Author's Note: Holy crap! I am not dead I swear! I just... ya know, stopped writing for months on end haha. Torturous right? You readers who literally have been favoriting this story, even in the past few days, boy are you lucky! Sorry to all those who subbed this story at the very beginning. I'm going to try to write more!

Chapter 16: Underground Part 1

"We should leave tonight. Lets return to the Underground together."

With Sans' hands still firmly squeezing mine, I watched as the light from his eyes vanished and he absorbed my words. My confidence began to falter, but I remained determine to leave.

After a few seconds Sans spoke: "…tonight?"

"Yes." I nodded.

"not, like, two nights?"

"No, TO-night Sans."

His jaw locked. I stared directly into the void of his eye sockets, not allowing his stiffness to cause me to back down. I knew the idea was crazy and I know from past experiences of late night runs of the town together over the years I had a 50/50 shot at him agreeing with me. Unlike the milkshake runs and random midnight walks, this was actually important. I needed him on my side for this one; I hate to admit that I can't do this alone.

Finally, his grip released my hands and his shoulders slumped downwards as the light of his pupils returned to normal.

"all right kid, if you're sure about this." Sans picked at the joints of his fingers, trying to hide his worry.

My smile grew large and I threw myself at him, embracing him as I thanked him over and over a few times.

"It can't take too long; after all, it should be empty. We can just zip on through until we get to the ruins!"

Sans hesitantly returned my embrace, his hands rested stiffly on my back. Regardless of our discovery of the connection between our two souls, I forgot that Sans still hardly knew who I was. Honestly, if roles had been reversed I wouldn't be so eager to trust his decisions either.

After I allowed the embrace to end, I stood up and brushed myself off. I looked down to see Sans looking me over and suddenly I felt an awkward heat rise in my cheeks. He looked at me with the same gaze I felt when going through puberty years ago, I could not help but feel self-conscious. Did Sans actually find me attractive without knowing me well? Or was it our mutual long term friendship really the structure behind his attraction to me?

When he realized I caught him staring too long in silence, he looked away abashed. I smirked, so maybe there was a chance I could court him…

Before I realized it, Sans grabbed my arm and we teleported just outside of the mouth of the cave from which the barrier previously encased.

"Sans! Warn me before you do that!" I pushed him away playfully. I expected some sort of reaction from him, but his face remained the same as when he looked away from me just moments ago.

He started walking into the cave, slowly but deliberately ahead of me. Something was up with him all of a sudden.

"Hey, Sans, what's going on?" I skipped a little to catch up. Once I met his pace I could see he was still avoiding looking at me. I grabbed his arm this time, only to make him stop his stride. Sans let out a gruff sigh.

"i'm sorry frisk. it's just… looking at you, still so young but so much older now. you seem so sure this is a good idea but the more i dwell on it… i dunno kiddo. you protected yourself just fine from chara but what if you can't with asriel. this isn't a dream, your magick may or may not work here. and, and… what if i can't…"

My eyes widened as I could see Sans visibly shrink where he stood. I never considered my magick being necessary to fight Asriel as it was to fight Chara. Hell, I didn't plan on fighting Asriel to begin with. But what if Sans is right…

"Sans, I refuse to fight Asriel… and you should too." I spoke firmly.

The skeleton looked up, surprised by my words. "frisk he could have regained his strength or with all the loose magick absorbed in the mountain for just him alone down there, we don't know how that sort of power can affect a soulless creature. for all we know, he might be even more powerful than before."

I shook my head. "He wouldn't hurt me Sans. Regardless of being soulless, he's not heartless. Within Flowey is still the Prince and even though this mission is to help bring back your memories, this is something as equally important to achieve and should have been done timelines ago."

I looked at him with pleading eyes. He had to trust me on this. After a few seconds, Sans relaxed and smiled weakly. There was a soft fondness to his gaze I adored when he showed it to me.

"ok kiddo, let's get going." He whispered, grabbing my hand.

It didn't take long for us to reach the throne room of the castle, the judgment hall, nor the empty walls surrounding the capital. We didn't say much as we walked passed these familiar structures, focusing solely on the long journey ahead.

As we were approaching MTT Resort, my stomach let out a low growl. I grinned apologizingly towards Sans who raised a brow amusingly.

"hey do you know what a clock does when it's hungry?" Sans poked at my side.

"What?" I smiled, already knowing his answer.

"it goes back four seconds." You could literally hear the *ba dum pish* in the background.

"Saaaans, you've told me that one before!" I groan, trying to stifle my giggles. I instinctively pull on his upper arm, dragging him closer to me.

"ah geez, my b. my photogenic memory never developed." Sans laughed half-heartedly. I cringed at my realization that he would not have remembered any of the puns he's used on me before losing his memory.

As we walked into the lobby of the MTT Resort, an idea sparked in my head. Still holding onto Sans' arm I lead him hurriedly towards the restaurant inside the resort.

"Do you remember this place Sans?" I grin bashfully while letting go of him and stepping away in front of him.

The restaurant was dimmer than usual until Sans walked over to a light switch and inserted some of his magic into the wires inside the wall to bring electricity back into the room. After which, he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and looked around. The tables were still in their original positions but without the "reserved" table cloths, silverware, plates and other usual dinnerware. After taking a moment to observe the restaurant I looked back at Sans, searching his face for a change or a sign. Some spark of hope.

He started walking around, leaning over to look inside the hostess's desk, even picking up a dusty menu but he didn't bother reading it. His hand traced a path towards the stage near the front of the restaurant to which he stopped in his tracks.

"i used to perform here. usually weekends too, which were hard to book for most comedians in the underground." Sans spoke quietly, allowing the memory to wash over him.

I smiled gently, reminding myself that he had been performing standup before I even came to the Underground. I shouldn't expect anything more than—

"you performed here too…?" Sans eyebrows crossed and he raised a hand to his skull. "no, but you were on t.v. before, right?"

My heart skipped. "Yes Sans, that's right. When I clashed with Mettaton it was live on television, here at the resort too."

I moved closer towards Sans, trying to get him to look at me.

"Do you remember anything else—"

"you almost got yourself killed!" Sans suddenly exclaimed and looked me dead in the eyes.

"Wha—" I started, but Sans snatched me by the shoulders, his hands shaking.

"mettaton almost killed you! yet, you forgave him… and there were others who hurt you too weren't there…?!" Sans' words came out fast and breathy, he let me go and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index fingers.

"Sans… you do realize many monsters wanted me dead right, not just when Chara controlled me…" I spoke slowly. Sans refused to look at me, he was caught up in his own realization. "You remember I had to fight Papyrus right?"

At that Sans seethed through his teeth, "yes but my brother did not want to kill you."

I bit my tongue. I could see now that Sans' memories really were up until I was staying at his house when I was fourteen. Sans doesn't remember all the times he caught up with me at his different postings, let alone the dinner we shared here at the resort. I decided to push one more time however, seeing the opportunity to break through a little further.

"Sans. You told me, in this room we're in right now, that I would be dead where I stand. Do you remember that?"

Sans straightened his back and sighed. "i do remember…" At this, Sans' shoulders slumped forward and he finally looked at me again. "i'm sorry for lashing out. i just… i forgot how desperate things used to be down here."

I shifted my weight between my feet. "It's ok Sans. I died a lot down here, but that's ok, I know everyone was just trying to do what they thought was best. Besides, you technically killed me a lot more than anyone else."

Sans' jaw slacked. "what was that?"

I froze seeing the look of horror on Sans' face. He didn't remember the genocide runs. Had he ever? Wait, no, he knows Chara would control my body when their Determination overpowered my own.

I had to think quickly but all I could muster was: "Uh, nothing?" I tried to grin but I could feel the muscles around my mouth failing.

"frisk, this is serious. what do you mean by that?" Sans disappeared one second and the next he was inches away from me, holding me by the wrists so I couldn't escape. I squirmed slightly in his grasp but knew it was no use.

"Sans… when Chara controlled me, you were the last one alive other than Asgore. You met me in the Judgment Hall and could see my levels of LOVE. When everyone was dead you were the only one who could stop Chara from reaching Asgore." Sans' gaze did not falter as I explained, his empty eye sockets borrowing into mine. "Sans, without you, I would have never been able to regain my Determination and take back control in order to reset everything."

We were both very, very still. The air around hung heavy on us, as if there was a static cling attaching us to its thickness. I felt the area where Sans was holding me grow colder with each passing second and one by one, each light blew out in the restaurant. I knew my eyes couldn't adjust as fast as Sans' so when I felt some give on his grasp I was able to pull my hand away and feel for the zipper on Sans' jacket. I pressed my hand over his chest, trying to get a sense for his emotions as he still remained glued to his spot. He released my other arm and I very cautiously placed both of my hand around his neck and shoulders, allowing them to rest there comfortably.

"Sans…" I whispered, causing a shiver to run through Sans. My eyes were still trying to adjust to the darkness, I wondered if it was even this dark when we first arrived in the restaurant? Before I knew it, I felt Sans place his boney hands around the small of my back and agonizingly slow, he applied more pressure until it was a firm embrace.

"frisk…" Sans whispered, barely audible.

"Yes?" I whispered back. With each break of silence between us, Sans pulled me in closer.

"i swear i will never hurt you again. ever." His teeth gritted together.

I swallowed. "Sans, I know you won't. You weren't trying to harm me, only Chara."

I felt his fingers dig into my back, as if I was going to evaporate if he didn't have a good hold on me. "but could you feel it… could you feel it when i hurt you…?"

I paused and took a deep breath in before answering, "Yes,"

Sans' grip tightened but I continued to add, "but it is my body who had blood on its hands. I would expect no less from you Sans. You need to understand that if you didn't do what you did, we wouldn't be standing here right now."

At that, Sans' relaxed his grip but continued to hold me close to him. We both took in the silence. I wondered what he was thinking about but at the same time I allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of his body against my own. My mind even wandered towards the close proximity of our hips together, I remembered what usually happened to us on past occasions when Sans held me this close. I blushed and thanked the darkness Sans' wouldn't be able to see the dirty thoughts crossing my mind—

Suddenly Sans let go of me and the lights came back on. I caught myself by leaning on a table behind me became even more embarrassed of how obvious my red face must be. To my surprise however, Sans' own face had a bright blue blush spread across his cheekbones. He refused to look at me, I could see on his face though he was trying to sort through something on his mind.

As if on cue, my stomach let out a low growl again to which I pressed my hand over my stomach and looked sheepishly at Sans. His blush dissipated and he quickly spoke, "hold on" before vanishing.

I waited a few seconds before Sans appeared back with his hands full of various sandwich ingredients. I raised an eyebrow before asking "Where did you find all of that?"

Dropping the ingredients on a table, Sans rubbed the back of his skull and replied, "in the mtt kitchen, they left a lot of food here before leaving it looks like."

"Wait… Isn't all that like five years old then?" I gasped.

Sans chuckled, "yes but i guess you forgot that monster food is infused which magic, which makes it never expired."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Would I forget something like that? Why wouldn't Toriel have told me? I shrugged it off, my stomach too hungry to even care if it was expired.

Together Sans and I passed around different fixings until we had each made the perfect "Legendary Hero" sandwich. We quickly forgot about our previous conversations and focused on our plans to go to Hotland to take the boat to Snowdin. We joked, laughed, and even sat comfortably together in silence at some points. Something deep inside me knew we were on the right path.

Author's Note: Please leave reviews! I feel like my writing style has really gone down hill has this story progresses but I want to finish it as to not leave anyone hanging any longer than I already have. Plus, I have a new idea for another Sans/Frisk story I want to start soon!