2018, Outside . . .
Sans watched the human in the backseat faint. He had no idea what crap was going on. He was just on his routine job when he met a human. Before he even got a chance to look at it, it grabbed his hand and he was pulled into some weird place.
Really weird. It had only been fifteen years at most since they were thrown down the mountain. The humans were still using spears and swords, and now somehow they had indoor working lights and rugs and moderate living conditions. Just like the cars and magazines and other things found in the dump. More stuff that didn't make sense.
He didn't have time to be split minded and wonder though. Humans were killers, but it did know about Gaster's family line name. Meanwhile, that same human was fleeing fast. If more humans did come, he'd be dead. He might still be dead. It could be one grand hoax, but his chances were better with the one driving.
He looked to the kid that fainted in her seat again. She looked about as clueless as he was about what happened. Sans looked out of the clear windows toward the sky. Whatever was happening, some kind of magic pulled him back to the surface. That's about all he knew.
He didn't have time to judge the human. It was too concerned for its offspring, but it didn't push Sans into a good situation. As they continued in the car, he figured his chance of survival was decent. Not assured, but decent.
Sans reached in his pockets and pulled out an old car magazine. It looked like the cars had changed a lot since the magazines last dropped in the dump. How? Not to mention, they didn't look like they were anywhere near a mountain. The ground felt flat. A little hilly here and there, but nothing like the winding the vehicle should be doing, and the mountain was nowhere in sight.
Sans watched as the human Ben Nation stopped the car and got out. Another human came beside him from another car. It looked like he was joining a secondary crowd. He listened to them talk, to figure out what the hell was going on.
"You got it?"
"Him, and yes."
"I can't believe it. It took so long to get it done. I can't believe it happened in our lifetime! What an honor. Is it as sentient as we believe?"
"Quite. He seemed to understand my language, but it would have changed so much. Yes, I believe his skill level is quite high, but his notice-ability is low."
"It's not low."
"Yes, but he's lazy enough monsters might figure he's just inside his house, or hiding from his job."
That's it. "That'd fit me. I've done that before," Sans said from the back seat. "You know one thing I didn't do? Talk about someone in front of them like they weren't even there." Really. Add rude to the things he didn't like about humans too.
"I know," Ben said as he looked toward Sans. "I didn't know when you would say anything."
"He speaks perfectly. It is as they once said, 'Monsters speak all'. They can feel the words."
They sure could make a deal of such a simple thing. It was just something all monsters could do, no matter whether they ribbited or spoke dialogue. They understood each other. Telepathy probably. Who knew and who cared? Apparently these humans. Sans played with the lever on the door and kicked it open, stepping out. "Okay, so a great monster came out of his carriage. Now quit horsing around. What's going on?"
"You're freed. Um, temporarily," a female human in the group said, almost bowing to him. "We are going to set out to do what our great ancestors have been trying to accomplish. Save the last of the monsters."
Great ancestors? Sans tapped the ground with his feet. "Don't think we're anywhere near Mount Ebbott, so what kind of magic you dabbling in to do this?"
"It's not our magic," Ben said to him. "It is magic that was predicted would come about. It is magic that we are using, but it's not ours. We don't have that kind of power."
"Ah. Ben, is it?" Sans questioned. "Ben a long time since I had to talk to humans. Don't really care to, but here goes. You shouldn't play with magic that isn't yours. It will always give you a-"
"Bad time," everyone there said.
What? "Since when did humans get powerful telepathy?" Sans complained.
"Oh, sorry," the female human spoke to him again. "We all know the game by heart."
"What game?" Sans asked. He watched as Ben pulled out his phone and gestured toward a red heart on the screen with the word Undertale. "Undertale? What the hell is that?"
"It's you. It's the tale, the journey of you," Ben said. "Your last journey, along with all its choices and outcomes sealed up into a game." He put his phone back away. "You were sealed up nearly a thousand years ago, but then humans came down. One human was . . . okay. She became your princess. Then, others came down and you stole their souls. Your king did."
"History lessons are boring," Sans said. "I know this stuff like you humans know how to piss monsters off. Very well," he warned them. "So, can the history. I know the humans that fell."
"What you didn't know is that the barrier also affected your time. Time only moves when a human entered it, and only a small duration after they were gone."
Sans wanted to say they were wrong, but it made sense. One day Gaster was there, and then he was gone. Certain monsters were there, and then gone. Everyone's bodies were getting wrecked. The horseback riders suddenly got automobiles and car magazines that were being dumped into the Underground. It was like mankind went psycho and developed their tech overnight. Plus, it was always strange how only a few months passed before the little humans came and perished between each other.
"However, when a sixth child fell, the threat was too great," Ben continued. "The humans that could perform magic pulled their last power together. They placed your spirits and life in a different dimension, but only accessible in a small little square area." Ben pinched his fingers tightly. "Not much bigger than a pin, an area that held the last of the monsters."
Seriously? "Kay. So. What am I doing here?"
"Time. It took time to get all the elements to come together," Ben said. "Not every human wanted you dead. Especially those that held some relation to monsters too. Although they are all gone, their task and duty were passed down, generation to generation. It was only a matter of time before the small little square area was found, along with a way to access it."
"So you took the little bitty square, and turned it into a video game?" Sans asked. "Really?"
"Yes. A video game is-"
"I know what a video game is," Sans said, cutting the female human off.
"It took decades before the technology to even access you was developed," the female human continued. "When it came, it wasn't strong enough to break through, but now it is. It is time to free everyone."
"Hm. I don't know, female human, could be kind of tough," Sans said. "The Underground isn't just gonna roll over and forget everything." Especially when they found out just how much time had passed that they were forced to stay in the mountain. "Want us to play nice, better let us get ourselves out."
"My name is not female human." The female human seemed offended as she pointed to the badge she was wearing. "It's Marissa."
"Hey, the dame, babe, wench, woman, lady, chick, broad took some offense?" Sans noted, using everything he now knew since 'female human' wasn't working. "Female humans used ta not have much rights. Good ta see some progress up here."
"A lot has changed," Ben told him. "A great many centuries have passed."
"Humans are creating access into a dimension we've been trapped in through game play," Sans said. "Sounds like you humans got a bit big for your britches, not just your brains."
"You aren't a very nice monster," a human man said that hadn't spoken up yet.
"Thanks for noticing brave little squirt," Sans said to him. "Could be because my whole kingdom is less than 400 strong and trapped inside a mountain. Another dimension. An interactive game. Any of those words, they don't make this guy you're talking to real friendly."
"It's understandable," Ben said to Sans. "We don't expect anything in return. This is what we have been working towards. What our father's worked towards, and what our father's father worked towards. If we can free you and correct the wrongs that have happened, that's all we care about."
So, what? Saving the monsters was like a religious thing now with these humans? A ritual that needed to be performed? An honorable task they'd give their lives for? "I'm important. Spiffy."
"It's okay," Ben said. He held a small device toward Sans, making him move back some. The hell was that thing? "Don't worry. This just restored your memories of 'Frisk'. You see, you weren't just trapped into a different dimension. Mankind gave you a chance. It saved you. Over and over."
Sans found himself closing his eye lids, but not to sleep. Memories started to awaken within him.
"The game is only mimicked around the world," Ben said to him. "But it is alive, on my computer. The computer I have always had my Frisks play on. You did it. You saw it. Even though you were a game to them, you remember them now." He smiled toward Sans as the skeleton felt like falling over. "Frisk is what humans are now."
Sans held his balance as memories rushed to him.
"They were playing a game," Ben said. "The one thing you wished you could understand. You even mentioned that another time, you could have been friends when they destroyed your world. That is why. They didn't understand. The girl inside the car, and her brother. They were just playing a game, and I told them what to do."
Sans grabbed at his aching skull. He remembered that. "Little kid. Girl/boy." That's what he saw. Same thing. Same walk. Same dialogue. He'd been living the same day for years? The only difference was when the kid came. Things changed. Good. Bad. But, then it just went back to the same day again.
"You couldn't see them, only the figure of them," Ben said. "They solved your puzzles. Walked through your puzzles. Was nice about your brother's pasta. Didn't care about your brother. Good to the Underground. Destroyer of everything. Before you meet them again, I wanted you to remember them. The human you met, no matter what form it took to you, it was either my daughter or my son."
He remembered that little kid. There was never a smile. Never any eyes. It played countless times with him. He even remembered sensing something different about it. It somehow knew things that were coming ahead of time. Like when to shake his hand, or how to easily solve a puzzle. "Salvation . . . and damnation . . . was from your kids?" Sans asked.
He remembered. They reached the surface. Always felt funny when they reached it. But then, gone. Like nothing happened. "But it never came. We were never freed. In fact." It killed everyone too. Viciously. Every single one. Including him. Multiple times.
"No. We couldn't free you from the tiny dimension. We could break into it, but not free it. When the huge 3d version came out as a prize for contests, it held the kind of power we needed to pull things out of it. There was a chance. Your dimension was snuck into the machine. After Frisk found you, she ripped off her goggles while she held your hand," Ben reminded him. "She will do that with all the powerful monsters."
"Why?" Sans asked. "Why me first?"
"You are the easiest character to associate with. When a character comes out, they need to have enough trust to get out right away before more humans come."
" . . . Kid tried to buy my fried snow."
"They had been trained in the best tactics before they even saw the title screen to Undertale. They did not access it until the whole world already knew the basic game," Ben said. "When I wasn't practicing with them, their mother no doubt had them out there, training to be what she wanted. Acting and playing, it makes Frisk. Both of them."
Sans shoved his bony hands in his pockets, regarding the humans. He didn't know any of them, but Frisk. He remembered it now. The kid that couldn't smile, see, or talk. Couldn't react. Couldn't read bad. Couldn't read good. Could only read how much LOVE it had.
Now he understood why. Why he couldn't read it right. Why he couldn't trust or not trust it. Felt uneasy around it. Because it wasn't a kid, it was just an avatar, a sprite in his world being controlled.
Except, that as proud as 'daddy' sounded of them, Sans did pick up something. While Ben was giving Sans some good reasons to what they did, he was also bragging and congratulating himself and his group. He could have said what he needed to say much easier and faster.
Humans. "So. Your son and daughter. You know, Frisk?" Sans asked, knowing he was about to stir Ben up. "They're the little brats that destroyed my world, but they don't know about anything, do they?"
"They were raised to be the perfect players to rescue you," Marissa said for Ben. "To know of their part in the grand plan before they were mature wasn't a good idea. They could choke when we needed them most."
Sans scratched his coat jacket, trying to get the ketchup out. "Killed me and my world. Saved me and my world. Thinking it was all a game. Eh. Considering it sounds like they've been a pawn in the game all their lives too, guess I can't completely blame them." Ben gave him an odd look. "I call it as I see it, Pops." As he sensed it too.
Ben's bravado diminished. "Frisk will understand."
"Uh huh. I remember that little human had a lot of determination. Determination to do bad. To slay everything in sight. Determination to do good, to fight Asriel himself," Sans said. "A lot. They could do a lot. Guess you're gonna need it if you're going to try and free everyone. So, you pick their mom too? Lot of determination to pass on down?"
"We are trying to help," Ben said toward Sans. His looks were becoming unkinder. "Why dwell on something so minor? Frisk is my son and daughter, and you don't have to worry about them."
"Great job so far, Pal," Sans said as he winked at him, knowing he was making him madder. It was worth it. Besides, the other humans there wanted him alive, so nothing could happen if he poked the bear a little. "You conceived your kids solely to play a game character. Spot on, Father of the Year as far as I'm concerned. Hope their mom was at least hot."
"She was," the little squirty human said almost miserably.
"Many things concern you," Ben finally spoke to Sans. "This doesn't."
Heh. Looks like the self-congratulations was over. "Ooh. Fine, Pops, what's next?"
"We wait for the next competition that has Undertale as the game being played," Ben said. "As soon as Frisk enters it, we will take over again. She will grab one of the strongest, and pull it out at the right time."
"It doesn't matter how small or accessible the game is at that time," Marissa said. "As long as he or she attains the goal of 'saving' the highest powered monsters, the Underground will reverse itself back to where it should be. When it does, we'll be ready at the edge of Mount Ebbott to take you somewhere new."
"Well, I hate to burst your bubble, Pops," Sans said to Ben again as he looked over at him. "But, uh, there's something you're missing. Getting all the powerful monsters Underground, getting far enough to reach them? To touch them all?"
"Yes?"
"Well. There's a saying for what you want," Sans said. "Wish in one hand, crap in another. See which one gets filled first."
The squirty man laughed but hid it behind a cough.
"It will take time. Months. Years. I don't know," Ben said. "Frisk will get it done."
"So, the most powerful monsters, huh?" Sans asked. "What if nothing gets Frisk to them? You're a real champ, Ben. Let your kids commit genocide, thinking it was just a game. My world, was just a game. You. You did that." Sans pointed to him. Him. He was the one who stepped over the line. The one in charge. The one who thought they could just play his world like it meant nothing. "If you knew then-"
"Protection," Marissa said to Sans. "To make sure you knew just how powerful human souls were. We didn't want anything unforeseen to happen, just in case monsters forgot the power of humans."
"Unforeseen?" Sans questioned. "Really? Let a couple clueless idiots commit genocide for a reminder?" Bull. That couldn't be it. "Don't you care about your own family, Ben?"
"You are one to talk," Marissa came back at Sans. "You still let Frisk pass Judgment Hall if it killed your brother, as long as it didn't kill everyone."
"Marissa, don't!" Ben scolded her. "Not here, not now."
"You think 'cause you turned my life into some frickin' game, you can pass judgment on me?" Sans could tell that his light guiders probably faded out from her expression. Good. "Monkey see, monkey do? Here's a clue, human. Monsters aren't monkeys. Don't try to wrap your tiny little human brain around us. It might blow."
"Okay, okay." Ben looked toward Marissa. "You and Gene go. Frisk and I will head home with him. I'll stay in touch if anything happens before the next competition."
Sans watched the others get in the other car and drive off. "Great. So what, I'm shacking up with you and the boy/girl demon angel sprite?"
"Frisk. Yes." Ben opened the car door. "You'll be safe in my home. I've already prepared it for your stay."
At Ben Nation's House . . .
When Frisk came to, she found herself in the back of the car. Next to the game character Sans. She stayed quiet, not making a peep. Maybe she was going crazy? Was she still dreaming? When they arrived home, she didn't get out of the car until her father retrieved her again.
"It's okay, Frisk. I'll explain soon," her father said as he gestured inside. "Hurry up. If anyone asks, Sans is just a friend with a skeleton part in a play. Okay?"
Frisk awkwardly stumbled to the front door. Part in a play her butt. A broadway professional hit play that could make Sans look real, not some kind of hokey high school or even college play. Hollywood style full-on mummy horror show.
Shoot, Sans wasn't anything like a regular skeleton. Seeing him, she was glad she never met Papyrus. His bones weren't like human bones, they were as thick as flesh. Not only that, but in the game he was supposed to be the sprite's size, but he wasn't. He was taller by several feet with the same heavy build though. He was like something out of somebody's nightmare, complete with an ancient ragged coat and a smell worse than roadkill.
That wasn't his fault. Just like Toriel, they did actually live in a sealed mountain. They physically had lived down inside a dark, decrepit old mountain. They weren't going to be smelling or looking that great.
Frisk almost tripped, but felt her father grab her before she fell. She righted herself back up as he unlocked the door. Frisk went in, trying to figure out a situation that should be impossible to understand.
"He's real, Hon'," her father said. "The entire Undertale game is real, and you pulled out Sans from it tonight."
"Yeah. Thanks for the brief vacay," Sans said to her. "Been a little while. Ain't it been. Frisk."
Oh. He knew her name? Okay. Of course he knew her name. She only beat and killed him a thousand times. "Hi."
"Hi. Pretty good statement for someone who fought me to death." Sans looked toward Frisk's father. "So, if you aren't killing me, you got anything round here to eat?"
"Yes. I have plenty of meat," Ben said. "For a monster's appetite, a week's worth is all I can fit in my fridge."
Sans headed toward the kitchen. The wetness and decay of the Underground seemed to follow in his dark, wet footsteps. How those slippers even survived was a wonder. Sans checked the fridge but seemed offended. "I eat cooked meat not raw meat. That's disgusting." He closed the fridge again. "Even monsters that managed to eat human still cooked the meat. Be a little more humane to your guest."
Frisk closed her eyes, wanting to faint again. Sans humor was far from jokey, it was satiric.
"It's easy to cook," her father said to Sans. "You had stoves?"
"Have stoves," Sans reminded him. He moved over the counters.
"It's electric. Buttons on the front."
Frisk watched Sans look at the button and the stove started to glow on and off. He grabbed a spatula nearby.
"There. Now, Frisk?" her father said. "Stay here and be good. I need to get on the phone with your mom. You and Frisk T. are staying the night tonight. In fact, your brother should be upstairs now." He looked toward Sans a second, then back at her. "Yes, he remembers when you committed genocide in the game. He remembers everything. He won't hurt you though because your soul is much more powerful. He knows it. I'll be back." As her father left the room, Frisk just . . . blinked.
Frisk twitched and her eyes darted toward the counter. Is dad serious? She stole a glance at Sans, then looked away again.
"You destroyed my world, Kid." Sans said to her. "Now? Your stuck in the same room with me while I make dinner. Life's funny, isn't it?"
I don't have any power out here! What do I do? Frisk looked toward the counter. There were knives, but what good would that do? Even if he wasn't just bone, she didn't want to hurt anyone. Especially him. He was a good character in the game, but she was expecting him to start throwing things at her soon carving her to bits.
He didn't though. "You crossed a line you weren't supposed to cross." He didn't approach.
I'm sorry. However it happened, however it came to be . . . it was Sans the Skeleton. She couldn't say 'your world was just a game.' She couldn't say 'my father told me to play that side to complete it'. It was a game. I thought it was just a game. Everyone thought it was just a game. Undertale was just a game!
"I'm a game character," Sans said to her. "My world was just a game, right? Come on, human. Say something."
Did he read her mind? Did he know that was what she was thinking right then? Frisk opened her mouth but couldn't speak.
"Ye. In that case, a burger'd be good," Sans said. "Infrared isn't really my thing though." He waved his hand over it and turned the red into blue.
Frisk moved toward the fridge. At least he didn't want to fight her.
"You got anything else to add to this?" Sans asked. "You know, some flavor to make up for everything you did to the Underground?"
Frisk moved toward the bottom cupboard and grabbed some sloppy joe mix. Easiest thing in the world and she just couldn't think of anything else right then. Hand it over. Just reach out your hand and hand it over to his . . . grey, sludgey hands. Too real, too real!
"Don't faint," she heard from behind her. "You're not gonna fight me. I'm not gonna fight you. So don't faint."
"But you're a . . . you're . . ." Frisk made funny sounds with her mouth, but couldn't finish.
"Monster?" Sans said.
"Not. Real."
"Ah. You're gonna have to talk to your own daddy on that one. Pops knows what's what. Knows more than me." Sans kept his hand held out for the package she had.
Frisk moved closer but sort of tossed the sloppy joe seasoning into his hands.
"Relax." Sans took the seasoning and put it in the meat. When it was cooked, he looked back to her. "Plate."
Plate. Plate. Too tall. Frisk pointed to the cupboards.
"Ah." Sans used his magic to open the cupboard and floated a plate toward himself. "Buns?"
She pointed to the top of the fridge.
He grabbed the buns the same way, scooped up the food and sat down at the table. "Sure, you decimated my world, killed my brother, killed just about everyone including me, but you also did other things. Which, you don't really get credit for either." He took a bite out of his sandwich.
Frisk watched as the teeth that never opened before, opened for the sandwich.
Bite. Sans could really bite.
"Alright, Frisk," her father said as he came in. "You're staying here tonight with your brother. Come with me so I can tell you what's-."
Gladly! Frisk reached out for her father's hand, but she felt a familiar freezing she felt before.
When Sans froze her in the game.
"Your dad knew my world was real, and he still had you play the game like it was nothing, Kid. Nice guy he is?" Sans said to her. "I don't know you, Human. I don't know him. I've got no idea about nothing, but before you go, you better know he doesn't have your best interests at heart."
Then, she felt herself able to move again.
Her father continued to hold his hand out to her, finally grabbing hers. "-going on. Let's go."
Didn't he . . . Sans stopped time. To say that?
