A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading, and especially to those who reviewed. I truly appreciate every one of you. I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Huh? What's that? It's NOT Sunday?! Oh, I know. I'm going to start updating twice a week for now. I have a ton of the story written and it's just bugging the crap out of me not updating every day, so I'm gonna do my best to be okay with twice a week. So, expect a chapter every Sunday and Wednesday, and I'll do my best to keep that schedule.

CHAPTER FOUR

The next morning, she woke up almost certain the night before had been a dream. If it weren't for the fact that she was still in the same clothes, she might have been able to convince herself that it had been her imagination.

As she ate her breakfast, a sickening realization hit her. She had never thanked Sans for saving her life. She'd questioned him down about how he'd done it, and she'd muttered gratitude for not letting her fall flat on her face, but she'd never actually thanked him.

She finished her cereal and took her bowl to the sink. She tried to remember the way they'd left things the night before. She remembered awkward silence—a first in their friendship—and a strained goodbye. Back in her room, she took her phone off the charger and sat on her bed to text her friend.

I need to say something, but it's…I can't say it over text. When can we get together?

She refused to believe that a simple 'thanks for saving my life' was sufficient, especially in a text. It had to be face to face. She needed to apologize for…something. She wasn't sure what yet, but she felt the need in her gut.

I'm free now. Are you home?

She swallowed and nodded to herself. This was going to happen.

Yeah, I'm home.

She jumped and nearly screamed when she felt a weak recurrence of the lightning from the night before dart through her body. There was a knock at her door only two seconds after she'd hit send. Somehow, she knew it was Sans. She took a deep breath and went to let him in.

Frisk stepped back to let her skeleton friend in. He stepped in, and she couldn't help but look him over. He was wearing his usual blue hoodie, but instead of black basketball shorts he was wearing a pair of loose-fitting jeans and sneakers on his feet.

Sans was relieved to hear from her so soon after scaring the literal wits out of her the night before. He'd had a lot of time to think about the mistakes he'd made. He should have eased her into it rather than being so blunt with her.

"Hey Sans," she said with a small smile.

"Hey." He smiled back just as hesitantly. He wanted to give her a hug, but he was afraid she'd flinch away. Instead, he walked to the couch and tried to play like this was any other visit. "What's on your mind?"

Frisk sat beside him. "I need to tell you something." She shook her head; that wasn't how she should have started. "I mean, I've been thinking." Why didn't any of these words sound right?

Sans looked at her in silence, hoping against hope that she wasn't about to tell him she was too terrified of him to remain his friend.

She took a deep breath and held it for a second before blowing the air out slowly. She couldn't stand the way he was looking at her, fear in his eye sockets. How could he be afraid?

"I'm really sorry," she blurted. "I'm sorry for how I acted last night. I'm sorry for going down that godsforsaken alleyway. I'm sorry I got mixed up in the middle of all of that." She felt herself start shaking as the memories came flooding back. "I was so stupid! I just thought I could help someone. I'm so sorry!"

Sans reached out and started to rub her back.

"Hey Kiddo, it's okay. You were trying to help. You had no way of knowing how outnumbered you were going to be."

She sniffled and nodded. "I know, but I'm still sorry."

They sat in silence for another minute before Frisk realized she still hadn't mentioned the real reason she'd asked him to come over. She took another deep breath for courage.

"Thank you, Sans." That wasn't so hard. It still didn't sound like enough. "For everything."

She looked back up at him and met the lights in his eye sockets. She could almost swear he knew what she was trying to say.

Sans smiled and patted her back. "It was my pleasure."

She raised an eyebrow. "Pleasure?"

He shrugged. "Hear me out." He pulled his arm back in case she'd get scared again. "First, I haven't been able to use magic like that in a long time. It felt good. Second, those fuckers had done a lot more than just rape a few women. You probably don't know this, but when my magic is activated it can be used to judge a person's soul, both human and monster. I tried to use that to find them, but there are too many humans around here. If I judge the wrong person and they feel it, I'm screwed.

"Being there with them, however, I had access to judge them thoroughly. Each and every one of them had killed at least once before. They were planning on killing you, too." He shuddered at the memory of their darkened souls. "And third, you're my best friend, Frisk. I would do anything I felt was necessary to keep you safe."

She nodded slowly, digesting what he'd just said. "Have you judged me?" she asked.

He smirked. "No. I don't need to. I can feel your innocence a mile away."

Her face scrunched up in a scowl. "I'm not innocent."

Sans snorted. "Bet me."

She turned to look at him. "What do you mean by innocence?" she asked, not entirely sure now what he meant. Could he tell she'd never—

"I mean you'd spend an extra two minutes fixing a shelf you'd already straightened five times just because a customer came in and messed it up again. You can't help but stop and pet every single dog you come across—regardless of if they're monsters or pets. You stand up for monster rights as if they're your own rights. You eat and compliment my brother's cooking for hell's sake. You're as innocent as they come."

She blushed. "But I've done bad things." She wasn't sure why she wanted to argue about this. It wasn't like she was trying to prove she was a bad-ass. She knew she wasn't hardcore and she'd never be.

Suddenly his left eye burst into blue flame. "Okay," he said with a slight grin, "let's see what you've done."

She felt the warmth of his magic slip into her chest. At first, it was like she couldn't breathe. It only took a moment for her to adjust, like walking into a windstorm.

Images flitted through Sans' mind, like watching a screen. Some images were faded, others were newer.

"You stole a bag of gummy worms from the store when you were six years old. You cheated on your math homework in fifth grade. You—" he gasped theatrically "—Frisk! You naughty girl! You lied to your mother about losing your lunch money in high school when in reality you'd spent it on chocolate bars for your friends." He gave her a look of mock disapproval. "White lies, a few petty grudges…nothing serious."

His magic slowly dissipated, leaving her chest feel a little cold. She put her hand over her heart, still breathing a little heavily.

"You got scared when I saved your life. That's nothin' to feel guilty about, Kiddo."

She looked over at him quizzically. "Is that something bad? That I got scared?" It probably was, she thought. Of course it was, otherwise he wouldn't be able to see it. At least, that's how she thought it worked.

Sans scooted closer to her on the couch and put his arm around her shoulders. "No, it's not. See, this judgement thing works in two ways. First, it finds things you feel guilty about. Those are the kinds of things that I would look at to see what's truly bad, a misunderstanding, or a mistake. Second, it finds things like murder, rape, arson…things that hurt another person and have no guilt attached. Those are the objectively bad things."

Frisk nodded slowly. "I do feel bad about being scared, though." She looked down. "You wouldn't hurt me."

His soul warmed at her words. She was still his friend. "Frisk, have you ever seen a monster use magic before?" he asked gruffly, already knowing her answer.

She shook her head and looked back up at him. "No, but I've read about it. My mom used to tell me stories about the ancient warrior monsters who could summon weapons…like you do."

He looked at her, meeting her eyes with soft lights in his sockets. "Very few humans alive today have actually seen a monster use magic the way I did last night. Those that have are old, like before the last war old. I would be really concerned if you didn't get scared after seeing that."

She took a moment to study his face. "So, it doesn't…I didn't hurt your feelings?"

He scoffed. "No, of course not. I'm glad you've got something like common sense in there. Promise me you won't go running after trouble again." He pulled her closer and hugged her gently. He felt like he could breathe easier now knowing that their friendship was intact.

She blushed and hugged him back. "I promise."

He pressed his teeth to her hair in something that resembled a kiss. "Good."

She pulled back and turned further to face him. "Won't someone find out what happened? I mean, someone's going to run across those guys' bodies."

Sans nodded. "Yep, they will. But I got friends in high places who owe me favors and it's being taken care of as we speak."

She furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?"

He laughed a little. "I mean I sort of helped out a lot of people in my early days; they're cleaning up the mess right now and creating a fascinating tale about how the men were killed in a police shoot-out after their hideout was discovered."

Frisk considered that for a moment. "Aren't you worried I'm going to say something?" Even though she never would, she wondered if he was nervous about it.

He shook his head. "Nah. I did think about that for a minute, but I know you better than that."

Her heart warmed at the thought of him trusting her so much. "I'm glad to hear you won't get in trouble." She leaned into him again and let him pull her ever closer. "And I'm glad we're still friends." She hugged him tightly and snuggled her face into his clavicle.

"Me too, Frisk." He rubbed her back gently for a moment.

The silence felt nice for both of them. They spent the day together, talking and joking with each other.

All too soon, she realized how late it had gotten. Time really did fly when you were saving your friendship with your best skeleton bud.

"Shit, I gotta get ready for work." She struggled to get up.

Sans steadied her and stood up beside her. "Do you still want me to walk you home?" he asked.

She looked at him and considered his question. Even though she knew she was safe, she felt a twinge of fear run through her gut when she thought of being out alone at night.

"Please," she said softly.

He nodded. "I'll be there."

They hugged each other one more time before he teleported home.

~LM~

The following weeks went by far too quickly for Frisk. They seemed to be a blur of getting to know Sans even more than she had before. She spent more time with him and his friends and was surprised to learn that most of his friends were capable of wielding magic as well.

At first, it was terrifying. The use of magic around her brought back painful memories. Sans and Papyrus helped her through it. She didn't want to be afraid of their magic just because it reminded her of bad times, so they showed her good times with it. Both Sans and Papyrus showed her that magic could be used for things other than weapons. They showed her tricks, they played charades with magic, and they moved things around for an epic scavenger hunt.

Undyne figured that since Frisk already knew what magic was capable of, she didn't need to be so secretive with her spears. Papyrus proved to be a force to be reckoned with himself as he summoned several bones to throw at Undyne after she insulted his spaghetti one night.

Her comment and the bones to follow sparked a near war between Undyne and Papyrus. Alphys had taken Undyne's side. Frisk was almost surprised that the lizard monster couldn't summon weapons, but she was able to put a force field around Undyne to protect her from Papyrus' attacks. Sans had taken Papyrus' side, which resulted in two-tone bones, white and blue, being thrown at the couple.

It wasn't until one of the spears nearly hit Frisk that any of the monsters realized the kind of danger they'd put her in. She screamed and ducked as the blue spear slammed into the wall five inches from her head. Sans' eye suddenly burst into a flame brighter than she'd seen before and the entire group was suspended in blue light.

"Everyone stop!" he yelled. "Fucking hell—Frisk are you okay?"

He dropped everyone and quickly waved the spear away from her. He pulled her into a hug and apologized five times in a row before letting her go enough to hear her answer.

Frisk nodded, still shaken. "I'm okay."

Papyrus was the second to apologize, followed closely by Alphys. Undyne seemed reluctant until Sans told her how fragile Frisk really was. It would only take one spear to the face to kill her.

Frisk wasn't sure what to think of that. How many spears to the face would it take to kill someone like Undyne? Was that how she'd gotten the eye patch? The thought was almost scary.

"Um, Sans?" Papyrus said after things had settled down.

"Yeah, bro?"

"You owe a dollar to the swear jar."

Frisk snorted. "The what?"

Sans grumbled. "Paps doesn't like it when I swear. When I do it around him, I have to pay him money."

Undyne laughed as well. "I hope it goes toward your kitchen when he cooks!" she yelled.

"UNDYNE!" Papyrus shrieked.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Reviews are lovely.

Come chat with me on Twitter! I'm at SheeWolf85.