It's been a week. A whole week and she wasn't coming out of that guest room. Not even when Undyne dropped off some of her clothes. She had to leave them at the door and eventually they vanished. At night he could hear mumbling from inside when he passes.

He was walking up now with a plate of fresh pie and hot tea. Krystal loves these things and hopefully it would make her feel better. Toriel and Asgore were extremely worried. They saw the young woman as their own kid in the same extent they did frisk. Not as a replacement for Chara. They simply adored her.

Sans knocks on the door and hears shuffling. "hey, red? got you some food. feel like eating out here?" No response, only a faint whimper. Gods she was damaged. That bastard surely must have cracked her soul. Knowing that was a possible reason for your behavior made him angry.

"...Sans?" She spoke!

"yeah?"

More shoveling and a thump against the door. She must have sat down. He did the same, imagining her back was against the same spot his was. "...You saved me."

"what did you expect me to do? Watch?"

"No… Your not like that."

"did my magic scare you? i'm not usually violent with it." He asks nervously. Please let that not be the reason she won't come out.

"No. I was surprised though…. It felt a lot stronger than before, at the fair."

The door opens slightly and her arms comes out so he hands her the plate of food. She ate quietly on the other side. He didn't dare to interrupt her quiet time.

Krystal sniffled when she heard the knock at the door. Sans. Without fail he arrived again and again. Chara too has tried to cheer her up. The ghostly child was a bit rough with how they did it though. Her pills were still in that house but her inner thoughts weren't too bad. She just felt guilty. He had seen another man over her while she was in her not so modest sleep clothes. She felt dirty. She remembers the blade and his sweaty hands. The hot breath on her skin.

It was disgusting. It made her feel like filth. She kept trying to rub the feelings off in the shower to no avail. Sans shouldn't have to see her like this. He was so angry. His magic had buzzed and filled the whole room with electric charge. He was so powerful. She knew he was strong but this was different.

She felt his fury. She felt his rage. The magic was so intense that it could make a tree tremble. Despite the terrifying display, she felt safe. She felt protected. Sans would never hurt her.

Krissa takes a bite from the pie and smiles at the swirling warmth in her chest. "I don't know what lead to this." She placed the plate down in favor of sipping her tea. Golden flower. She rubs her eyes when they started to sting. "He hated me like the rest of the town. Save for my friends of course. He was drunk around the first week I met all of you and harassed me but… He never showed real interest."

"i don't think he will bother you again. whenever you want, you can move back."

The thought of her tiny ome in the woods made her shiver. "It doesn't feel safe anymore."

"knock knock."

"Really Sans?" She hears a chuckle so she indulges him. "Who's there?"

"board."

"Board who?"

"hopefully you don't get board of me."

Krissa groans, shaking her head. "Knock knock."

"who's there?" Came the very happy response.

"Um…. Interrupting bang."

"Interrupting ba-" Before he finished, she hit the door roughly. Sans busts out laughing. The sound she loves to hear. Night came along again and by the even sound of breathing, her skeleton companion had fallen asleep. Slowly, she opened the door to see that he moved to rest against the wall beside the door.

She has been keeping a fuzzy blanket around her the whole day. She crawls out of her room and over to him. Nightmares have plagued her dreams every time she tried. Being careful not to touch him directly because of phobia, she lays down and rests her head on his cloth covered lap.

Bones aren't normally thought to be a comfortable. However his were. The femurs were not hard. They had a slight give to them. Feeling comfortable enough, she closed her eyes to sleep. No nightmares came this time.

It wasn't long after she fell asleep did toriel find the two sleeping outside the guest room. She takes out a camera from her dimensional box and snaps a photo. That was a new image to put in her scrapbook. She looks up from the screen to see Sans looking at her with one open socket.

He looked at her with confusion. Both sockets open now, he glanced down to the woman on his lap. His face ignites in blue magic. Toriel chuckles before walking off. "Good night Sans."

"w-wait tor-" Her door shuts.

Krissa wakes up on the floor with a pillow under her head and the smell of breakfast. She cracked her eyes pen to see Sans sitting across from her, back against the balcony banister. He had a plate in his lap with bacon, eggs, and jelly covered toast.

An identical meal was a foot away from her face too. The bright light hurt her eyes so she pressed her face into the pillow. "Hngh."

"wake up sleeping beauty."

"Nuh."

"c'mon. first day out of your den and you wanna sleep it away?"

"Mhm."

She hears the carpet shift. "guess i'll take your food then."

"Noooo. Not meh bacon." She reached out in a lazy swiping motion. He chuckles and scoots her plate back towards her. Krissa sits up and takes a strip of crunchy meat to nibble on.

"Is everyone at work already?"

"for the most part."

"And you?"

"right now? you are my job."

She raises a brow at him. "Oh? And what kind of job is that."

"bodyguard." He gives her a wink while taking a big bite of toast. She blinked at how it was possible for him to speak through his teeth. He can obviously open his mouth just fine. She was about to look away when his blue tongue came out to lick jelly off his fangs.

A strangled sound escapes her when her heart fluttered in her chest. Why did she find that strangely attractive? Her face is burning now. Damn it Krissa! Why do this to yourself. Stop thinking! Because once you start thinking of how he can even do that you'll start wondering what else- STOP!

Sans looked up from his food. "you okay red?" He asks. His grin had grown crooked almost as if he was smirking. Oh…. OH! He knows exactly what he's doing. She narrows her eyes at him. The skeleton shrugs before looking off to the side. "hey uh… do you think you'll be up for the outside world tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I can't hide in here forever."

"good! uh. good. because you still owe me that date."

She giggles and finishes her own food. "Hey Sans? What does Papyrus do for work?"

"pap? well he works at a pet store in the city. originally he wanted to be a che dedicated to pasta. that's just his hobby now though." There was a sad look in his eye. "humans don't want monsters touching their food."

Okay. She needed to switch topics and fast. "So… Undyne works at the Embassy with Asgore?"

"not really much of an embassy, given that it's a run down brick office building in the older parts of the city. people break in there a lot so undyne gets to have her fun."

"And your job?"

"hotdog stand."

"..."

"what?"

"I don't know. I was expecting something else."

"i'm also a comedian." He offers.

Krystal laughs, shaking her head. This man was ridiculous. She was a bit concerned that he brings up the more negative things though. That was really no way to think. An idea came to her so she stands up and grabs her dishes. "Let's go to the ruins. We haven't been there in a while. I wonder if the buttercups expanded out." She mumbled the last part as an afterthought.

The monster shrugs and stands up. It was then she remembered that she had used his lap as a pillow and her face ignites in red. "you running a femur kid?"

"N-no… Just that...s-sorry for uh… last night. I just kinda acted without thinking and um…." She trails off into a whisper and looks down.

Sans crouches in front in front of her and pats her shoulder. "hey. don' worry about it. you had some rough nights before now." With that, he walks downstairs. "i'll be down here when you're ready."

She smiles and goes into the guest room to get dressed. He nose scrunches when she walked into the bathroom connected to her room. She was a mess. Her eyes were red on the edges from crying and light purple dark circles have appeared. Her skin was paler than before. Lack of sunlight and what not.

She noticed her eyes weren't a sad burgundy anymore. So that was good. The ruby is somehow permanent now. Very rarely does her eyes revert to the neutral reddish brown. That's… good to she supposed. It meant she was happier.

Her hair has grown to no longer just hover over her shoulders. Her hand moved to grab scissors but stopped. 'Grow out the past.' That's what Dayna said. Krissa brushed her tangles out and washed up before changing into a simple grey skirt, white tank top, and dark grey open sweater. She looks around for her shoes but couldn't locate them so she decides the go bare. Her eyes land on her pair of chokers and picks her yellow flower one over her new one.

Sans was sitting on one of the couches when she came down. "ready?" He asks while walking over and wrapping his arms around her.

"Mhm." She gently smiles, feeling her cheeks warm up again as she holds on tight. Closing her eyes, she feels the world drop from underneath her feet. It was no longer alarming now that she expects it. The familiar feel of velvet petals under her feet gave her the okay to look. The flowers here will be hibernating soon and there will only be dark grass.

Krystal walks through a stone archway and touched the vine ridden walls. She smiled at the feel of cold stone. Looking over her shoulder, she sees Sans getting comfortable against the wall of a crumbled house but watching her. She goes to sit beside him. "Hey Sans?"

"yeah?"

"Are you sure you wanna date me?"

His cheeks tinged blue with that adorable blush. He pulls up his furry hood to hide it. "'m very sure. why ya askin' that?" Ah. So he shortens his words when he's nervous? Cute.

She fidgets with her sleeves. "Well…. I know it's normal to not know everything about someone at the start… my past is just messy. Very messy. I guess I should warn you before… you know." Her hands rubs the ribbon of her choker.

"so's mine. i gotta a lot o' secrets."

"I want to show you something." She turns around to face him and he watched her intently. Nervously, her shaking hands unclasp her necklace. She looks off to the side as the dark jagged ring around her neck was exposed. The intake of breath made her flinch. Was he shocked? Disgusted? Then there was a low growl.

"who did that to you?"

"Myself. I just turned seven. I had a reason…. But I'm not really ready to confess what yet. It's hard to talk about." His sockets widen, momentarily becoming voids of only blackness.

Sans turns his body and reaches for the scar. The exposed tips of his phalanges ghost over her neck. Not touching but not too distant. She can see his hesitation in his stiff posture and briefly wonders what it's like to be afraid of touch. It will be something they both would have to work through when (if) they become a thing after the date.

She smiled faintly after he pulls away. "Y-you uh…. Not too weirded out right?"

"nope. it just looks really painful."

Krissa chuckles. It was mainly her fault that it looked as bad as it did. She was relieved that he wasn't freaked out. "What about you? I'm not asking you to give details but… I doubt your fear is an irrational one. There was a cause?"

"...y-yeah… my dad. he wasn't the nicest person to be raised by."

She hums and leans back against the stone wall, grabbing the end of his sleeve. "How's this for hand holding?" She asks, cheeks reddening some more. A giggle escapes her. "I'm very new to this."

"that makes two of us."

They spent a long time just watching the clouds pass. Time passing quickly yet the world feeling still. She didn't realize she fell back to sleep until she was gently shaken awake. She blinked up at the skeleton. He grinned and shook the phone in his hand. "it's lunch time. wanna go to grillby's?"

"Sure!"

Today was the day. She was going on a date with her crush. One problem. Her only nice clothes was that light blue cocktail dress. She had to make it look casual somehow. She grabs finds a light straw woven sun hat with blue ribbon around the base. The bow was on the side. She found her sandals under her bed. She pulls a white open sweater identical to the grey one on.

Now that she didn't look very dressed, she pondered the state of her hair. The regular straight should do. Krissa finds some pale pink lipgloss and smiles. This should do. She walks to the door and groans. Everyone was out there. This was the first time she ever dressed up for anyone.

You look great. Don't want to be a third wheel so I'm going to disconnect.

She smiled at Chara's words as she held the handle in her grasp for a long moment before finally pushing the door open. A sudden flash blinds her and she looks up to see toriel with a camera. A polaroid camera. She waves the square photo a bit so the image can show up. "You look absolutely adorable my child."

"Th-thanks mom…"

Her violet eyes twinkle just as she hugs bends down to hug the young woman. "You need to show Asgore immediately!" With that, she was herded down the stairs and into the dining room where said goat man was sipping his tea. He sees her and a big fatherly grin broke out on her face.

"You look beautiful Krissa!"

She flushes and looks down. Strong fuzzy arms wrap around her, the long lion tail also wrapping around her legs. He and Toriel really made her feel tiny. "Thanks Dad." Frisk then scammers into the room with their usual company. The brunette winks at her and shoots a finger gun. That kid… Krissa shakes her head with a laugh.

Flowey crosses his leaf arms and scowls at her. There was the faintest of blushes on his pale white cheeks. She couldn't help but grin in victory. "Where are the girls?"

"Undyne and Alphys left to go watch a movie together."

"Good. The last thing I need is for that fish wife to tease me about my outfit."

"i think she'd get a crack out of mine more than yours." The deep voice mumbled behind her. She turns around quickly to see Sans standing by the archway. He was dressed a lot differently than his usual attire. A clean white buttoned up collared shirt non-tucked over dark blue jeans, and loose black tie. He wore his regular hoodie instead of his heavy jacket and the black fingerless gloves. His slippers were replaced by sneakers.

He looked very sharp. Her face heats up in a blush once more and her eyes dart away after she realized that she had been staring. Krissa smiles shyly while fidgeting with her sweater sleeves."Y-you look nice. Good. Great even. W-well, n-n-not that you look b-bad other times. It's j-just…. I'll shut up now."

She hears her parents… parent figures…. laugh behind her. She walks over to Sans and he wraps her arms around her back before the world dropped around her.

Date Start!

Krissa was hit with the warm weather and dry air. Both very unlike Oregon during the fall. She uses the wide brim of her hat to block the bright sun. "close your eyes." She does and she his held by the shoulders and was turned around. He leads her forward.

"How far did you take me?"

"uh…"

"Sans?"

"arizona."

"What?!"

"open your eyes red."

She does so quickly and looks up at the building before her, a gasp leaving her lips. A big building with red and brown walls. In big yellow letters above the entrance was "Butterfly Wonderland" next to a large stain glass rainbow butterfly. Her ruby eyes brightened when she realized what this place was.

An atrium!

There will be plants, butterflies, and flowers! She was bouncing with excitement now. Sans leads the way into the building. Not very many people were around. A family with two kids, a woman and who might be her boyfriend, and a lone teen girl.

When the girl saw Sans, she took a picture with her phone. The two children looked over with curiosity. Her hands came up to grab his sleeve ,not liking the way some of the adults were looking at her date. The lady at the desk begins taking tickets. Sans hands over theirs before following a tour guide inside. She looks up at the glass roof. Trees and bushes were planted all around and baskets of cocoons were hanging from branches.

In the center was an artificial waterfall and a metal chair made to look like a butterfly brought an enchanted feel to the room. Butterflies fluttered past all around. Blue, red, green, yellow, and white. She walked as quickly as her careful steps would allow through the maze of foliage.

Sans watched from a few feet back, grinning to himself as he watched Krissa explore. He had a feeling she would like this place. He had to research places that involved gardens and stumbled across the web page for this by accident. It was perfect and immediately ordered the tickets.

He noticed the other humans looking at him. He did his best not to feel weirded out by the stares by focussing on Krissa. She looked like a kid who was just given a bucket of monster candy. She knelt by the waterfall and held her hand out to catch the water before bringing it to her face, sipping it. "Sugar water! Butterflies love to drink this because it's similar to a flower's nectar." She looks over at him and covers her mouth.

He rose a brow ridge at her until she pointed above his head. He caught a glimpse of a red wing. Going by the tickling feeling he had on his skull, he assumes that there were multiple butterflies on his head. She walked over, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip as she was trying and failing not to giggle at his predicament.

"Lower your head, I'll get them off you." He does just that and she starts waving off the colorful insects. His magic heats up his face immediately. Sans knew this was in no way her intention but with his current position he was at socket level with her chest. The somewhat low V neckline was showing some of her cleavage. Not a lot, just the top. "All done."

With how fast he straightened, one would think he was just shocked by electricity. He pulled his hood up and ducked his head. When he glanced over to her again, he saw her by a flower where a bright blue butterfly was perched. The tour guide calls for their group to move on to the. Krissa hurried off to where the voice came from.

They were lead out of the pavilion and into a darker room with lit tanks embedded into the walls. He feels her arm wrap around his and he looks to see that she has paled. He discovered why when something moved in the nearest tank. A large black creature had skittered out of its little log. He stepped close to the glass to get a better look. "I haven't seen this kind of bug before."

The guide smiles and gestures the information plates. "This is a Emperor Scorpion or Pandinus imperator, is a species of scorpion native to rainforests and savannas in West Africa. It is one of the largest scorpions in the world and lives for 6–8 years. Its body is black, but like other scorpions it glows pastel green or blue under ultraviolet light." That was actually pretty interesting.

"I hate the eight legged bugs." Krissa grumbled but remained silent as they went through the room, looking at the other large species of bug. They stop at the last display case that held a large dead butterfly with orange and reddish coloring. "What is that!"

"Ornithoptera alexandrae, the Queen Alexandra's birdwing, is the largest butterfly in the world, with females reaching wingspans slightly in excess of twenty five centimeters. It is restricted to the forests of the Oro Province in eastern Papua New Guinea."

Sans chuckles at her absolutely awed expression. He yawned into his hand just as the woman squealed. "BEES!"

"bee careful to not get too excited." He quips. Krissa scowls at him before going to the queen containment. After the bee room, there was a freshwater aquarium and she started to fan over the small rays that people were allowed to touch.

They spent around two hours in the building. He enjoyed his time with her even though they didn't talk much as she explored. Seeing her this happy was something more satisfying. His gaze focused on the glowing aura around her chest. It was much brighter than usual. His soul thrums happily in his ribcage.

"ya hungry red? they got a cafe here."

"Oh yessss."

"please don't mimic that junk metal."

She giggles and takes his sleeve to let him lead the way. The waiter reluctantly seated them in the far corner and sets down the menus. Wow. This place had some things he didn't recognize. "uh…. heheh. does any of this looks familiar?"

"Mhm. My dad was part of a country club and there was an identical menu. Tenderloin fillet of beef and the Chicken fried steak is good. I say the second. It comes with gravy on top and sits on some garlic potatoes."

"what was he like?" Sans noticed how she touched her neck. Where he now knew a scar was. "sorry. was that crossing a line?" He didn't know caused her to hurt herself but the last thing he wanted was to bring up bad memories.

She shook her head with a small smile. "It's fine. I guess it's okay to tell you a little bit about my family." The waiter comes back and takes their orders. "Only if you tell me something about yourself too. I'd hate to have anything one sided." Smart girl. After she gets her drink, she looked thoughtful. It was only after their food arrived did she speak again.

"So where shall I start…. "

Notes: I AM SO SORRY! I posted this on AO3 a few nights ago and forgot to post it here as well till a guest (you know who you are) commented today bout leaving you on a cliff hanger for a month. SO SO SO SORRY! Here you go!