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Sans and Chara landed out of the teleport before the large oaken door labeled Grillby's, and he clutched his chest wheezing the moment he let go of their hand. Chara looked back and forth between the pub and the coughing skeleton, uncertain.
"Just... just gimme a minute," Sans suddenly felt violently sick. He could feel a buzzing in his pocket from his new cellphone, but he brushed it away in favor of weakly holding open the door for the child. They nodded once to him and traipsed inside, and Sans let the warmth of the pub push the cold from his bones.
He could see the back of Void Sans's head not far away at one of the bar stools, and Sans quietly made his way toward him. Chara trailed a little behind him, but not so far away that they were out of his sight.
"... Hey," he clapped a hand onto his duplicate's shoulder.
"About time you showed up!" Void Sans beamed up at him, patting the seat beside him. "Ey, grab a seat and have a cold one; I was just talking to Grillby about you!"
"Funny," Sans said without moving an inch. He could see the redness in his doppelganger's face, and there was a small part of him that felt... regretful? "We were just talking about you."
"We?"
Void Sans blinked and looked around him to see Chara, looking away from him and staring off into the distance.
"Dude," Void Sans brushed his hand away. "Don't you know a bar isn't a good place to bring children?"
"Do you have any idea how long you've been here?" Sans asked quietly.
"Pffft, does it matter?" he shrugged. "'s like I was just tellin' Grillby," he jabbed a thumb at the bartender, who was busy scrubbing a glass mug. "There's no point to it; everything is just gonna wind up getting reset anyways, so, what's the point in worrying?"
"Papyrus worries about you."
Sans promptly had to fight the urge to cringe. He knew it had been a low blow, using Papyrus's name like that, but the effect was immediate nonetheless. The Sans before him looked away and shook his head, frowning.
"... Come on," he pulled up on Void Sans from the armpit. "Let's get you home."
"Hands off," Void Sans shrugged him off. "I can go just fine by myself."
"Friends don't let friends teleport drunk," Sans pointed out. Void only stared at him for a beat before shrugging once again.
"Come on, man. Let's go home."
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It was a long, cold walk back to the house.
Void's arm was draped lazily over Sans's shoulder as they shuffled along, stopping only a couple of times to allow his drunken counterpart ample time to retch into some poor couple's bushes. Chara watched the display in mild disgust, silently walking along with their arms crossed tightly over their chest. There was no moon out and the stars were hidden behind a blanket of thin fog, giving the night a somewhat foreboding feel as they traversed the dark patches between the lamplights.
It felt like forever getting everyone back to the house, as Sans did not answer when Chara asked why they didn't simply teleport. However, they finally reached their multistory home. Void Sans groaned quietly as Chara held the door open for them, mumbling that he would never ever drink again until next week. They carefully led him into the living room where he collapsed into the recliner, snoring away within moments. Sans blinked when he heard his cellphone buzzing once again. Reaching into his pocket he withdrew it and the dim glow lit up his skeletal face in the dark den, giving him a ghastly appearance. Chara visibly shuddered and looked away, merely drawing their arms further up into their sweater. To his surprise, the caller id belonged to Toriel, and he answered just as she was descending the stairs, phone pressed close to her ears.
"... Hi," he gave a weak wave to her as he answered the phone, slowly grinning. "You've reached the voicemail of an incredibly sexy skeleton, please leave a message after the beep."
Sans then made a long, quiet beeping noise, tucking the phone back into his pocket as Toriel snorted. She was holding one hand behind her back, which Sans silently noted.
"I was wondering where you all went to," she glanced over at the sleeping form of Void Sans, who was currently quietly snoring with one arm tucked behind his head. "I just got back a little bit ago."
"I could say the same. Sorry I didn't pick up by the way," Sans said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Kinda thought it was Paps again. We, uh, took a bit of a walk back. Tried to give lumpy here time to sober up."
"Wait, what?" Toriel blinked, looking back and forth between him and Chara. "You-you went out drinking?"
"Eh? Oh, no, nothing like that," Sans laughed. "I've been keeping an eye socket on the kids. "You, uh, hiding a present there, Tori?" he eyed the hand hidden behind her back.
Toriel slowly grinned.
"Well, I suppose you could call it that..." she said with a smirk. "I've had the good doctor Alphys assisting me with my own little project." Toriel gradually pulled out her hand, showing Sans and the attempting to appear uninterested Chara what she had been hiding.
It was a simple black eye patch.
"... That's it?" Sans blinked. "Uh, Tori? I'm pretty sure they sell those at convenience stores."
"Yes, but those are the ones that your brother has been using," she nodded once, turning it over to reveal that it had an odd light emerald sheen to the back of it which almost seemed to glow in the dim light. "This, my dear Sans, is the culmination of scientific advancement and healing magic. I doubt that it will be vastly different for Papyrus than the eye patch that he's used to, but it should ease the pain of restoring that nasty crack and potentially reinvigorate his sight."
"Tori," Sans said breathlessly, staring up at her. "T-that's what you've been so busy with?"
She nodded once more.
"This is... wow," he ran a hand over his head, feeling a little dizzy. "Wow. Tori. That's... incredible. Do you have any idea how lucky he is to have you?"
"Why, Sans, you're such the flatterer."
"Hey, somebody's gotta remind you how great you are."
"Blech," Chara rolled their eyes. "Can you two get a room already?"
"Done and done," Sans grinned. Chara only stared at him for a brief moment.
"... What."
"Well, you didn't think that he slept on the couch every night, did you my child?" Toriel pulled Sans into a tight hug by her side.
"... Oh," Chara suddenly looked as if they were going to be sick. "Oh god please no."
"Oh, yeah," Sans slowly smirked. "Good luck sleeping with that on your mind. And please disregard any peculiar sounds that you may hear throughout the night, it's probably just the house."
"Sans!" Toriel attempted to scold him, which was difficult through her stifled giggle.
"Oh my god!" Chara clapped a hand over their ears, mortified. "That's my mom you're talking about!"
"Try to get some rest, kiddo," Sans hid a laugh behind his hand, following Toriel up the stairs. "Got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
Chara did not sleep well that night.
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It was raining when Sans awoke.
He lay on his side, his back to Toriel as they lay beneath the warm downy blankets. Sans blinked away the strange dream he'd had; at the time it had seemed so terribly important that he remember something, but it was like trying to hold smoke. He listened to the quiet drumbeat of the rain on the bedroom window for a long while. Toriel's arm was still draped over him in an almost protective fashion, and he sincerely wished that he could simply lay there for a while longer. It was an internal struggle for the ages, fighting between simply going back to sleep or foolishly pulling himself from the warmth of bed. Eventually, however, Sans mustered the courage to roll gently out of bed so as not to wake Toriel from her slumber, sliding into a pair of slippers as he yawned and checked the time on his watch.
It was barely past five.
Sans groaned quietly and gave one last look to the sleeping monster in the bed before shaking his head with a small, almost sad smile before silently heading down the stairs. To his surprise, the flickering of the television screen reflected in the myriad of photographs in their glass frames, and he crept down to the living room. Chara was still sitting in the exact same spot that they had been in the night previously, legs pulled up beneath their sweater and arms tucked inside, giving them the odd appearance of a humanoid turtle. There was a small, almost plastic smile on their lips, and it seemed a little out of place for how exhausted they looked.
"... Morning, kid," Sans watched them jump slightly at the sound of his voice. "What'cha doin' up so early?"
"Oh. You know," they said without looking back at him, instead focusing on the weather forecast. "Couldn't sleep."
"... You never went to bed, did'ja."
"And?" Chara blinked, and he saw deep bags beneath their eyes. Sans quietly sighed and sat down beside them.
"Take it from a professional," Sans shook his head slowly. "Staying up for days on end is not good for you."
"Couldn't sleep anyway," they shrugged halfheartedly. "Nigh- I mean, my Sans kept snoring."
Sans glanced between the unsurprisingly still snoring Void Sans and the miserable looking child.
"Uh..." he started awkwardly. "Tori did tell you that the guest room is yours for now, right?"
"I don't like it in there," they replied instantly.
"And?"
"And," they finally stared up at him. "I don't like the guest room. Too cold. Too dark. It reminds me of being in the in-between place again."
"The... in-between place."
"Or the Nothing, or the void, or whatever you call it here," Chara rolled their eyes. "I just don't like it is all. Quit pushing the subject."
"Yeesh, alright, alright," Sans frowned and shook his head. "I mean, I get that it's not exactly the best, but it's not that bad."
"Besides," Chara said distractedly, watching the television. "I can't leave my Sans alone for too long."
"Is that right."
"Uh huh," they said without looking up. "Somebody's gotta keep an eye on him."
"Awfully responsible of you."
"I'm a well adjusted individual."
Sans snorted at that.
"... What?" Chara scowled. "What did I say?"
"Nothing, nothing," he laughed and shook his head. "Sit tight, kid. I'll make some coffee."
"Coffee is gross bean water for adults with no taste," they stuck out their tongue. "Do you have hot chocolate?"
"I mean, probably," Sans shrugged as he stood.
"Well, get on it then!" Chara clapped their hands together once. They froze however when they saw the cold look that Sans gave them. "I-I mean, um... p-please?"
"... Eh," Sans shrugged again, the look vanishing from his face. "Close enough.
It was still raining heavily by the time Sans had finished with the morning coffee, and he handed Chara a large, steaming mug of hot cocoa, complete with little marshmallows. They smiled quietly and gave him a rare thanks, savoring the scent before sipping contentedly at their drink. Sans watched the sweaty looking weatherman attempt to explain the sudden influx of rainstorms, almost nervously jabbing at multiple places on the weather map with little smiling storm clouds.
"... Sans?"
"Hm?" he hummed as he took a long, soft drought of his coffee.
"... When is the reset coming?"
Sans didn't answer at first.
"I've... got a few questions myself," he admitted after a moment. "Just out of curiosity, have you tried that reset thing of yours lately?"
"I can't," Chara looked down into their drink. "Ever since we jumped, I-I haven't been able to."
"I kinda figured as much. Just wondering."
"And I'm pretty sure that I know why..." they said without looking up. "It's your Frisk. This world's version of her, anyway."
Sans didn't answer at first.
"So I've been thinking," Chara continued when he remained silent. "If I really can't reset anymore, then something else must be interfering with my capability to do so. And it's not Asriel, I don't think, I've already asked him. It has to be your Frisk."
"Making some awfully dangerous assumptions there, kid," Sans said quietly.
"So when is it gonna be?" Chara finally glanced up at him. "When is the reset supposed to come?"
"Hopefully, never." Sans stuck one hand in his pocket, slight frown on his features.
"What, that's it?" Chara blinked. "Just... just hope that it won't happen?"
"Frisk said that she's not gonna reset," he said firmly. "So there's not going to be any more resets."
"But how do you know?" they pried, shifting in their seat. "How can you just trust her that she won't reset everything?"
Sans, once more, was found with no immediate answer.
He took a seat silently next to Chara, one hand over his mouth and the other gripping his coffee mug tightly. He took in a deliberately long breath through his teeth, taking his time to answer.
"I..." he started at last, almost as if he were contemplating simply waving them off. "Kid, you want the truth?"
"Absolutely," they answered without hesitation, finishing off their cocoa.
"Really?"
"Of course."
"The entire reason that you and lumpy over there are even here? It's an accident. We were trying to bring back Gaster."
"... I-I think I've heard that name before. Who is that?"
Sans frowned, staring down into his drink for a moment.
"... Gaster. Doctor W.D. Gaster. One of, if not the most brilliant monster to have ever lived. He was the one monster with extensive research into stabilizing timelines."
"Meaning..."
"Meaning that he could ensure that there would be no more resets. Not ever again."
"Ahh," Chara steepled their fingers together. "I knew it. So you don't trust her, either."
"That's not what I said," Sans frowned.
"But it's what you meant," Chara gave him that same little plastic smile. "You trust her not to reset the timeline about as much as we do. Which is to say, not at all."
"I trust the kid plenty!" Sans felt a heat growing in his neck, uncertain of how exactly they were managing to get under his skin so well.
"But..." Chara rolled their hand through the air.
"But," Sans admitted at last. "At least if Gaster were back, we could be absolutely sure."
"That's what I thought," they replied smugly, returning their gaze to the television screen.
Sans fumed silently, taking another slow drink of his coffee. It was difficult not to be rude with the child when they irritated him so much. What did they even know, anyway? The kid had to be roughly the same age as Frisk; hell, they even looked like Frisk, aside from the bright red eyes. To insinuate that he had no trust for his friends and family was insulting.
And yet, at the back of his mind, there still nagged that tiny sliver of doubt.
He felt a buzzing in his pocket and stifled another yawn, pausing in the middle of it when he saw what the message on his phone was. Alphys usually didn't call this early unless it was important, and his heart sank as he read the message.
Need you here now. Had a problem with the phase distorter. Get here as fast as you can.
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