, this one a set of stairs. Below them, rivers of magical magma churned and lapped against the base of each platform, emitting heat in unbearable quantities and, even more so, emitting the reddish light that illuminated the caverns day and night. Frisk rubbed her forehead as she began to sweat, although keeping her striped sweater on as it always was.
There was a zipping sound and, behind her, Blue Sans took off the fluffy jacket. "it's not supposed to be this bad."
Frisk couldn't help but stare; she was so unused to seeing Sans without his outer layer, standing now in just a t-shirt. He looked smaller, now, though not quite her level of short.
He caught her stare and looked left and right, "what?"
The events of the past hour caught her barbed tongue before she could use it, "..." Instead Frisk rubbed her arm, turned, and kept walking.
Unfortunately they couldn't go that far. The way to Alphys' lab wasn't long now—in fact, they were just a room or less away; the stairs they were on opened up to a cross intersection, and the lab was a quick walk to the right. Frisk had gotten to it easily on her first try, although it was from the left side of the intersection rather than the stairs. The distance, even in this sweltering heat, was not the problem.
A gang of Pynooses were gathered together in the middle of the intersection, their flames adding to the temperature of the air and their shoes periodically pounding down the broken rock at their feet. They hadn't noticed anything was different, just talking together. They were the problem.
All the same Frisk's heart trembled, and she wielded her pan before her like it was still a shield.
Although before she could move and start anything, Blue Sans' bony hand appeared at her shoulder, holding her back. "hey kid, how about we leave 'em to their talk?"
The pan lowered and then was put away; the bony hand also withdrew, with Blue Sans now standing next to her. Frisk sat down on a step to keep from the monsters' view, huffing as the heat went on around them, and he did the same.
She picked at a pebble next to her shoes, ducking her head down. Her stomach got ever queasier as the only noise around was the crackling of Pynoose flames and their almost unintelligible FIGHT Club discussion they were having. But Blue Sans spoke up again, resting the jaw of his skull on one hand. "so you've gotten this far, huh?"
Frisk looked up, but only momentarily. She pulled her knees up to her face and bit her lip.
"what made you quit? did the heat get to ya?"
Without speaking, the child shook her head. She expected him to probe further, for which she wasn't prepared, but when he didn't she felt just as queasy. He just uttered a "hmm."
"Blue... Sans?"
He sat back at attention. "what's up?"
You try to apologize to Blue Sans for your disgusting behavior.
Frisk breathed in a lungful of hot air. "About before, I..." She rubbed her nose and mumbled, "Before, I was... I was bluffing."
"i figured," he said, and when she risked looking over at him she saw the skeleton lazily wink. "no sweat, kiddo."
By now, her normal Sans would be tweaking her nose so hard it turned red. The fact that this one had hardly responded to her through all the time they'd been together made her... anxious, more than anything the other Sans had done. She lowered her head and murmured into her pants, "I bet you hate me."
"heh. well let me put it this way," Blue Sans said, and Frisk peeked in his direction. "you're not a very nice kid. at all." She narrowed her eyes, lashes brushing against the fabric of her clothing. "...but i notice that not many people here are. so the way i figure, it'd be too much energy to hate that many people. ...does that make sense?"
Flowey was the only kindhearted person she'd met down here, and even his kindness to Frisk was, she knew, motivated by fear. She nodded.
"besides," he added, relaxing against the steps behind his back, "i got respect for someone who doesn't kill anyone in a place like this."
Unrelated to the magma flowing beneath them, Frisk's face and ears had started to grow hot and she hid it again in her knees. "...Mmkay."
"huh," she heard, and she hid it deeper. "what? did i say somethin' weird?"
"I dunno," was all she said, and Blue Sans laughed again. Not outright mocking, but it all reminded her of her old Sans all the same. Except that, before that Sans left her behind, he didn't exactly say he respected her for not killing anybody.
Behind them the talk of the Pynooses was devolving into an argument; the way it went with the more hot-blooded Hotland residents, they would probably be battling each other soon. Frisk wiped her face on her sleeve and uncurled to crawl up a few more steps, if only to watch them at the moment they started throwing fireballs. She never understood how fire attacks could harm fiery monsters like them, yet she had seen several turn to dust in brawls like these.
Blue Sans looked deliberately away from the fight. "hey, frisk. as long as we're waiting here, i got a question."
She had been a millisecond from getting the X Lemonade out to watch them with. "What?"
"earlier i saw something on your face." All Blue Sans did was tap the left side of his skull and Frisk flinched immediately. By how his eyes shifted, it was clear he had well seen the brief movement. "... yeah, it kind of looked like a scar. i was just wondering where it came from. since, uh, you seem so good at healing yourself."
It was suddenly a little harder to speak, although the explanation presented itself automatically. "Uh." But Frisk shook her head, realizing how silly she was being, and just said, "I don't always have food around, doofus."
"i guess. was it a monster?"
"Actually-" Her queasiness was draining out of her, along with the tension in her muscles, as she sneered, "-it was Sans."
The look on his face upon hearing that made the tension return; Frisk took in a breath when Blue Sans said in a halting tone, "-what?"
A little less proudly, Frisk rubbed her cheek and temple. "Yeah. Um, it was an accident."
"-oh."
"... I don't remember when he did it."
Still smiling as always, Blue Sans' eyes crinkled and he stood up. "-uh, okay." The child looked down at the rock, frowning, and he turned to look back at the intersection. "whoops- looks like those guys are bookin' it, kid."
Frisk scrambled to her feet. It was true; the Pynooses, all of them as of yet accounted for, were running from each other towards the water cooler. "Oh! Then come on!"
There was no telling if other monsters would show up soon or not; Frisk didn't have any of them cowed the way she did the weaker ones in Waterfall and Snowdin. She walked quickly and silently into the intersection before turning right, seeing Alphys' scorched and cracked lab in front of her. The lab where she'd met Mettaton.
At that sight her bravado halted, the child shivering despite the heat. At that hesitation, Blue Sans walked in front with his expression set, gesturing for her to follow.
It was a first, him leading her. Frisk breathed in and out deeply.
In reality, she remembered it well. She poked at the numb flesh just beside her eye, wondering how bad it would have been if his claw had hit her face half an inch to the right. Sans had told her later that it would have looked ten times as badass, potential blindness in that eye aside. But that wasn't anything like what he was saying when it happened.
He'd been breathing funny, as he sometimes did. It was one of the first times she ever heard it, that gasping and choking as if he wasn't getting enough air, as if he had just been drowning.
Wheezing.
What's wrong with him?, she wondered.
Usually Sans could sense her presence before she could utilize her element of surprise, but this time Frisk was right next to him and had no acknowledgement. Just the funny breathing, his back and body stiff. Annoyed, she poked him in the side, "Sans?"
And immediately regretted it.
"FUCK-"
The business end of one of his claws smacked her face and dug into her soft skin, ripping it open in a straight line. Frisk shrieked and fell back on her bottom, hands going to the burning side of her face that spilled red down her cheek. The whole blizzarding forest became blurry and tears streamed from her eyes instantly, as if someone had put them there.
Sans stood to face her now, one hand covered in droplets of red and sweating like crazy while his eye wavered. "-fuck," he hacked. "why did you –fuck- why did you sneak up on-" Frisk writhed and wailed, and his single pupil shrank. Every wheeze of his was punctuated by a curse, "-oh fuck- are you okay –fuck- i'm sorry –fuck, fuck- fuck, you're bleeding-"
She wanted to scream his words back at him, or say anything really. But she was crying too hard. It hurt, it hurt so much.
"stop crying, -ah fuck-" He approached her and she wriggled back. "stop, i'm-"
"Don't!"
"i'm trying to heal-"
His hand touched the side of her head, glowing green, and she screamed. "It hurts!"
"i'm not GOOD at it, -mother of fuck-"
As she tried to pull away, her screams devolving into loud whining, he yanked her back by the sleeve of her sweater. She cried harder to see his hand glow green again, "Don't touch me!"
Sans took a big gulp of air, yanking again as she struggled, "you little shit, it's gonna scar-"
"Let it scar!" She had said.
Weeks of injuries, and yet that little white line was the only scar she'd gotten so far. And it was an accident.
Blue Sans was knocking on the door, and Frisk giggled to herself.
Author's Note: I wanted to answer some questions one of the reviewers posted, but before I do I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all for leaving your reviews in the first place. It means a lot to me that you are all enjoying the fic, and I'm always just so excited the post the next chapter! (It's hard to wait sometimes ;w;) But yeah, the questions 0O0/
1. Fortunately, this Sans has never experienced a Genocide Run and additionally has no idea Chara is a thing.
2. I think it might've already been answered in this chapter, but for the most part Frisk was looking for food when trashing Undyne's house, since she didn't think she would get the chance to buy any this time around. She did get majorly distracted by that piano, though.
Next Chapter: Literal Scum
