Kit - Yo! Enjoy!
Chapter Seventeen
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"Sans, for the last time, I am fine. Now quit your worrying!"
"I don't worry! It's just that logically this isn't the best environment for you to be in!" Although Frisk looked to be the one really suffering, pathetically pouting and sweating from all the intense heat- Huh, he wondered if there was a bisicle in her bag, still...
Toriel sighed, giving a roll of her eyes as she hid a pant. "I'm not the one you should be worrying about, here."
"It's not worry. It's logical concern." He was already digging through the child's bag, making a noise of triumph as he pulled out the frosty treat - magical food was a gift truly - before handing it up to child still on his shoulders. Also maybe breaking it and handing one of them to Toriel. "But not worry." Frisk gave a happy hum of delight, sticking the popsicle on her mouth, quieting her whining.
"No, it's definitely worry." Toriel chuckled, looking amused but taking the treat anyways. "You worry like a mother with a firstborn."
"That, good lady, is a slanderous accusation. How am I supposed to know how much tiny human bodies can handle? Only reason this heat isn't getting to me is because I grew up in this place." ...Oh. Hadn't quite meant to say that outloud.
Toriel either didn't notice, or did and chose not to comment. "Really? Most of this is just dramatics so she can get more attention out of you. The lava is fairly far down, so it's not as hot as you think."
"...I'm upset how well that worked because Pap used to the do the same thing..." Sans glanced up at Frisk, playfully narrowing his eyes. "You are a tiny child mastermind, aren't you?"
"...No, Josh did it all the time."
"You know, blaming it on the brother doesn't work when I've done the same to my brother and know that trick," Sans pointed out, blinking at the dark room in front of them. "...I don't even wanna know, do I..."
Frisk gave a huff, settling down. "He started it." There was a ringing from her phone, Sans the one to pick it up and listen to Alphys before he narrowed his eyes.
"Ya know, maybe turning the lights on isn't such a-" Aaand they were now on a cooking show. "Alphys, your robots suck. And your wiring is still twitchy."
"At least I still know how to wire. Well, uh, nothing can probably...go wrong with cooking, right? Heheh..." Sans sighed, already looking exhausted, and this was going to be a long day, wasn't it?
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"Honestly. What recipe uses human souls?! The best of that you'll get is sugar and spice and mixing those is terrible!" Toriel was stomping and huffing off to the next area, Sans snickering while Frisk hummed a little tune under her breath. And mentioned something about 'powerpuffs'.
"Well, at least it all ended out pretty alright. 'Sides, we got some cake out of it, at least." Although Mettaton probably hadn't expected them to eat it on air. He had even managed to wave to Papyrus while the camera was rolling.
Frisk looked to be a bit out of it, being carried in Toriel's arms with her eyes half-lidded. Yawning, she rubbed at them before snuggling closer. "Mommy, where are we going?" Hotland, she was finding, was very large and confusing...and very hard to navigate - although Sans always made sure she Saved as often as possible, just in case.
"To the castle, my child...as soon as we figure out these elevators." Sans was looking more at Frisk, frowning at how exhausted she looked.
"You know you can take a nap if you want to, kid. We'll be stuck here a while, and it's probably more entertaining than listening to all this boring talk."
"Naps are stupid and boring and I hate them." Frisk seemed to glare at nothing, clinging tighter to Toriel and giving a small shake of her head, trying to keep herself awake.
"Aw, what? Naps are totally great. It's like magical time jumps where you go to sleep at one point, and wake up in a completely different time. Plus it makes you feel better."
"But you miss all sorts of stuff and it's less time you get to be awake doing stuff and I hate naps." Toriel only sighed, looking as though she's had this argument too many times. Sans only nodded, looking as if he too was used to the argument - although he was a bit more amused by things.
"Yeah, but then when you are awake to do stuff, you have more energy for it. I mean, you can stay up, but you'll feel all 'blah' when you do stuff. But if you nap now when nothing good is going on and it's just boring stuff, you'll be all energetic and ready to go against anything that happens when you wake up."
"...I hate you and your stupid face."
"Excuse you. My stupid face is adorable," Sans mock huffed, poking at Frisk's stomach. He then seemed to put on a show of thinking deeply about something. "Alright, tiny mastermind, what's it gonna take to get you to go to sleep?" A glance to Toriel, then down at the ground where it looked like it was impossible for any sort of life to sustain itself. She looked back up at Sans, and held her arms out to him. Sans rolled his eyes but easily gave in and took the girl into his arms - plus it would be easier for both of them since Toriel was made of fur. "Want me to sing you to sleep, too, then?"
She looked up at him with a sleepy smile, already looking as though she'd be asleep at any second. "Can you?" ...Well, that had been a joke, but Sans was weak. Extremely so. Besides, he was pretty sure he could physically not be any more embarrassed at this point than he already had been during this 'trip'.
"Sure, kid." Hm...there was one song that he knew that was 'lullaby'-ish enough. Although he was very careful to not look at Toriel while he sang it because he would blush. Horribly. In a moment, Frisk was asleep, a hand just barely clinging to his shirt.
Toriel was walking closer to Sans, giving him a smile and half-hugging him as they walked. "You know, there's something I have come to find out, about you, Sans." She kissed his cheek bone, and gave it a small nuzzle. "You're incredibly unexpected, and I rather adore that."
And, yup, there was the bright blush. The very bright blush. "Aha, well, yeah, I am pretty great, I guess." A nervous cough, Sans trying to collect himself as they continued on their way, finally catching sight of the Core. And oh, look at that, he was nervously pressing into Toriel's side and looking just a bit terrified.
The woman only pulled him closer, running a hand across the shoulder as a way of comforting him. "You indeed are. And she thinks just as much."
"Hm? Oh, yeah, I already accepted the fact I am very much doomed when it comes to you two." Sans gave her a bit of a smile, looking a touch better. "Really. Even Papyrus saw the fact I was doomed. That's how you know I'm really doomed and why are there so many elevators." Alright, so the sight of the Core freaked him out sometimes. There was a reason he hadn't come back here, dammit.
"It is incredibly inconvenient. And the amount of stories is just flooring." A startled snort of laughter from Sans, who looked wildly amused.
"I guess the elevators aren't so bad, it keeps the place from getting too many stares."
"Why do sad ghosts ride elevators?" Toriel looked as if she was barely able to hold back the laughter from her own joke.
"I don't know, Tori, why?" Sans looked like he knew what was coming, and was trying to hold back a laugh himself.
"To lift their spirits!" At that, both were snorting and snickering with laughter, just barely remembering to keep it quiet so they didn't wake the sleeping child. And, really, going on like this... Things didn't seem too bad. They almost gave Sans a sense of...
DETERMINATION.
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"While some of you may not know, the Core is what powers a large amount of the Underground. That ice you saw coming in is used largely to cool down the Core so we don't experience a meltdown of any sort."
"It's also very, very dangerous and should be avoided at all costs," Sans put in, warily eying the Core in the distance - Alphys was on speaker to 'check in with them'. "In my personal opinion, it should be torn down and used for scrap."
"I mean, if you want the entire Underground to go without power, fine. Be my guest. As I was saying, you're going to need to get to the Core if you want to see Asgore. There might be a few puzzles and traps in the way, I'll try to...heh, disable them, heheh."
"Why do we even have puzzles this close to the Core," Sans grumbled, Frisk once again on his shoulders as they walked. "It's ridiculous. What if something terrible happens and no one can get there any time because there's too many puzzles in the way? What then?"
Frisk looked down at him before giving a solemn nod. "It's very puzzling." Because this was not right, and Sans wasn't making puns. There was a tiny, amused smile from Sans, but that was about it.
"I still don't get you, sometimes, Sans." Alphys was speaking over the phone again, sounding honestly confused. "You're the former Royal Scientist who built the Core but you hate it!"
"The Core is a real bore. It makes me wanna snore... Something about the Core." Frisk was trying, at least. She was five. She deserved some credit. It still got Sans to give a quiet little giggle, though.
"What can I say, I guess the Core is what caused the core of my problems." Aha...laughing at his pain. That would work, right?
"It makes me kinda coreious." The girl smiled widely at Sans, poking at his nose. That got another, brighter giggle, Sans scratching a little at her sides to try and get her to giggle herself. It easily succeeded, as Frisk wriggled to try and escape his utterly terrible torture. Toriel only gave a smile as she politely ended the call with Alphys, watching the two with amusement.
Up until Sans roughly jerked back into her, looking at...thin air. "D- No, no..." The skeleton looked like he had seen a ghost.
Toriel frowned, bending down towards Sans, and keeping him close. "Sans, what is it?" Sans only looked up at her before back to where he had been staring, slowly calming himself down.
"...Nothing, I guess, I just thought I saw- I thought..." Sans shook his head, giving a sigh. "Nothing, Tori. Guess I'm just finally losing it- I mean, I knew this place set me on edge, but not this bad..."
Though she looked like she wanted to argue further, Toriel watched him carefully before sighing and giving a nod. "Alright. If you're sure. We are here with you, though. Come on, let us go on."
Sans nodded, following after. Things went back to normal for a bit, Sans only speaking on the matter when Frisk had run ahead to try and solve the next few puzzles. "Remember what I told you about W.D. Gaster?"
"I do," Toriel said, giving a nod.
"He was the Royal Scientist before Alphys." Sans was walking along beside her, staring at the ground. "He was the one who actually built the Core."
"I assumed as much, when Alphys said you were the one to have built it."
"Yeah, well, can't really fault her for thinking that. He was my Dad, so it explains why everyone thought it was me...especially when I told you that he pretty much got wiped from everyone's memories."
"Even Papyrus'?" Sans gave a short nod, finally shooting a smile up to Toriel.
"Strange, huh? Dad's magic was always different in that he was able to sense Saves and Loads and all that. I got it after him. Pap didn't, so when the Core incident happened... I'm the only one who remembers who W. D. Gaster really was. Or...is..."
"Is seems the better to use. So then, you still sometimes see him." Sans gave a quiet chuckle, looking up at Toriel with a bit of the bitterness he always tried so hard to hide.
"You weren't Queen for no reason, I see... Sometimes. Here and there, I'll see glimpses of what...might be him... I never know if it's because of my powers, of if I'm just..."
"You said he was spread across time and space, yes? I'm not much of a scientist, but maybe that means he can appear in certain spaces, at certain times." Sans stared at her for a silent moment, finally moving to hug her with a wide grin.
"I definitely know one thing, he definitely would have liked you."
Toriel smiled, scooping Sans up in a hug, his feet nowhere near touching the ground. "I'm glad you think so." Sans seemed startled at the hug for a moment before easily relaxing into it, hugging back, and, yes. He supposed he didn't have to hide everything all the time...
"You know, for being a goat, you give pretty good bear hugs."
"I lived with Asgore for years, where did you think I learned it?" Sans snickered, glancing over to see that Frisk was already almost done with the puzzle.
"...It puzzles me how she's so good at all of this."
"She already used that one."
"Tori, Tori, Tori. Don't you know all punsters are truly thieves and liars at heart?"
"Of course. But you have to give her some credit. She truly steals the show." A startled snort of laughter, Sans looking much better than he had earlier.
"Yeah, but the way she does this one so easily leaves me a little steamed."
"Why I lava you as much as I do, it's truly a mystery." There was a bit of silence, Sans finally whining and pulling his hood over his head, trying to hide his bright blush. Toriel gave a loud laugh, carrying Sans as she followed after Frisk. There was a few moments of silence from Sans, the two almost caught up before he was speaking quietly.
"I 'lava' you too, by the way." A quiet pause, and Toriel was pulling him into a kiss before parting and nuzzling the top of his head.
"I know."
By the time they caught up to Frisk, Sans was near all blue, powers sparking a little bit and expression completely dopey with a smile. Frisk looked up at the two and nodded, giving a smile. "You fixed him!"
"Of course."
Sans' response was a giddy little giggle.
Kit - Sans is weak to affection, and yes, we used the Dadster headcanon. I dragged Kas down with me.
